Final post of the school year! I'm not sure whether I will be continuing to blog, but this post will be spectacular! I'm going to switch it up, this post will be about a band! Now, what band deserves to be the only band that I give a separate post for... Hard decision, I'd like to do The Scorpions, but Mr. Elkin would hate me. There's always KISS, my favourite glam metal/rock band, but I blogged about them all last year. I could go with The Beatles, the first band I actively listened to. So much pressure! Plot twist, I've decided to just post on the genre of early rock and roll instead.
Rock and roll was the product of a few main genres of the 1940's and 50's, these being gospel, blues, and jazz. The birth of rock and roll was strongly assisted by the latest inventions like the electric guitar, amplifier, microphone, and 45 rpm record, which served to promote smaller and more upbeat bands, rather than huge jazz bands of 20 or 30 pieces.
Now rock and roll is a very broad genre, and it's hard to tell what song is the first rock and roll song recorded, but the best definition I've found is from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who stated in 1964:
"Rock and Roll? I know it when I hear it."
Very simple, very precise. Some say it's the beat, some say it's the instruments, nah, I'd prefer to go with his definition.
Ah, doo wop... Now I'm a huge fan of this brand of rock and roll because it's vocally dominated, and I just love a good harmony. Doo wop originated as choir in churches, but later evolved into a prominent form of rock and roll.
Ah, the Beatles. When rock and roll hit Britain, the first response was to replicate the songs with teen idols, not the Beatles, no, The Beatles came a little later. Rock and roll was dying down from the initial rush at this time, but the British took it and ran! Many rock and roll bands flourished in cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London.
Wow, I just absolutely love this song! The sheer number of covers speaks for itself, being six or seven complete ones, and a few samplings here and there. Well this song was written by Who lead and rhythm guitarist, and played a 12-string on this song, Pete Townshed. It was released as a single in December of 1964 for the US, and January of 1965 in the UK, which I though weird because they're a British band, you'd think that it'd come out first in the originating country, apparently not. Pete stated that the thoughts process behind the song came from the Kink's, All Day and All of The Night, and he wrote it when he was eighteen, very cool. The lyrical work is pure genius! Very simple, yet very catchy and meaningful, this song's about the feeling that you get when you see the perfect girl and your heart jumps a little, when you get goosebumps from hearing her speak, the lustful first kiss that pulls out your stomach and tosses it on the ground a little. This song's about new romance and how it encompasses your life. See Mr.Elkin? Not a Scorpions song, oh, wait...
Well I wanted to blog about an Aerosmith song that I liked, so here's a relatively new one that is kind of the pair to Lay it Down, which I blogged about earlier. These songs are a "pair" because they were both songs that were released in Aerosmith's 2002 greatest hits album, O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits that were previously unheard of. Girls of Summer is a classic Aerosmith song, written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, but is a little different because of the help of professional songwriter, Marti Frederiksen, who assisted in writing the song. The song isn't that lyrically deep or great, but the vocal work done to the lyrics are wonderfully smooth and catchy. The song's simply about summer and babes, there's not much deeper you can go. I hope you enjoy this relatively recent Aerosmith song which musical work has me enchanted.
Alright! My latest favourite song, from the German heavy metal band, the Scorpions! Now when I did some research about this song, I was super disappointed! This song never reached any top tracks or subtle praises, but what it has reached, is the top of my list of track favourites, which in all honesty, is not much, but this is just a fantastic song! Now the first thing you need to know about this song is that it was released on Crazy World, in 1990, meaning that it's still fairly recent. Crazy World is considered the last of the classic Scorpions albums, why? Simply because it's the last album to feature Francis Buchholz, the bassist in the classic lineup. Now I find the whole so be quite attractive, but what really appeals to me is the vocal work. The guitar's great, classic Rudolph Schenker and Matthias Jabs lead and rhythm work, bass work is great, creates a lovely power feel in the main riff, and the drums are heavy and blunt, which I love to hear. The vocal work is just great though, the smooth vocal work on the chorus contrasts beautifully with the verse and bridge, not to mention the lyrics, which don't speak "stalker" to me, I see it as just plain lust and longing. I've never been one for songs about heaven and hell, but this one just speaks to me, I hope you enjoy.
I can't help but have an immense amount of affection for this song! For the nasty and unwelcome English weather that they're singing about, this song has an embellishing upbeat feel to it, it reminds me more of surf rock than British rock, especially the bridge("This is my street, and I'm never going to leave it..."). Well this fascinating and clever little piece was written by Ray Davies, The Kink's vocalist and main songwriter, and was released as a single in 1967. This song is a complete classic and carefree song that is pleasant on the ears, and seems to put me in a sort of nostalgic trance. Now my second-most favourite thing about this song is the little lyrical changes they put in the song to add a little meaning, while keeping the basic lyrical work in the chorus almost untouched, such as the switch from "Autumn almanac" to "poor rheumatic back" for a line, as well as "almanac" to "Armagnac", which is a French brandy, very clever. What I find to be the most passionate thing in this song, for me, at least, is the wonderful rhyming at the beginning of this song, very smooth. Now they speak of trying to get away and avoid the Autumn weather, but I've mostly lived in pleasant weather places, and find myself attracted to Autumn, what with the bountiful beauty and temperate temperature.
So I've been watching YouTube clips of old Beatles videos, and I saw a recent one that showed Paul McCartney watching the footage of The Beatles playing on the Ed Sullivan show for the first time. His expression was just great, full of reminiscence and nostalgia. Now if you haven't seen the footage, watch it. Their performance just sums up the early Beatles experience, the happy-go-lucky and affectionate songs, the girls, the fame. Just watch it, I promise you won't regret it. Well this song was released on With The Beatles, in 1963, but never got an abundance of popularity, until the song was released as a single in Canada, where it was a number one hit (thank you Canada, for recognizing a classic song). Paul also thought of this song as personal accomplishment, as this was the first song that he'd written the music after the lyrics, which he came up with while shaving. It's obvious what the song is about, and that's what's so wonderful about it, the song is so blatant in its meaning, it's about love! The thing that drives us all! Well I hope you enjoy this song as much as I, so take a listen, to a beautiful song.
Alright, little new wave-ish, but what can you do, this is a beautiful song. This was released as a single, but was on Synchronicity in 1983. I've been feeling a little down lately, running on empty, so to speak, and this is a tune I like to play during those down times. Now this song was their second most popular single, following, you guessed it, Every Breath You Take, even though I consider this to be a lyrically superior song. Now Sting is a superb bassist and vocalist, and is one of the few bassist frontmen, but this entire band is mind-blowing, Andy Summers is of my favourite guitarists, and Steward Copeland is a very proficient drummer, though the latter band members don't get to show off their trade that much during this song. This song is not given the symbolic credit that it deserves, every line is chalk-full of fantastic analogies and meaning that takes more than a few listens to get. Now what I think to be the most powerful lyric in this song is
"There's a little black spot on the Sun today,
It's the same old thing as yesterday."
Now this may seem simple enough, but when you look at the Sun, you're purposely damaging yourself, and I think this symbolizes the downward slope of self-destruction that many are faced with and live their lives doing. I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do, because it's something fantastic.
