Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was born on April 16, 1971 to her parents Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcella Samora.[1] Selena’s pursued Tejano music and her career took off from there. She started out being a part of a family band called the ‘Selena y Los Dinos’ and soon became known as the queen of Tejano. [2]Her album ‘Entre a Mi Mundo’ proved her talent when it peaked as number 1 on the Billboard in the U.S for 19 weeks straight. [3] She composed her own music and branched off into acting, as well as a spokesperson and a fashion designer. Selena is an influential character in the music industry as she won ‘Regional Mexican Female Artist’ award, vocalist of the year in 1994, as well as winning the Grammy award for ‘Live’, which was titled the best Mexican/American Album.[4] In 1995 She won Record of the Year with ‘Amor Prohibido’ at the Tejano Music Awards and at the Lo Nuestro Awards.[5]  Selena was selected into the “Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame, Hard Rock Café’s hall of fame as well as the South Texas Music Hall of Fame.[6] Selena Quintanilla- Pérez unexpectedly died at the young age of 23. Yolanda Saldivar shot Selena on March 31, 1995 who was the president of Selena’s Fan club.[7] The United states continue her legacy by pronouncing April 16 as ‘Selena day’.

Selena Quintanilla- Pérez has influence many artist’s in today’s music. The first song David Archuleta learnt to sing was ‘Como La Flor’. Where he performed it at the Tejano Music Awards.[8] Katy perry quoted “I Remember the whole movie about her… and I wanted to be in that world.” [9] Selena Gomez was named after her and has a real connection as she grew up in the get-go.[10] Selena grew up listening to her as She meant a lot to her family.  As we can see The Queen of Tejano music continues to grow the industry as she inspires young musicians to seek strength and endure all that seems impossible.

“I Could Fall In Love”

This song captures a beautiful message and showcases her ability to move an audience with her soft complex voice. This song does not have much movement in pitch or beat which makes it simplistic and easily understood.

“Como La Flor”

This song is one of my favourites of Selena’s. It has an upbeat tempo but still captures her soft yet powerful voice. I believe this song would get a crowd up dancing as its beat is quick but could be easily followed. As mention above David Archuleta covered this song and still continues to perform it through out his career.

Here we see it being performed in Salt Lake City. As we can see in the video this song really connects to the audience. This truly captures how Selena’s legacy lives on and goes down in history as one of the most influential musicians.

At such a young age Selena Quintanilla- Pérez pursued a career most musicians dream of. Her career was cut way too short and endure a lifetime of struggles but still seemed to rise above all and create something beautiful. Her legacy lives on through many musician’s covering her songs or simply using her life lessons as learning techniques. May she be remembered for her courage, strength and charisma.

[1] “Who Is Selena? Everything You Need to Know.” Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline. Accessed August 12, 2018. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/selena-6747.php.

 

[2] “Who Is Selena? Everything You Need to Know.” Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline. Accessed August 12, 2018. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/selena-6747.php.

 

[3] “Who Is Selena? Everything You Need to Know.” Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline. Accessed August 12, 2018. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/selena-6747.php.

 

[4] “Who Is Selena? Everything You Need to Know.” Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline. Accessed August 12, 2018. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/selena-6747.php.

 

[5] “Who Is Selena? Everything You Need to Know.” Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline. Accessed August 12, 2018. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/selena-6747.php.

 

[6] “Who Is Selena? Everything You Need to Know.” Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline. Accessed August 12, 2018. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/selena-6747.php.

 

[7] “Who Is Selena? Everything You Need to Know.” Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline. Accessed August 12, 2018. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/selena-6747.php.

 

 

[8] “How Selena Quintanilla Inspired 8 Other Celebs.” Latina.com. Accessed August 12, 2018. http://www.latina.com/celebrity/celebrities-inspired-selena-quintanilla.

 

[9] “How Selena Quintanilla Inspired 8 Other Celebs.” Latina.com. Accessed August 12, 2018. http://www.latina.com/celebrity/celebrities-inspired-selena-quintanilla.

 

[10] “How Selena Quintanilla Inspired 8 Other Celebs.” Latina.com. Accessed August 12, 2018. http://www.latina.com/celebrity/celebrities-inspired-selena-quintanilla.

 

Addressing question 2 of module eight, I do believe that Led Zeppelin is the perfect band to introduce metal. The three songs that I will focus on are When the Levee Breaks, Immigrant song, and Kashmir. However, I believe several other songs of theirs deserve recognition in contributing to metal such as Fool in the rain, whole lotta love and Good Times Bad Times.
Now, I was introduced to Led Zeppelin at a rather young age since my father an avid rock fan and was prone to “get the Led out.” Which, pushed me to grow a love for the music. It led me down a path to becoming an admirer of thrash metal bands like Megadeth and Metallica. Whether it was the intensive sound of a distorted guitar, the solid backbone of a group being the drummer solid performance, to all other aspects that comprise a metal band. All of these components are created and birthed by Led Zeppelin. If metal music could be hypothetically viewed as a family, one could say that Led Zeppelin is the great-grandfather of the genre. Without Led Zeppelin, the metal family wouldn’t be anywhere close to what it is today.
As the course textbook describes the band line up it is indisputable that the band is formed by some of the most iconic musicians in rock/metal history, and for that reason, both the group and individual styles of the musicians was a keystone of metal as they influenced many if not most bands to follow to some degree.

When the Levee Breaks and Fool in the rain are two songs that anyone can listen to, and recognize the solid and tight drumming style of John Bonham. The clean and concise sound of his simple yet complex art is unavoidable. As those two songs can influence and earn the respect of all drummers the song that changed the game for drummers in metal was Good Times, Bad Times. The reason for that is John Bonham integrated what is known as a triplet into his kit, and that gave him a “double bass sound.” This technique was very new and soon mimicked and copied by Bonham’s peer drummers. The significance to the double bass is it rapidly became a necessity for almost every metal band.
One of Led Zeppelin’s arguably most iconic and recognizable songs, Immigrant song could be seen as the groundwork for the faster thrash metal of the 80s. in fact, it’s intro is very similar sounding to The Skull beneath the skin by, Megadeth, an Iconic thrash metal band. Also, with Megadeth on topic the band’s original line up comprised of Dave Mustaine (rhythm guitar and vocals), David Ellefson (bass), Chris Poland(lead guitar), and Gar Samuleson (drums). Poland and Samuelson come from jazz backgrounds making them very meticulous musicians, and heavily influenced into rock and metal by Led Zeppelin. Needless to say Fool in the Rain a song by rock/metal icons with a jazz sound would’ve been a song that could’ve made or broken Megadeth as its what bridged the gap of its critical members into the metal world.

 

To many, metal is viewed as an aggressive collection of noises played through instruments at an above tolerable volume. The truth is that it’s a very technical type of music played in a very intensive fashion. Led Zeppelin is no exception to this fact. Many of their songs utilize several scales like the Pentatonic to create their riffs. This act has been done by several bands to this day, although today most metal bands down tune their instruments for a different sound but the chords, scales and methods remain reasonably constant. The majority of Metallica’s Master of Puppets album was created using the pentatonic scale. Now I cannot claim that they got the idea to craft the album from Led Zeppelin’s use of the scale in communication breakdown or another track, but it shows the integrity of the artists is passed down to sub-genres from metal’s forefather.

Kashmir may not be known to many by name but the intro riff has been used since the song’s debut to introduce a formidable character in several movies. It is a perfect example of a slower moving metal song that almost every band in history and in the future will have.Another band mentioned in the course textbook, Black Sabbath’s Iron Man was released just five years previously and both tunes embody a slower but powerful type of metal.
I cannot think of any other band that has had as more of an influence as both individual members and as an entire group then Led Zeppelin. As a guy that has seen Tom Petty, Kiss, Guns and Roses, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder and several others. I would Happily trade it to watch Led Zeppelin with John Bonham behind the kit. To be in the presence of arguably the genres most magnificent musicians. It would be an experience like no other.

Biamonte, Nicole. “Triadic Modal and Pentatonic Patterns in Rock Music.” Music Theory Spectrum 32, no. 2 (2010): 95-110. doi:10.1525/mts.2010.32.2.95.

“Jazz, Death, and Megadeth: A Conversation with Chris Poland.” מאשין מיוזיק. September 21, 2017. Accessed August 11, 2018. https://machinemusic.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/jazz-death-and-megadeth-a-conversation-with-chris-poland/.

Campbell, Michael. Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes on. Boston, MA: Cengage, 2019.

Addressing question 2 of module eight, I do believe that Led Zeppelin is the perfect band to introduce metal. The three songs that I will focus on are When the Levee Breaks, Immigrant song, and Kashmir. However, I believe several other songs of theirs deserve recognition in contributing to metal such as Fool in the rain, whole lotta love and Good Times Bad Times.
Now, I was introduced to Led Zeppelin at a rather young age since my father an avid rock fan and was prone to “get the Led out.” Which, pushed me to grow a love for the music. It led me down a path to becoming an admirer of thrash metal bands like Megadeth and Metallica. Whether it was the intensive sound of a distorted guitar, the solid backbone of a group being the drummer solid performance, to all other aspects that comprise a metal band. All of these components are created and birthed by Led Zeppelin. If metal music could be hypothetically viewed as a family, one could say that Led Zeppelin is the great-grandfather of the genre. Without Led Zeppelin, the metal family wouldn’t be anywhere close to what it is today.
As the course textbook describes the band line up it is indisputable that the band is formed by some of the most iconic musicians in rock/metal history, and for that reason, both the group and individual styles of the musicians was a keystone of metal as they influenced many if not most bands to follow to some degree.

When the Levee Breaks and Fool in the rain are two songs that anyone can listen to, and recognize the solid and tight drumming style of John Bonham. The clean and concise sound of his simple yet complex art is unavoidable. As those two songs can influence and earn the respect of all drummers the song that changed the game for drummers in metal was Good Times, Bad Times. The reason for that is John Bonham integrated what is known as a triplet into his kit, and that gave him a “double bass sound.” This technique was very new and soon mimicked and copied by Bonham’s peer drummers. The significance to the double bass is it rapidly became a necessity for almost every metal band.
One of Led Zeppelin’s arguably most iconic and recognizable songs, Immigrant song could be seen as the groundwork for the faster thrash metal of the 80s. in fact, it’s intro is very similar sounding to The Skull beneath the skin by, Megadeth, an Iconic thrash metal band. Also, with Megadeth on topic the band’s original line up comprised of Dave Mustaine (rhythm guitar and vocals), David Ellefson (bass), Chris Poland(lead guitar), and Gar Samuleson (drums). Poland and Samuelson come from jazz backgrounds making them very meticulous musicians, and heavily influenced into rock and metal by Led Zeppelin. Needless to say Fool in the Rain a song by rock/metal icons with a jazz sound would’ve been a song that could’ve made or broken Megadeth as its what bridged the gap of its critical members into the metal world.

 

To many, metal is viewed as an aggressive collection of noises played through instruments at an above tolerable volume. The truth is that it’s a very technical type of music played in a very intensive fashion. Led Zeppelin is no exception to this fact. Many of their songs utilize several scales like the Pentatonic to create their riffs. This act has been done by several bands to this day, although today most metal bands down tune their instruments for a different sound but the chords, scales and methods remain reasonably constant. The majority of Metallica’s Master of Puppets album was created using the pentatonic scale. Now I cannot claim that they got the idea to craft the album from Led Zeppelin’s use of the scale in communication breakdown or another track, but it shows the integrity of the artists is passed down to sub-genres from metal’s forefather.

Kashmir may not be known to many by name but the intro riff has been used since the song’s debut to introduce a formidable character in several movies. It is a perfect example of a slower moving metal song that almost every band in history and in the future will have.Another band mentioned in the course textbook, Black Sabbath’s Iron Man was released just five years previously and both tunes embody a slower but powerful type of metal.
I cannot think of any other band that has had as more of an influence as both individual members and as an entire group then Led Zeppelin. As a guy that has seen Tom Petty, Kiss, Guns and Roses, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder and several others. I would Happily trade it to watch Led Zeppelin with John Bonham behind the kit. To be in the presence of arguably the genres most magnificent musicians. It would be an experience like no other.

Biamonte, Nicole. “Triadic Modal and Pentatonic Patterns in Rock Music.” Music Theory Spectrum 32, no. 2 (2010): 95-110. doi:10.1525/mts.2010.32.2.95.

“Jazz, Death, and Megadeth: A Conversation with Chris Poland.” מאשין מיוזיק. September 21, 2017. Accessed August 11, 2018. https://machinemusic.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/jazz-death-and-megadeth-a-conversation-with-chris-poland/.

Campbell, Michael. Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes on. Boston, MA: Cengage, 2019.

I am going to start off this post with a comparison between two of the most highly regarded albums of all time, referencing the Rolling Stones magazines top 500 albums list. The Rolling Stones magazine ranks the Beach Boy’s album Pet Sounds as number two on their ‘500 Greatest Albums’ list and the Beatles album Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club as number one.  The Beach Boys’ 1966 release Pet Sounds is about as distinguished of a masterpiece as Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and while Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club is a great album in it’s own rights it pales in comparison to the 13 track brilliancy that is Pet Sounds. I would even go as far as to say Sgt. Peppers isn’t even the Beatles best album, let alone the best of all time. Anyways, now that i’ve set the record straight on the Rolling Stones mistakenly ranking Pet Sounds as 2nd best, I can explain to you why it is, in fact, the indisputable number one album of all time.

If you haven’t caught on yet, Pet Sounds is my absolute favourite album of all time and if you have never had the pleasure of spinning it up I highly recommend it. Now onto the review.

Before we can truly dissect and investigate this album, we must first understand that Pet Sounds is a very unique album in regards to composition and arrangement. To do this, we need to understand who Brian Wilson is. Brian Wilson is one of the founding members of the Beach Boys, he was born June 20th 1942 in Inglewood California. I would love to delve deeper into the hugely interesting life of Brian Wilson, but will stick to the aspects of his life that hold relevancy in the examination of Pet Sounds and his contributing role to the album. The most important and forefront element relating the two is that basically, Brian Wilson wrote and composed nearly every song on Pet Sounds. While the Beach Boys were touring Japan in 1965, Wilson was hard at work in the studio with a massive amount of musicians and wide variety of instruments. Wilson was at this time an incredible and exceedingly talented musician, he wanted to write the greatest rock album of all time, and I believe that he succeeded in this endeavour and I will try to prove this to you with the help of the songs and certain sections of the songs on Pet Sounds.

The album starts off with a song that probably everyone has heard at one point in their life, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice“. Although one of the most popular songs on the album, and no doubt a great opening track, I would say it is one of the most shallow and boring tracks on the album. The twinkling 12-string mandolin is a nice touch during the song but I would argue that the only part of the song that’s worth a damn is the last 26 seconds of vocal harmonies and beautifully arranged acapella. The next song on the album is just incredible and showcases the complete genius that Brian Wilson is. I tried to find a clip online of the technique that Wilson uses to create the sound in the first 13 seconds of You Still Believe in Me but could not so I will try to explain it to you.

Although it may sound like some sort of honky tonk piano riff, Wilson actually crawled into the back of a grand piano, he rested several bobby pins onto the strings inside the piano and physically hand-plucked the notes using another bobby pin. This is just so innovative and outside of the box, every time I hear the intro of this song it gives me goosebumps, how does one think to do that? He doesn’t stop there though, Wilson also incorporates bicycle bells (1:28), and bicycle horns (2:15) into the song. I could talk forever about the cleverness of each and every song on Pet Sounds but would end up writing a ten-thousand word novel, and I don’t think anyone would want to read that so I will stick to these few examples and move on. The next song That’s Not Me is a good track but I would like to move on and talk about the track that follows this one, my favorite song on the album, Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder). If there was ever a song that had the ability to consistently cover my body in goosebumps every single listen without fail it would be this song, (and maybe a few Frank Ocean tracks). But I am starting to think that I am too thoroughly assessing every track individually, because it is very difficult for me since there are absolutely no filler tracks on this album. Each song is special to me and holds its own unique appeal, so in the name of efficiency and for no other reason than that I am going to skip three full tracks and move to God Only Knows, the most popular song on the album, one that Paul McCartney of the Beatles once proclaimed the ‘greatest song ever written’. The remaining six songs of the album are pure masterpieces each in their own right, starting with God Only Knows, the song depicts Brian Wilson’s love for a girl, and how life would not be worth living without her, “if you should ever leave me, though life would still go on believe me, the world could show nothing to me, so what good would living do me”. These lyrics along with so many in the album are really personal and emotion bearing, they really hit home for me and I think to most people, probably everyone has felt this feeling about someone at some point in their lives. The words are so masterfully arranged which I think is the reason for Paul McCartney to have said he thinks it is the greatest song ever written. The next song Here Today is less of a love song and probably the most angsty song on the album, I would rank it lower than most other songs on Pet Sounds. The next track, I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times, is such an innovative song lyrically, I have never heard another song depict the feeling of someone feeling that they were born in the wrong era which I have felt before. This song’s highlight is it’s lyrics, as the instrumentation is sort of bland in comparison to the rest of the album. Especially compared to the very next track, Pet Sounds, which is completely instrumental, and a showcase of Wilson’s arrangement ability. Finally, my third favorite song on the album Caroline No, a melancholic track featuring (you guessed it) sappy love lyrics. My favourite aspects of this song are the falsetto vocal stylings at 0:56 and 1:35, that and im a sucker for a sad song.

To conclude, I could never write enough about each song to exemplify my love for the album or write well enough to demonstrate the beauty that lies within Pet Sounds. So I seriously encourage you to take this (weak) review of Pet Sounds and use it as a push to go out and buy it or stream it, maybe grab it on vinyl and spin it up. It’s just an absolute masterpiece that everyone should enjoy at one point in their life.

---

Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Sounds, Accessed on August 9th, 2018

As a man who grew up in the 1980’s loving rock music, Led Zeppelin was a band that was already legendary. I vaguely remember when the bands’ drummer, John Bonham, passed away and in the following years, all of the rumors about who could replace him. Unfortunately, the remaining members never did create new music together, and this just fueled their legend even more.

In our text, Zeppelin is used to introduce the Heavy Metal genre, and I believe they are a great example. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss three of the groups songs that support my opinion. The first song I will discuss is “ Whole Lotta Love” from the band’s second album, “Zeppelin II”. Officially released on October 22, 1969, “Whole Lotta Love” quickly became known for Jimmy Page’s unbelievable guitar riffs. The power that he projected in this song influenced future hard rockers for generations and is a great example of early heavy metal. John Bonham has a drum solo that changes the rhythm in mid song, another characteristic of heavy metal. Finally, add in Robert Plant’s range as a singer, and you have created a listening experience that must have unmatched live. “Whole Lotta Love” would peak at #4 on the U.S. charts and would end up being the groups only Top 10 hit. The song shows the influence of R&B on Jimmy Page and especially Muddy Waters. In fact, later in the 1980’s, a representative of the estate of Waters would sue Led Zeppelin saying that parts of the song were stolen from an old Waters tune. Personally, I do not think this was intentional especially with the “sparse liner notes, non-referential lyrics” (1) used by the group.

My next example supporting Zeppelins heavy metal tag is their song “Immigrant Song” from 1970’s album “Led Zeppelin III”. This song, in my opinion, shows off the skills of the bass guitar player, John Paul Jones, more than the power of the other three members of the band. The speed with which he scales up and down during the chorus of this song is incredible and is another great piece of supporting evidence for my argument. Not to be understated, is the effect of Plant belting out “Ah-ah,ah” to grab hold of the audience as well, or Page and Bonham grabbing the spotlight at certain moments of the song. If you ever get the chance, listen to this song off their live album ”How The West Was Won”. This album was put together and remastered by Page in 2003 and features the live recordings of their hits up to 1972. These recording are from concerts in California in the summer of 1972. It is amazing!

The final song I would like to discuss is “Communication Breakdown” from the band’s debut, self titled album in 1969. This song has all the criteria to support my opinion. Power, distortion of the guitar, a broke up rhythm; it had it all. The fact that it is one of their first recordings shows me that their influences are still that of their heroes and not of what the music companies wanted to produce, which is what i think happened in their late albums. Also, Page’s down-stroke guitar style in this song is a little more unique and influence others later like  Johnny Ramone of the Ramones. Johnny stated he “ built up his skill at his down-stroke playing style by playing the song over and over again for the bulk of his early career” (2).

Led Zeppelin was one of the pioneering bands in heavy metal as well as very influential in many areas of music. They had songs that showed how they were influenced by a wide range of other styles as well. Their use of instruments like flutes, (Stairway to Heaven), mandolin, and a wide variety of percussion instruments during their career together. They were a powerhouse of forward thinking heavy metal and are still loved to this day. The three remaining members did get together for a reunion concert in December 2007. They played one set together with Jason Bonham sitting in wonderfully for his father on the drums. Tickets were available in a lottery system with nearly  20 million requests for 16,000 tickets.(3) This concert just added more fuel to the rumours of a tour. Even with the promise of huge ticket sales and recording deals, Plant and Page could not put the band together again.

The three surviving members have all gone on and had great careers. Most notably, Robert Plant has had a great solo career and continues exploring all types of music, even being part of a duo putting out a bluegrass album. Jimmy Page became a great producer as is world renowned for his work. John Paul Jones has worked on and off professionally in music as a bass player but spent a large part of his post Zeppelin life as a music teacher.

For me their music is timeless and provides a little relief of everyday stresses. Awesome.

 

References

 

1. “Popular Music in America, The Beat Goes On”,Fourth Edition Campbell,Michael, P.242
2. org/Communication_Breakdown
3. org/Zeppelin Reunion_Concert

 

One of my favourite Canadian bands from the 1970’s era is the rock band Bachman Turner Overdrive. In 1971 “The Guess Who” lead guitarist Randy Bachman decided to leave the group to pursue other opportunities and create his own band.  Bachman recruited former Guess Who lead singer Chad Allen(Vocals/Keyboard) as well as his brothers Robbie (Drums) and Gary (Manager) to form the band “Brave Belt”. After Brave Belt had a year of minimal success, Chad Allen left the band and Bachman decided to replace him with fellow Winnipegger C.F. “Fred” Turner (Vocals/Bass) as well as add his other brother Tim Bachman (Second Guitar) into the fold.  With these new additions, the band decided to rebrand themselves and in 1972 Bachman-Turner Overdrive was formed. The band name came from the combination of Randy Bachman and Fred Turners names as well as the famous trucker’s magazine “Overdrive” (Ankeny).

In 1973 the band released their 1^st album self-titled “Bachman-Turner Overdrive” and had their first #1 hit later that year called “Takin Care of Business”.  In 1974 Tim Bachman left the group to pursue a career as a music producer and was replaced by British Columbia native Blair Thornton to be their new second guitarist. Shortly after the transition BTO released their   3^rd studio album titled “Not Fragile” which peaked at #1 on both the Canadian and US charts featuring the hit single “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”.

Bachman Turner Overdrive has had many moving pieces throughout the years. This was initially caused by the departure of founding member Randy Bachman who left the band in 1977 to pursuit a solo career. He eventually returned to the band in 1983 before deciding to leave again in 1991, this time due to creative differences between the band members. In 2004 the Canadian Music Hall of Fame voted to induct Bachman-Turner Overdrive into the Hall.  There was a catch however as the Hall wanted the band to be inducted with the members from the “Not Fragile” era this meant including Randy Bachman. The band ended up declining the invitation because of the tension that was still present between the band members and Randy Bachman and therefore Bachman Turner Overdrive wasn’t inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. In 2014 the band was finally inducted into the hall. (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2013)

I was first introduced to Bachman-Turner Overdrive when I was a young child. My Uncle would play their records whenever I went to visit his farm in Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan. My two favourite songs by BTO are the songs that brought them to fame. “Takin Care of Business” and “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”.

Takin' Care of Business

The instrumentation for Takin’ Care of Business involves vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar, drums/percussion and piano.  Randy Bachman first started writing this while he was a member of “The Guess Who”.  The guitar riff in this song uses a  I-VII-IV progression played with a shuffle.

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

The Instrumentation for “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” involves vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar, drums/percussion. The Chorus  pertains the line “B-b-b-baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-nothin’ yet” Randy Bachman revealed  that the repetitive wording was performed as a joke for his brother, Gary, who had a stutter. The song is about a man who meets a devil woman while he searches for love. It contains mainly chord progressions and also has some catchy guitar riffs as well.

The Introduction of Can Con in Canadian radio broadcasting most definitely assisted Bachman Turner Overdrive in their rise to fame. When first created in 1971, The Can Con requirements stated that 25% of radio airplay must be devoted to Canadian music (Harrison, 2006). This rule helped Bachman Turner Overdrive because it gave Canadian radio listeners more exposure to the band as their songs were played more often. The rule having a positive effect is evident when you look at how BTO’s albums ranked on the Canadian charts vs the American charts. Almost all of their albums ranked significantly higher on the Canadian charts with the exception being “Bachman-Tuner Overdrive II” which ranked 4^th in the USA vs 6^th in Canada. I believe Bachman-Turner Overdrive still would have had a successful music career even without the assistance of the CanCon regulations. The album “Not Fragile” ranked #1 in the USA in addition to Canada as well.  Therefore, in a country where the CanCon regulations were not a factor, Bachman-Turner Overdrive had major success with 3 albums ranked in the top 5.

Bibliography

Ankeny, J. (n.d.). All Music. Retrieved from https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bachman-turner-overdrive-mn0000062002/biography

Encyclopedia, T. C. (2013). The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bachman-turner-overdrive-emc/

Harrison, T. (2006). The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/popular-music/

 

 

I’ve been a fan of The Beatles’ music for a long time now. Obviously, as we have learned, The Beatles are highly representative of the rock revolution during the 1960’s. However, for the longest time whenever I listened to The Beatles music, my mind just did not want to conceive of it being “rock” music. Clearly, it is. But it is something more than just “rock”, which we have also come to learn.

“The Beatles’ music is a cultural artifact of surpassing importance. No single source—of any kind—tells us more about the rock revolution of the 1960’s than the music of the Beatles.” -Marshall [1]

The beginnings of the Beatles can be traced back to 1957, when Paul McCartney and John Lennon met for the first time; soon enough the two became “bonded over deep loss” regarding incidents with their mothers [2]. By 1962 the remaining members, George Harrison and Ringo Starr joined the group, and their first album as a group, Please Please Me, was released in March of 1963 [3]. The Beatles officially lasted less than a decade; in 1970 McCartney announced their official disbanding [4].

Abbey Road

Today I will be talking about The Beatles album Abbey Road. If you are not familiar with the infamous Abbey Road photo, I may have to accuse you of living under a rock.

But in all seriousness, this is one of the most well-known album covers of all time, and this crosswalk in London continues to be a popular attraction to this day for diehard and newbie fans alike—it even has its own webcam [7]. Other famous individuals have even imitated it.

Surprisingly, this album title and cover was completely unplanned; the album was originally going to be titled “Everest”, after a cigarette brand [8]. As the last album recorded (though not the last one that was released) [9], The Abbey Road album was a project of redemption after the less than successful Get Back sessions and a Beatles dream to get back to their roots [10, 11]; from its conception the Beatles crew were hoping to go back to making music the way they used to [12].

“I think before the Abbey Road sessions it was like we should put down the boxing gloves and try and just get it together and really make a very special album.” -Paul McCartney [13]

One of the requirements of this challenge question is to talk about the “common themes” that can be found throughout the album. However, this album, and the music of The Beatles in general is often lacking cohesion. The most representative word one could use to describe The Beatles is dynamic—their music varies over the years, across albums, and often times even within the same song; take “A Day In The Life” as a prime example. As echoed by Marshall:

“The contrast from song to song had clearly deepened. One can almost reach into a bag filled with song titles, pull out any five, and marvel at the distinctive identity in meaning and sound of each song.” [14]

Therefore, to describe Abbey Road, one must understand that there really isn’t much of a thematic structure throughout the album; instead, you could describe the album as having three qualities, depending on the track being discussed: heavy & raw, light & wistful, and silly & childlike [15]. Below I will discuss four songs and explain how they embody such qualities.

Come Together

Probably the most well-known song from this album would be “Come Together.” Not only is this one of the most popular Beatles songs—being covered by multiple artists across the years— it might also be one of the most difficult to decode. Even John Lennon himself referred to it as being a bunch of “gobbledygook” [16].

One video I found offers up a couple of interpretations, but ultimately it appears that the song may not have been as well thought out as people assume and is full of some of the bands inside jokes that we may never get the privilege of understanding. The song also has some interesting history. First, Crafting of this song originally began with the intention of providing Timothy Leary a song for his campaign to become the governor of California [17]. Second, Lennon received some heat for stealing multiple aspects of Chuck Berry’s song “You Can’t Catch Me”—John Lennon actually talks about that briefly in this interview.

“Come Together” represents the raw, unfiltered portion of this album; however, I will reserve much of the discussion of that section to a later song. For now, it is important to know that both of the songs that represent this heavy, raw aspect of the album were written by Lennon [18].

Octopus’s Garden

This next song was written by Ringo Starr and it represents the more childlike portion of the album, along with “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, which was written by McCartney [19]

I think that the biggest contribution and feature of this song is that it is literally impossible to be sad while listening to it. Who wouldn’t want to hang out in an octopus’s garden? The other aspect of this portion of the album worth mentioning is that the main two songs representing this “childlike” feature were written by Paul and Ringo. It is beginning to feel as though each portion of the album may embody the positions and viewpoints of specific band members, thus symbolizing the differences in style between members, and perhaps signalling the troubles that led to the band’s breakup…just a thought.

Here Comes The Sun

Claiming the “light & wistful” title, “Here Comes The Sun” is another well-known Beatles song, and is definitely their best effort on this album to return to their roots; its gentle and flowery quality screams nostalgia. This one was written by George Harrison.

Leaving the listener with a sense of optimism and hope, “Here Comes The Sun” is really the cheerful and joyous portion of the album. As Richardson describes it: “[the song] is an explosion of warm feeling rendered in sound.” [20]. When I listen to this song I feel as though I could float away in a hot air balloon and be perfectly happy forever just sailing through the clouds.

I’m really not all that surprised by this feeling because the song supposedly “expressed Harrison’s relief at being away from the tensions within The Beatles, the troubles with Apple and the various business and legal issues which at the time were overshadowing the group’s creativity” [21], which may be why the tone seems to suggest a sense of hope for the future with the lyrics “here comes the sun, doo doo doo doo.”

I Want You (She’s So Heavy)

And here we are, finally arriving at the gem of the whole album, in my opinion anyways. Gotta save the best for last, right? This is by far my favourite song from the album, and one of my favourite Beatles songs of all time. Which is quite surprising since it has been highly criticized for being too simple and painfully repetitive [22]. Truth be told, there are only 14 different words in this whole entire song [23].

With its psychedelic, trance-like quality, when sifting through the Beatles music it really is pretty difficult to find something that is more “raw, direct, and biting” [24] than “I Want You’. Symbolizing the all-consuming lust between John Lennon and Yoko Ono, this song is overflowing with sexual tension. O’Toole claims that “I Want You” is the Beatles second attempt at hard rock and their heaviest sound to date, representing “their final journey into the avant garde” [25].

Richardson claims that this song “requires a certain kind of mood to appreciate it” [26]. I guess for me the type of mood is… any mood. I never get sick of hearing this song, I’m even listening to it right now.

Final Words

 

“The perfect ending to a recording career, this LP shows a band still in its prime, capable of songwriting and recording feats others could only envy.” -Richardson [27]

Abbey Road’s significance rests in the fact that it embodies the Beatles current lifeworld of turmoil and divergence between the band members. With each of the members present states of mind being included in the album, there really isn’t a better way to say farewell. Richardson claims that there was an unspoken understanding at the beginning of the recording sessions that this could very well be the end of the road for the Beatles as a single entity [28]; perhaps this bled into the band’s consciousness, allowing them to bring forward everything in the present so that they could reflect on the past and move toward the future.

Most importantly:

“Abbey Road still sounds fresh and exciting 40 years on” -Richardson [29].

 

 

 

References:

1. Campbell, Michael. Popular Music In America: The Beat Goes On. Schirmer Cengage Learning, 2012.
2. Gilmore, Mikal. (2009, September 03). “Why the Beatles Broke Up”. The Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/why-the-beatles-broke-up-113403/
3. “Albums.” The Beatles. https://www.thebeatles.com/album/please-please-me
4. Campbell, Michael. Popular Music In America: The Beat Goes On. Schirmer Cengage Learning, 2012.
5. “The Beatles.” The Beatles. https://www.thebeatles.com
6. “The Beatles.” The Beatles. https://www.thebeatles.com
7. Giles, Jeff. (2015, August 08). “That Time the Beatles Walked Into History With ‘Abbey Road’ Cover Photo”. Ultimate Classic Rock. http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-abbey-road-cover-shoot/
8. “Albums.” The Beatles. https://www.thebeatles.com/album/abbey-road
9. “Albums.” The Beatles. https://www.thebeatles.com/album/abbey-road
10. Richardson, Mark. (2009, September 10). “The Beatles: Abbey Road.” Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13431-abbey-road/
11. Giles, Jeff. (2015, August 08). “That Time the Beatles Walked Into History With ‘Abbey Road’ Cover Photo”. Ultimate Classic Rock. http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-abbey-road-cover-shoot/
12. “Albums.” The Beatles. https://www.thebeatles.com/album/abbey-road
13. “Albums.” The Beatles. https://www.thebeatles.com/album/abbey-road
14. Campbell, Michael. Popular Music In America: The Beat Goes On. Schirmer Cengage Learning, 2012.
15. Richardson, Mark. (2009, September 10). “The Beatles: Abbey Road.” Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13431-abbey-road/
16. “Albums.” The Beatles. https://www.thebeatles.com/song/come-together
17. “Albums.” The Beatles. https://www.thebeatles.com/song/come-together
18. “Albums.” The Beatles. https://www.thebeatles.com/album/please-please-me
19. Richardson, Mark. (2009, September 10). “The Beatles: Abbey Road.” Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13431-abbey-road/
20. Richardson, Mark. (2009, September 10). “The Beatles: Abbey Road.” Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13431-abbey-road/
21. “Here Comes The Sun”. The Beatles Bible. https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/here-comes-the-sun/
22. Richardson, Mark. (2009, September 10). “The Beatles: Abbey Road.” Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13431-abbey-road/
23. “Albums.” The Beatles. https://www.thebeatles.com/album/abbey-road
24. Richardson, Mark. (2009, September 10). “The Beatles: Abbey Road.” Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13431-abbey-road/
25. O’Toole, Kit. (2016, July 27). “”I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” from Abbey Road (1969): Deep Beatles”. Something Else Reviews. http://somethingelsereviews.com/2016/07/27/the-beatles-i-want-you-shes-so-heavy/
26. Richardson, Mark. (2009, September 10). “The Beatles: Abbey Road.” Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13431-abbey-road/
27. Richardson, Mark. (2009, September 10). “The Beatles: Abbey Road.” Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13431-abbey-road/
28. Richardson, Mark. (2009, September 10). “The Beatles: Abbey Road.” Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13431-abbey-road/
29. Richardson, Mark. (2009, September 10). “The Beatles: Abbey Road.” Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13431-abbey-road/

 

I’ve chosen to discuss this musical because it’s been stuck in my mind ever since seeing the show on Broadway last summer. Not only does the musical deal with many cultural and political issues that are still valid today, it also manages to discuss these issues within a historical narrative, creating an incredibly informative and educational story. On top of all of this, add in world-class choreography and dancers, incredible singers and music, humour and wit, and rap, hip-hop, and R&B, and you have a truly awe-inspiring musical experience!

Introduction

Hamilton: An American Musical was created, written, and composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The musical made its Broadway debut on August 6, 2015, and soon went on to amass an incredible amount of awards, including 11 wins at the 2016 Tony Awards. These awards include Best Musical, Best Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Score, Best Orchestrations, and Best Choreography, just to name a few.1 Further awards have since been won by the West End cast in London, at the 2018 Laurence Olivier Awards earlier this year.2 Miranda’s inspiration for the musical came from Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton, which set into motion an event the musical world had never seen the likes of before.3 The musical deals with the founding of America, told through the story of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, who would later go on to become the country’s first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton, who’s legacy has been preserved on the face of the American $10 bill, played an important role in many events during the American Revolution and the events afterwards. Between creating America’s financial system, serving as George Washington’s right-hand man during the war, and reforming the U.S. Constitution, Hamilton’s influence on America spreads far and wide. However, the most important fact about him, intentionally highlighted by Miranda, is that Alexander Hamilton was an immigrant. This will be expanded upon below, but Miranda deliberately highlights this fact to show that one’s origin does not have any determination on the type of person they are, or what they’re able to accomplish; a fact especially relevant in America’s current political landscape.

Cultural Aspects

During casting, an emphasis was placed onto finding non-white leads for the musical.4 This was a deliberate message meant to empower diversity. By casting the Founding Fathers of American with non-white actors, the musical emphasizes the fact that being white isn’t a requirement for anything, and that immigrants of all colors can play a powerful role anytime and anywhere.

The musical also addresses slavery in several forms. The lyric “revolutionary manumission abolitionists”, featured in the song “My Shot”, gives evidence to this.5 The line refers to the New York Manumission Society, of which Alexander Hamilton was a part of. The society was founded in 1785, by Founding Father (and later the first U.S. Chief Justice) John Jay. The society’s focus was promoting the abolition of slavery, and the manumission of African slaves in the state of New York.6 The historical reference helps make the audience aware that Hamilton was one of the few actively campaigning against slavery back in the day, while many of his colleagues were not. Speaking of Hamilton’s colleagues who were in favour of slavery, the musical also brings some of Thomas Jefferson’s hypocrisy to light. Jefferson, known as a famous early American president, is also widely known for being the principal author of the American Declaration of Independence. A famous line from the second sentence of the Declaration goes as so: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.7 It is widely known that these words came from Jefferson, however, what’s not as well-known is the fact that Jefferson was a slaver, who evidently didn’t consider blacks to be men, or to be equal to any of the rights that he so famously mentions in the Declaration. Miranda further addresses this fact through in his songs, an example occuring in “What’d I Miss”, a song which features Jefferson’s return to American as the ambassador to France. The lyrics “Haven’t even put my bags down yet, / Sally be a lamb, darlin’, won’tcha” references Sally Hemings, a slave owned by Jefferson, and who, as it is widely believed, fathered all five of her children and acknowledged not a single one of them.8,9

Miranda also uses Jefferson’s aforementioned line from the Declaration to address feminism. In the song “The Schuyler Sisters”, all three of the female leads sing the line “We hold these truths to be self-evident / That all men are created equal”, which is shortly followed by “I’m ‘a compel him to include women in the sequel”.10 By having all three of the female leads center-stage during this, Miranda shines a light directly on the blatant feminism that was, an unfortunately still is, a huge problem within society.

As well, a large part of the music stems not from stereotypical showtunes, but from modern genres, such as rap, hip-hop, and R&B. The following video and webpage highlights some of the classic rappers which inspired Miranda in his writing of the musical, found here.
By intentionally focusing on these genres, the musical helps expose these art-forms to people unfamiliar with them. As well, this also gave a chance for people unfamiliar with musicals to experience the genre of musical theatre. This can all be seen as an attempt by Miranda to modernize musicals and make them more accessible to a wider range of people, and to further promote diversity and the acceptance of ideas once foreign to one’s self.

“Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)”

The following video features the original Broadway cast of the musical, performing the number “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)” at the 2016 Tony Awards. The number depicts the events of the Battle of Yorktown, the last major battle of the American Revolution which ultimately led to American independence.

An example of creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s political commentary can be seen at the 1:12 mark in the video, again highlighting the effect immigrants had (and continue to have) on America. “The World Turned Upside Down” is a historical reference to the song, which according to legend, was played by the British during their retreat from Yorktown.11 Within one song, we can see the number of historical and socio-political references Miranda is able to make. I would highly recommend giving the soundtrack a listen; not only does it provide a detailed look into political landscape of early America, but the brilliant lyrics and music from various genres guarantees a listening experience you won’t be able to find anywhere else! From Beyoncé-esque R&B love songs to Biggie Smalls-inspired rhymes, there’s definitely something for fans of all genres to enjoy!

Political Aspects

Hamilton, one of America’s most famous Founding Fathers, was an immigrant. This is especially relevant with regards to today’s politics, as America is a country who flourishes through its immigrants. However, the current political leadership of the country seems to take offense to this, as we all know (hopefully). The cast of Hamilton addressed this by speaking directly to then Vice President-elect Mike Pence after a performance of the show. A video of the speech, made by Brandon Victor Dixon, the actor for Aaron Burr, can be seen below.

Other things of note regarding the incident were two tweets by President Trump, demanding an apology from the cast for supposedly harassing Pence. A full summary of the event, with images of Trump’s tweets, is provided by The New York Times.

In the end, Hamilton is a story about America, whose rise and establishment via the efforts of immigrants with diverse backgrounds is mirrored by those behind the creation, production, and performance of the musical. The incredible music, writing, cast performances, and all other elements of the show come together as a musical promoting acceptance and diversity, something we can all take forward with us in hopes of a better tomorrow and future.

References
1-“Search Past Tony Awards Winners and Nominees.” TonyAwards.com. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/history/pastwinners/tonys_results.html?fname=&lname=&show=Hamilton&award=Category&year=Year.

2-Staff, Variety. “‘Hamilton’ Takes Home Seven Olivier Awards, Including Best New Musical.” Variety. April 09, 2018. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://variety.com/2018/legit/awards/olivier-awards-winners-list-hamilton-1202747097/.

3-Brantley, Ben. “Review: ‘Hamilton,’ Young Rebels Changing History and Theater.” The New York Times. August 07, 2015. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/07/theater/review-hamilton-young-rebels-changing-history-and-theater.html.

4-Blay, Zeba. “No, The ‘Hamilton’ Casting Call For ‘Non-White’ Actors Is Not Reverse Racism.” HuffPost Australia. November 22, 2016. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/no-the-hamilton-casting-call-for-non-white-actors-is-not-reverse-racism_us_56fd2c83e4b0daf53aeed9b9.

5-“Lin-Manuel Miranda (Ft. Anthony Ramos, Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom Jr., Lin-Manuel Miranda, Okieriete Onaodowan & Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton) – My Shot.” Genius. September 25, 2015. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-my-shot-lyrics.

6-“Education Update – New York’s Manumission (Free the Slaves!).” University Latin Mottos – Education Update. Accessed August 10, 2018. http://www.educationupdate.com/archives/2005/february/html/Black-Manumission.html.

7-“The Declaration of Independence: Full Text.” Ushistory.org. Accessed August 10, 2018. http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/.

8-“Lin-Manuel Miranda (Ft. Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom Jr. & Okieriete Onaodowan) – What’d I Miss.” Genius. September 25, 2015. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-whatd-i-miss-lyrics.

9-Stockman, Farah, and Gabriella Demczuk. “Monticello Is Done Avoiding Jefferson’s Relationship With Sally Hemings.” The New York Times. June 16, 2018. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/us/sally-hemings-exhibit-monticello.html.

10-“Lin-Manuel Miranda (Ft. Jasmine Cephas Jones, Leslie Odom Jr., Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton, Phillipa Soo & Renée Elise Goldsberry) – The Schuyler Sisters.” Genius. September 15, 2015. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-the-schuyler-sisters-lyrics.

11-“Cornwallis’ Surrender.” Yorktown Victory Monument. Accessed August 10, 2018. http://www.visitingyorktown.com/surrender.html.