Music Midterm 2019 Magazine

MAYBELLENE MAG MUSC 108 MIDTERM

TABLE OF CONTENTS Boy Bands and other “Teenage Girl Music”: Talented or Tacky?- Lauren Shackman Bob Dylan’s Early Years: Less “Talking Dust Bowl”, More “Tutti Frutti”Mitchell Patton Body Bags- Riley Larsen The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan: Why Dylan’s Sophomore Album Has Stood the Test of Time- Samuel Serxner Blink 182- Samson Dooley Art Rupe and the History of Specialty Records- Cameron Park The Power of Rap: Deconstructed- Benjamin Kaplan Avicii’s Life, Impact, and Presence on the Music Industry- Matt Chase Are Concerts Worth It?- Spencer Robbins Woodstock: A Monumental Success or Failure?- Olivia Baglieri Phish Fandom- Luke Dewees Awful Records: Navigating the Transition from Independent Artist Collective to an RCA Records Deal- Kalib Varela Technology & The Multidimensional Aspect of Music- Freya Strasburg What We Got Wrong About Waits- Olivia Gracey Fly Me To The Moon (Cover)- Giovanni Ortiz

Layout- JR Atkinson

Why are early and relatively tame Beatles songs such as “I Want to Hold Your Hand” taken less seriously than their later music? Why do self-proclaimed “serious” music fans scoff when they see young girls screaming at concerts for their favorite bands? Why was Justin Bieber constantly criticized for being a pop star when he rose to fame in his early teens?

Because these songs and performers were marketed towards teenage girls, their music was not taken seriously and was seen as shallow.

Teenagers, especially teenage girls, have always been seen as not being in control of their developing emotions and feelings, and boy bands are seen as capitalizing on their newfound sexual thoughts. This most famous example of this is Elvis Presley. In the puritan culture of the 1950s, the music scene offered little for teenage girls sexually, until Elvis’s gyrating hips and suggestive lyrics came into play. A primary source of the time, an article by Jack Gould, entitled “Elvis Presley: Lack of Responsibility is Shown by TV in Exploiting Teen-Agers” and published in 1956, argues that “He is at the age when an awareness of sex is both thoroughly natural and normal… But what is new, and a little discouraging is the willingness and indeed eagerness of reputable business men to exploit those critical factors beyond all reasonable grounds” Elvis was seen by many as shallow, untalented, and only famous for his sex appeal, just like boy bands are now. Now, many years later, and because his later works were not aimed at teenage girls, Elvis is seen as one of the pioneers of rock music and beloved by socalled serious music fans the main reason is that his later music was not aimed at the teenage girls market.

Boy Bands and other Music”: Talented

While the market for music aimed at teenage girls is lucrative, it can ruin an artist’s reputation. Most assume that teenage girls are shallow, cannot appreciate real music, and only listen to music if attractive men are performing. If a teenage girl is interested in an artist marketed towards other age and gender groups, such as Bob Dylan, she is seen as “cultured” and superior to the more stereotypical teenage girls who lose control and scream while at a Beatles concert or try to touch Elvis on stage. Many impose their own biases by presuming that because the Beatles started as a boy band, they could not have been serious musicians like Dylan. In his 2012 article “Just me and the boybands” Mark Kemp attacks the Beatle’s origins: “Brian Epstein saw a gang of wannabe tough guys in leather jackets in dire need of some hip haircuts and groovy black suits. Their “genius” came later, with help from classical-music arranger George Martin, tips from Bob Dylan and a few acid trips. They wrote great songs, sure, but they started out as a boyband. Period”.

It was only after the Beatles started producing music that did not appeal to the “teenage girl market”, that they were viewed as “real musicians”. As their ballads changed from simple love songs like “This Boy” to more serious topics like acid trips such as “She said,

She Said”, they began to get more traction with older listeners, who at one time had scoffed at teenage girls for only to listening to the Beatles because they’re attractive.

Many boy bands are groups of attractive young men who can sing, brought together by a “mastermind” behind the scenes older producer. For example, One Direction was set up by Simon Cowell when he combined five solo acts in the XFactor into one group. They fit into a specific

r “Teenage Girl d or Tacky?

category (attractive boys around high school age that are charismatic and can sing). Together they fit this trope that will eventually make them much more popular than they would have been alone. However, appealing to a larger audience as a group than if they were alone does not make boy groups less talented, they are just taking advantage of the situation by trying to appeal to a large, available market.

Music aimed at the teenage boy market is viewed as being more serious and superior to music aimed at the teenage girl market. Bands who perform music aimed at teenage boys, such as Acid Rock (for example, later Beatles songs, The Doors, and Pink Floyd) are considered great rock stars.

In contrast, The Beach Boys were called “archetypal “pop music cop-outs” by early Rock critics, because their music was aimed towards teen girls. Their songs were about surfing, girls, and cars, three “safe” topics (safe meaning conservative and not overtly sexualized). Both The Beach Boys and The Beatles had material clean enough to be featured on the Ed Sullivan Show. If you listen to the tapes, you can hear

girls screaming for both bands and the majority of the audience is teenage girls.

Upon seeing the tapes of The Beatles, the first thought that comes to mind could be “cute” or “sweet”. Part of their appeal at that time was that they wore matching outfits and sing sweet love ballads, which isn’t taken seriously.

Even in 2019, music that is marketed towards teenage girls is seen as unintelligent and vapid while the music that is marketed towards teenage boys is much more respected, although still viewed as a “teenager thing”.

1.Gould, Jack. “ELVIS PRESLEY; TOMORROW NIGHT ON TELEVISION--.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Sept. 1956, www.nytimes.com/1956/09/16/archives/elvis-presley-tomorrow-night-on-televisionthe-lord-dont-play.html.

2.Kemp, Mark. “Just Me and the Boybands...” Rock’s Backpages, 21 June 2012, www. rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/just-me-and-the-boybands.

3.The Beach Boys.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Feb. 2019, en.wikipedia. org/wiki/The_Beach_Boys.

-LAUREN SHACKMAN

BOB DYLAN’S EARLY YEARS Less “Talking Dust Bowl”, More “Tutti Frutti”

Bob Dylan is known for his lyricism, his anti-war and civil rights anthems, and his distinct sound. In the 1960’s, he helped bring folk music back into relevancy, and both created and influenced a string of folk-based pop hits. But Dylan’s youth is not one that would lend well to crafting heartfelt, homespun folk tunes. If anything, Dylan’s upbringing primed him for a career in rock n’ roll.

Bob Dylan was born Robert Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota in 1941. By Dylan’s own telling, he did not stay long. At the age of either seven or thirteen he lived in Gallup, New Mexico while part of a traveling circus.

He credits this carnival for his knowledge of the then contemporary folk songs. Dylan also claims that at that same age (either seven of thirteen, or maybe both), he ran away from Gallup, first to Texas, then on to Kansas. Some time later, he lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota long enough to learn to sing from a farmhand. A childhood like this seems only fitting once you hear the country twang and world-weariness of Dylan’s voice. But it is a lie.

A Newsweek article published in 1963 revealed the falsehood. It is likely that he spent almost all of his time from the age of six growing up in Hibbing, Minnesota, where he lived “in a conventional home” and attended “conventional schools.” Dana Gillespie, already friends with Dylan in 1965, once said, “…people think he was very poor once but in fact his parents are quite wealthy… At heart he is a kind of a tramp, who would rather do his travelling in comfort…” Despite his claims, Bob Dylan started out about as far as possible from being a folk star.

Dylan had his first performance while at high school in Hibbing. He started a band called the Golden Chords with three classmates, for which he played the guitar and possibly the occasional piano. Though he did have a love for the blues, the music he really loved was more high-energy. When asked what the Golden Chords played, LeRoy Hoikkala, the drummer, said “… a lot of Little Richard. Bob loved Little Richard, so we did a lot of Little Richard stuff.”

Dylan’s yearbook goal was “to Join Little Richard”. At one school talent show, Dylan so committedly covered one of his songs that he went “screaming and pounding on the piano” in true Little Richard fashion. As often as Woody Guthrie is pronounced to be Dylan’s largest idol, he certainly was not his biggest influence in his early years.

While attending University of Minnesota, Dylan began transitioning away from the rock n’ roll passions of his high school and towards folk and more traditional blues. But before he began performing in the college town folk circuit, he needed a new name.

Dylan dropped his given name of Zimmerman for something more befitting a folk star. Contrary to popular belief, he was not inspired by the poet Dylan Thomas. At first, he went by Bob Dillon, modeling his last name on that of the main character in the radio and television series Gunsmoke. Matt Dillon was the U.S. Marshall of Dodge, Kansas in the 1870’s. Being part of the Western Frontier then, the town did not always take kindly to law enforcement. For Matt Dillon, keeping the peace meant keeping a pulse on the people. He was a man who knew country people during some of their hard-

est times, and who would have witnessed the birth or the events of classis folk songs. Who could have been more fitting?

After abandoning college, the recently minted “Bob Dylan” arrived in New York in January of 1961. In his first months there, he often visited the hospital room of Woody Guthrie, the folk legend whose accent and rambling cadence Dylan adopted. He became a frequenter of the folk bars and coffee shops of Greenwich Village, and by April he opened a show for John Lee Hooker. Substantial praise from a New York Times review helped generate a record deal with Columbia, and in 1962 he released the self-titled Bob Dylan.

The album contains numerous folk and blues covers, with two original songs. The second is “Song to Woody”, a tribute to Woody Guthrie. His telltale harmonica appears frequently. All of this points to him having abandoned the Little Richard aspirations of his earlier youth.

However, those hopes had not died completely. Also in 1962, he recorded a rock n’ roll single that his manager never released. Albert Grossman nixed “Mixed Up Confusion”

because he wanted Dylan to present exclusively as an “acoustic folkie”. And Tom Wilson, his recording manager, once said, “… you should hear him play blues piano.

He could have made it big as a pianist, you know.” So even if his true roots never made it to the public, he they at least lived on in the recording studio.

Bob Dylan sold incredibly poorly, but it capped his introduction to New York and cemented him as a blues and folk artist, at least in the public’s eye. Despite the first’s failure, Dylan’s next albums would establish him as the leading lyricist of the folk genre. He reached stardom performing just with his guitar and harmonica, and succeeded in reintroducing the world to a sound derived principally from Woody Guthrie.

But, in 1965, Dylan returned to his true Minnesota rock n’ roll upbringing, electrifying his previously all-acoustic sound for the first time. His album that year contained “Mr. Tambourine Man”, and it launched a new chapter in his career in the direction of Little Richard’s rock and roll.

The album was aptly titled Bringing It All Back Home.

- MITCHELL PATTON James, Billy. “Bob Dylan: The First Interview”. Press Release, 1961. Bob

Dylan. Rock’s Backpages. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/ Library/Article/bob-dylan-the-first-interview.

Linthicum, Leslie. “Did Dylan Roots Really Reach Gallup?” Albuquerque

Journal, 13 Sept. 2012, www.abqjournal.com.

Altham, Keith. “Bob Dylan’s Not A Singer At All — Says His Friend Dana”.

New Musical Express, 1965. Bob Dylan, Dana Gillespie. Rock’s

Backpages. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/ bob-dylans-not-a-singer-at-all--says-his-friend-dana.

Lindh.

Robinson, John. “Bob Dylan: the Hibbing High School ‘Class

Of 1959’ Reunion.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 23

July 2009, www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/bob- dylan/5887887/Bob-Dylan-the-Hibbing-High-School-Class-Of- 1959-reunion.html.

“Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Jan.

2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Dillon_(Gunsmoke).

Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. “Bob Dylan | Biography & History.” AllMusic,

2018, www.allmusic.com/artist/bob-dylan-mn0000066915/ biography.

Green, Richard and Peter Jones. “Inside Bob Dylan”. Record Mirror, 1965.

Bob Dylan. Rock’s Backpages. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/ Library/Article/inside-bob-dylan.

With the world’s attention turned to Hanoi this week as President Trump and Supreme Leader Kim meet about denuclearization and economic stability of North Korea, now seems like a good time to recall the last time the United States was focused on Vietnam, during the ugly war that lasted over 18 years and led to the deaths of over 60,000 American men.

Here in the states, World War I and World War II, were “popular” wars, justifications for fighting that the American public could easily understand. But when the time came to enter the Vietnam conflict popular sentiment echoed the words of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who famously said, “We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for

BODY themselves.”

But send them we did, and many did not go willingly, the draft was the law of the day and if a young man’s number came up, he was obligated to serve, and thousands were sent to fight. But it is important to note that the draft was not a level playing field and wealthy or well-educated men often found a way out through college or medical deferment while lower income boys had no option but to fight in the rice paddies of Southeast Asia.

While the soldiers of World War I had the patriotic music of George M. Cohan’s, “Over

BAGS There” and World War II was remembered for The Andrews Sisters and Benny Goodman, Vietnam did not have the backing of the public and the artists of the day were quick to judge American involvement in Vietnam. Difficult times have the unique ability to produce meaningful art, and musicians of the 1960’s and 1970s crafted songs that remain as some of today’s most haunting ballads. Artists like Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Joan Baez wrote songs and lyrics that didn’t just hint at the atrocities of American involvement in Vietnam, they plainly addressed the draft, carpet bombing, and the killing of noncombatants with straight forward language and memorable lyrics. Consider the classic, “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Some folks are born made to wave the flag Ooh, they’re red, white and blue And when the band plays ‘Hail to the chief’ Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no.”

Creedence John Fogerty wrote the gritty lyrics and strong guitar lines of “Fortunate Son” in response to the growing division in a country that was not only increasingly anti-war, but anti class division. As the war drug on, and American television viewers saw body bags loaded on planes and helicopters every night on the evening news, it became clearer and clearer that young men of privilege were not going to the draft. The boys dying were lower and middle income-unfortunate sons. “I ain’t no sena-

tor’s son” addresses this as directly as it can be addressed.

The protest songs of the Vietnam era were not just obscure songs with little or no airplay or popularity, many became huge hits that have been played by generations after the war. Songs like Joan Baez’s “Saigon Bride,” and John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” are rock standards, as is the Country Joe and the Fish song, “Country Joe Feel Like I’m Fixin to Die,” which became a fixture after the song was performed live at Woodstock in 1969. The title is almost odd when you consider this song’s upbeat rhythm and pace, but when combined with it’s dark lyrics, the contrast makes listening to this popular anti-war song feel like some sort of macabre pep rally.

“Well, come on mothers throughout the land, Pack your boys off to Vietnam.

Come on fathers, don’t hesitate, Send ‘em off before it’s too late.

Be the first one on your block To have your boy come home in a box. And it’s one, two, three What are we fighting for?

Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn, Next stop is Vietnam.”

There can be no ambiguity about these lyrics, and the line, “Be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box” is both dark and breathtaking.

Another song that deserves mention in any discussion of Vietnam protest songs is Jimmy Cliff’s “Vietnam.” Cliff was an early star of reggae and in this song, he

describes a friend who writes him a letter postmarked from Vietnam, stating that he would be “coming home soon” but in the last verse before the chorus, we find out that once again in Vietnam, it has gone wrong: “It was just the next day, his mother got a telegram It was addressed from Vietnam Now mistress Brown, she lives in the USA And this is what she wrote and said ‘Don’t be alarmed’, she told me the telegram said ‘But mistress Brown your son is dead.”

Finally, no discussion of Vietnam era protest music could be complete without including the haunting song “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Written in 1970 following the shooting deaths of four students at the hands of National Guard troops in an anti-war protest at Kent State University in Ohio, this song is more accurately described as the story of a protest, rather than as an anti-Vietnam song. But the song itself illustrates the utter futility of the war and everything surrounding it. Young sings, “Soldiers are gunning us down, Should have been done long ago.”

You sense the grave sadness of the time, not only were the soldiers dying thousands of miles away in the war, but the country was so tired of the war, and so politically divided, that now the killing had come home to middle America. The song is slow, and dark, and remains one of the era’s great, sad, ballads from Young who by any measure is one of rock’s most masterful writers.

While the music of Vietnam ranges from sad to angry, insightful to mournful, sarcastic to melancholy, there can be no doubt

that the songs of the war era influenced a generation of young people, fueled protests and attitudes. In some way, the works of these artists and many others ultimately contributed to the long-overdue end of the conflict.

1 “Lyndon B. Johnson Quotes.” BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2019. 27 February 2019.

2 Rosenberg, Jennifer. “The Story Behind the Famous World War I Song ‘Over There’.” Thoughtco. Dotdash, 30 Dec. 2018.

Web..

3 Creedence Clearwater Revival. “Creedence Clearwater Revival History.” Creedence Clearwater Revival FAQ. N.p., 1969.

Web. 28 Feb. 2019.

4 Creedence. “Creedence Clearwater Revival History.”

5 “Saigon Bride Lyrics.” Lyrics.com.

STANDS4 LLC, 2019. Web. 27 Feb. 2019 6 Wikipedia. “Give Peace a Chance.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Jan. 2019.

Web. 28 Feb. 2019.

7 Lindsay, James M. “The Twenty Best Vietnam Protest Songs.” Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 5 Mar. 2015. Web. 28 Feb. 2019.

8 Alpha History. “Country Joe and the Fish: Feel Like I’m Fixin to Die Rag.”Country Joe Feel Like I’m Fixin to Die. N.p., 16 June 2018. Web. 28 Feb. 2019.

9 Wikipedia. “Jimmy Cliff (album).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Feb. 2019.

Web. 28 Feb. 2019. 10 Sheehan, Ivan. “The Story of “Ohio”.” Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

N.p., 17 May 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2019 11 Sheehan, “The Story of Ohio”

-RILEY LARSEN

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LIN’ BO E E H BD W Y EE L FR

Why Dylan’s Sophomore Album Has Stood the Test of Time

Thrust upon him by fans and critics alike, the title “Spokesman of a Generation,” was not something Bob Dylan chose. In fact, he lamented the label and expectations that surrounded the sentiment. After his commercially underwhelming debut project Bob Dylan, folk rock diehards and critics were immediately taken back by his sophomore album released just over a year later on May 27, 1963. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan forever altered the relationship between singer and songwriter, as Dylan proved through masterful lyricism and skilled composition that artists were capable and deserving of greater agency over their work.

Starting with “Blowin’ in the Wind,” the lead single of the album that sold over 300,000 copies in its’ first week and peaked at Number Two on the Billboard chart, Dylan set the tone of the album. Soft and pensive, Dylan asks questions of liberty and personal responsibility to others and the world around us. By maintaining a wide approach in his postulations, Dylan keeps the song applicable to a general audience, helping to explain both its contemporary popularity and the tracks transcendence through decades and generations.

In “Girl from the North County,” Dylan speaks with nostalgia about a past love with antique lyrical quality, wondering if “she remembers him at all in the darkness of his night.” Though he is too proud to see her again, Dylan still cares for the woman, hoping she remains warm in the face of howling winds. Sentimental and empathetic, this track exposes Dylan’s delicate expressions for those he holds close, recognizing that the termination of a relationship does not mean the end of thought and feeling about that person.

The sixth track of the album, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” speaks of propaganda in the United States media, using hard rain as a metaphor for the torrential downpour of lies and biased viewpoints coming from newspapers and the radio. This was particularly prevalent during the throws of the Cold War, where Cuba and the USSR were demonized for their political policies and stances by the United States media. Antagonistic in nature, Dylan’s fearlessness and willingness to criticize perceived malevolent behavior made him a hero to many.

Called “self-pitying but brilliant,” by Dave von Ronk, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” was written in the aftermath of Dylan learning that his girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, was considering prolonging her stay in Italy indefinitely. Dylan didn’t view the track as a love song, rather, “a statement that maybe you can say to make yourself feel better. It’s as if you were talking to yourself.” Though there is some debate as to whether Bruce Langhorne was playing the picking guitar or Dylan was on the track by himself, there is no doubt that the beat meshes seamlessly with Dylan’s folk rock sound. Combined with Dylan’s ability to use personal experience and pain to express a feeling applicable to a general audience on full display, it’s no surprise that “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” is still played often today.

In The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Dylan managed to change the way artists evaluated themselves, acting as a catalyst in the development of The Beatles and The Beach Boys, as well as providing inspiration for a new crop of singer/ songwriters like Neil Young and Johnny Cash.

Looking at the way Dylan influenced The Beatles is particularly interesting. John Lennon was quoted saying that The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan was listened to quite thoroughly and often by The Beatles in the summer of 1963.

It is also well known that The Beatles began smoking marijuana, and eventually graduating onto more dangerous drugs, in large part due to their exposure to Dylan. This lifestyle change greatly influenced the way The Beatles went about making their music, especially for Lennon and McCartney as songwriters. It is not often that an album has such an effect on the entirety of the music industry, and though Dylan lamented the idea that Allen Ginsberg could crown him “spokesman of a generation,” Dylan undoubtedly established himself as a pioneer in rock music, something he continued to be long after praise and adulation turned to disenchantment and disgust. Through it all, Dylan maintained his freewheeling self, touching on subjects like civil rights, personal relationship, and political policy in a manner that was subtle and aggressive.

- SAMUEL SERXNER

At the turn of the millenium one of the hottest bands that some say inspired a mainstream trend of punk pop. One of their most defining features was their ability to say anything and everything you were taught not to say. As Mark Hoppus would say “Fuck everybody and everything, I hope everyone catches gonorrhea and dies.” This is just a subtle glimpse into how licentious the band can get. This was just the factor that the youth of America so hardly clinged onto which led to an uprise of a new wave of punk.

Blink 182 was started in a suburb of San Diego, California called Poway. Poway is a quaint town with a country feel to it even though it was a half hour drive to the city or the beach. In the center of town is Poway High School, consisting of anywhere from 3000-4000 students. Out of this giant pool of students, there was Tom DeLonge and Scott Raynor, the founders of Blink 182. The third member, mark Hoppus attended fontana High School, a smaller neighboring school of Poway. Tom performed as vocalist and guitarist, Mark as vocalist and bassist and Scott as drummer. During high school, DeLonge showed up to his school’s varsity basketball drunk. The administrators caught him and ended up expelling him from the school. He ended up Transferring to the cross-town rival, Rancho Bernardo High School. As a typical rebellious teen would act, DeLonge hated everything about his rival school. The original name of the band was referred to as Blink but and Irish band threatened a lawsuit against them causing them to change the name

BLINK

to Blink 182. There is a theory among locals of Poway, California behind the meaning of the band’s name: Blink 182. Many people assume the band name is pronounced Blink one-eightytwo. But really it should be pronounced Blink eighteen-two. These numbers correlate to the letters of the alphabet. The eighteen correlates to the letter R, being the eighteenth letter of the alphabet and the two correlates to B, being the second letter in the alphabet. The two letters combined form RB, the acronym of DeLonge’s rival school he transferred to after he got expelled. The word Blink refers to the sound a TV makes when a cuss word is censored. Therefore, Blink can correlate to the word fuck. So the theory suggests the that Blink 182 means Fuck RB. This also perfectly fits the description of how a punk band would name themselves.

The trio started in in a garage like many teen start-ups would. ‘Flyswatter” was their first demo tape released in May of 1993. The EP was recorded in Scott Raynor’s bedroom on a boombox. It consisted of eight tracks, two of them called “Reebok Commercial” and “Time”. At the time, the made up label, “Fags in the Wilderness”, made by the band, distributed copies via Tom at lunch time. Later that year Buddha was released which contained re-recorded versions of “Reebok Commercial” and “Time”. Blink 182 released records throughout the 90s and slowly grew in popularity with the rise of punk rock. It was in 1996 when the album “Dude Ranch” was recorded and signed with MCA to help with increasing distributions. When the album was released in 1997, 4 million copies were sold and the legacy of Blink 182 took off. Later that year, the single “Dammit” was released. This song was about maturing and losing a girl who wouldn’t take you back. As Tom DeLonge said in The Pursuit of Tone documentary, the recipe for making an unforgettable song was made by writing “Dammit”.

With the growing popularity and fame comes the rise of the party lifestyle. Shortly after the single released, Scott Raynor left the band due to alcohol addiction. A drummer from The Aquabats, a support band, named Travis Barker was asked to take place for Raynor.

These three members of the band were considered the core trio of Blink 182. DeLonge,

Hoppus and Barker would take Blink to a higher level on the popularity charts with the release of “Enema of the State” in 1999. Worldwide,” Enema of the State” sold over 15 million copies and the album included one of Blink 182’s biggest hits, “Adam’s Song”. This moving song illustrates a story of a kid who wrote a letter about taking his life. Towards the end of the song, the lyrics suggest that the boy does not end up committing suicide.

“Adam” is used as a metaphor towards Mark’s depression he experienced while on tour with Blink-182. He stated: ‘Tom and Travis always had girlfriends waiting back home, so they had something to look forward to at the end of the tour. But I didn’t, so it was always like, I was lonely on tour, but then I got home and it didn’t matter because there was nothing there for me anyway.’” With the song having such sensitive lyrics, Blink 182 flipped the song into a fast paced punk feel. This was considered the peak of Blink 182’s legacy as well as a thriving era for punk and pop punk in general.

As the mid-2000s approached, Blink 182 had seen better days. In 2005, Tom DeLonge was growing with conflict. He felt the tour was taking time away from his family and about his freedom for his artistry. He ended up quitting the band leaving Hoppus and Barker in consteration. To make things worse, in 2008, Travis Barker was in a small plane crash which he was diagnosed with PTSD from. The band had a reunion at the 2009 Grammy Awards a year later. This included an official launch of their website. More recently, Blink 182 released an album called “California”, in 2017. This album included the new guitarist Matt Skiba, who replaced Tom DeLonge. For the first time in 15 years, one

K 182

of Blink 182’s two albums, was number one on Billboard’s Top 200 Chart.

Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, Blink 182 went from three high school kids playing punk in a garage, to a nationwide icon selling millions of records. Blink 182 was a band who wrote disdainful lyrics earlier on, but as their career matured, the lyrics transformed into poignant stories about loneliness that would evoke emotion in anyone. Blink 182 led the change in the popularity of punk along with other bands like Green Day. Even to this day Blink 182 finds success after all of the major hindrances of the band’s career because they find ways to cling to the audiences emotions. “Music is life. Music defines people’s’ experience on this planet. Name one time in your life that wasn’t punctuated by the music you listened to at the time. When people are down, they listen to music that commiserates that emotion. When people are amped up, they listen to more upbeat, loud songs.” - Mark Hoppus Edwards, Gavin, and Gavin Edwards. “Blink-182: The Half-Naked Truth.” Rolling Stone. June 25, 2018. Accessed February 28, 2019. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/blink-182-the-half-naked-truth-87106/. “​​blink-182.” Genius. Accessed February 28, 2019. https://genius.com/artists/Blink-182.

Https://www.eventim.co.uk, EVENTIM. “Blink 182.” Mika - Tickets. Accessed February 28, 2019. https://www. eventim.co.uk/blink-182-biography.html?affiliate=EUK&doc=artistPages/biography&fun=artist&action=biography&kuid=242388. ​blink-182.” Genius. Accessed February 28, 2019. https://genius.com/artists/Blink-182.

Https://www.eventim.co.uk, EVENTIM. “Blink 182.” Mika - Tickets. Accessed February 28, 2019. https:// www.eventim.co.uk/blink-182-biography.html?affiliate=EUK&doc=artistPages/biography&fun=artist&action=biography&kuid=242388. “​​blink-182.” Genius. Accessed February 28, 2019. https://genius.com/artists/Blink-182.

Https://www.eventim.co.uk, EVENTIM. “Blink 182.” Mika - Tickets. Accessed February 28, 2019. https://www.eventim.co.uk/blink-182-biography.html?affiliate=EUK&doc=artistPages/ biography&fun=artist&action=biography&kuid=242388.

-SAMSON DOOLEY

ART RUPE AND THE HISTORY OF SPECIALTY RECORDS Arthur Goldberg, more famously known by his industry name Art Rupe, was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania in 1917. It is said that his love for music developed as he listened to gospel music produced by his local church choir. Few who lived in this small city in the ‘20’s could have imagined that a young Goldberg, who was born into a Jewish family, would take this gospel experience and use it to initiate the early stages of rock and roll thirty years later.

After spending his teenage years in Western Pennsylvania, Rupe attended school at Miami University of Ohio and subsequently UCLA. Los Angeles would be the place where Specialty Records would eventually come to fruition seven years later. Initially, however, Rupe had a fairly difficult time trying to establish himself in the music business as an unknown artist starting from the bottom of the LA scene. After failed investments in Atlas Records and the establishment of his original company, Juke Box Label, in the early 1940’s, Rupe finally established Specialty Records in 1946.

The establishment of Specialty Records was, unbeknownst at the time, the start of a cultural revolution. Rupe’s producing prowess and his love for gospel sound would lead to the evolution of the rhythm and blues sound. Rupe was also known for his marketing prowess that would eventually help the Specialty label grow to reach the top. He could not do this by himself however; he needed star power to elevate his productions to the next level. Initially, Roy Milton was Specialty’s premier artist, with nineteen top ten hits. Lloyd Price also had a run of success on the label that would further establish them in the business. These two led the way for a new star for Rupe that would change the history of rock and roll forever.

The discovery of Little Richard is a turning point in Specialty’s history that Art Rupe himself, now 101 years old, remembers fondly. Upon induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the now legendary producer recounted the story of sending his trusty right hand man, Robert Blackwell, affectionately known as “Bumps”, to New Orleans to record with the very much unknown artist Little Richard, whose birth name is Richard Penniman. Rupe additionally credits Lloyd Price for his discovery; he tells of a legend that Penniman saw Price flaunting his riches down in rural Georgia. When asked how he acquired such wealth, Price suggested to Penniman to make his way over to Specialty Records. Even after this event, Little Richard was barely discovered by Rupe and his team. He details how Penniman’s audition tapes, which may have been sent after the supposed meeting with Price, were passed over on an initial listen-through by “Bumps”, and only listened to again because Penniman did not leave the record label alone via telephone. Rupe also explains in this Hall of Fame interview that “Bumps” did not see much promise in Penniman until he heard him sing a crude version of “Tutti Frutti” (which Little Richard would eventually release with Specialty in 1955).

It did not take long for Little Richard to establish himself as a star of rock and roll during the late 1950s. The tamer, final version of “Tutti Frutti” became a hit (but not before Pat Boone produced an even less provocative cover of the song). This run of success lasted until 1957 when Little Richard famously quit the music business to become a preacher, but not

before Rupe and Specialty Records had altered the course of rhythm and blues forever.

Another significant -- albeit somewhat lesser known -- event in the history of Specialty Records is one that was a byproduct of Rupe’s obsession with gospel music and its audience.

Around the same time that Little Richard left the label, the Soul Stirrers were signed with Specialty. The Soul Stirrers were known for their gospel sound, which Rupe famously found so endearing. The controversy arose, however, when Sam Cooke, lead singer for the Soul Stirrers, yearned to transition over to the pop world.

One well-documented story from this situation describes Rupe’s reaction when he witnessed “Bumps” and Cooke recording pop songs without his permission. Following an outburst, this resulted in “Bumps” and Cooke being released from the studio instantaneously. The two then brought their respective talents to a rival label and Cooke established himself as a new pop star.

One can only imagine the heights that Specialty would have reached if not for that blow-up in the late ‘50s.

Based on this account, Rupe is definitely a captivating character, to say the least. His love for gospel sound helped him become the pioneer we know him as today, but it may have also hindered him in the end. He had just overseen the rise of a star as flamboyant as Little Richard; of course hindsight is 20/20, but knowing the success that Little Richard brought, how could he dismiss the possibility of cultivating a new superstar in the same vein? Based on the story, it seems that Rupe did not even think twice about giving Cooke a chance to show his pop music prowess. Rupe must have felt that he was being egregiously undermined by Blackwell, or else serious respect has to be shown to Rupe for staying true to himself and his love for his own gospel roots in making such a harsh decision.

The sacking of Sam Cooke, along with Rupe’s overall disagreement with payola may have hurt Specialty Records and its longevity. Despite this, Rupe has to be admired for pushing rhythm and blues into the mainstream through his production. He came a long way from Greensburg, PA to LA, bringing his gospel influence all that way with him. Eventually, Specialty Records stopped

production and legal issues with Little Richard arose decades later, but we can all thank Art Rupe and his label for altering the landscape of music culture forever.

“Art Rupe.” Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, 2011, www.rockhall.com/inductees/art-rupe.

Gill, Andy. “Little Richard: The Specialty Sessions.” Rock’s Backpages, Q, Feb. 1990, www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/ little-richard-the-specialty-sessions.

Gillett, Charlie. “Specialty Records: Little Richard, Lloyd Price, and a Los Angeles Label.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 Apr. 2010, www. britannica.com/topic/Specialty-Records-Little-Richard-Lloyd-Price-and-a-Los-AngelesLabel-1688489.

Hoskyns, Barney. “The Soul Stirrer: Sam Cooke.” Rock’s Backpages, MOJO, Jan. 1995, www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/ the-soul-stirrer-sam-cooke.

-CAMERON PARK

THE POWER OF RAP: DECONSTRUCTED Rap has had a meteoric rise in popularity despite its inception and formal labeling as a genre of music in the early 1970s. Rap Music has proven itself to be the genre of music most capable of vivifying a given experience. Rap music concurrently affects listeners’ moods and broadens their perspectives if one considers how rap causes listeners to experience the full spectrum of emotions, how the structuring and deliverance of rap songs’ narratives offer its listeners a cathartic journey, and how the songs when taken holistically are tools for establishing a dual perspective that carries forward the endless dialogue of art.

When focusing on the sounds generated within the beats of rap there is a consistent flow that controls the song. This flow is what allows the singer to develop a rhyme scheme that captures the listener’s attention. The fluctuation of snares, hi-hats, 808s, kick, and other sounds drive the heart of the song no matter what words are said. These beats are also capable of controlling the emotions of the listener. For songs that are more mellow and sad, there is a “dull timbre - slow vibrato,” however for more upbeat songs, there is a “fast tempo - high volume - bright timbre” (Everett 5:07). A simple shift in the beats per minute (bpm) of the song can dictate the

mood. The ability that rap has to change emotions so greatly is why the Professor of Music Emeritus at Northwestern University, Bennett Reimer feels that “the range of music’s power to embody and display feeling is an enormous, encompassing the lightest, most fleeting divergence, the most complex in weightly profundities, and everything in between.” (Reimer 11). Rap’s ability to affect emotions does not only come from the beats, but also the lyrics. Most rappers come from struggling backgrounds, getting in trouble with the law, with a lack of guidance. They use rap as a medium to escape the horrors of their lives; their verbiage is, “based on feelings, emotions, physical sensations and actions, and certainly not on ‘pure thought’” (Reimer 5). By speaking from the heart rappers are able to add to the variety of rap by singing freestyles. In these, they say whatever comes to their heads in a rhythmic manner creating an emotional connection between singer and listener.

While rap can capture all emotions in the raw sound of the song, the lyrics also have their own unique ability to take the listeners subconscious on a cathartic journey. Rap songs are sung in a rhythmic manner seemingly connecting verses, bridges, and hooks. When breaking down Inspectah Deck’s 1997 Verse On Wu-Tang Clan’s “Triumph,” one can notice the number of

words he can rhyme in a verse while he tells of the groups rise to the throne of the rap game. This seamless injection of wordplay is one reason that “Triumph” reached the top of the charts. In Jaden Smith’s “B” “L” “U” “E”, a twelve-minute song split into four smaller ones, he implements the use of iambic pentameter, which is when “lines are written with 10 alternating stressed and unstressed syllables split into 5 parts” (Morel: 38-:42). Iambic pentameter dates all the way back to the Shakespearean Era when Shakespeare used it in many of his plays. The listener is hooked by the unique cadence of song and is lured into Jaden’s story of being in a state of sadness, melancholy, and loneliness for the whole twelve minutes. Jaden is not the only one that has used iambic pentameter, other notable artists and songs include Kendrick Lamar’s “DNA.,” 2Pac’s “Hit ‘Em Up,” and The Notorious B.I.G., “One More Chance.”

On the other hand, many rap songs stray away from intricate rhythm schemes, instead, they use repetition as a method to attract the listener’s attention. This style usually comes with more controversy as it’s seen as, “uncreative, unchallenging and lacks complexity” (Caswell 2:14-2:15). Despite the criticism, the most creative rappers still implement the technique.

In Eminem’s “My Name Is” he repeats the line “My Name is” a total of 48 times, yet this song is what vaulted him onto the national stage and garnered him his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 42nd Grammy Awards in 2000.

In rap, successful results of creation, whether it be mixtapes, albums, performances, or freestyles, are similarly prized because they contribute to our musical welfare, with all the resulting positive consequences for the quality of our lives. We treasure a good song as a source of musical satisfaction and meaning.

When used as a background to showcase another art, like photography, “music is exquisitely emotionally evocative, which is why a touch of happy music makes even unrelated pictures seem more pleasant” (Changizi 1). Rap has the ability to venture beyond the meanings made available by words to mean-

ings only sounds can generate which guides us on the quest for profound experience. For those that are able to create with creative imagination, they encompass mind, body, and feeling, and embrace universal, cultural, and individual levels of experience, exemplifying the human capacity to bring meaning into existence. Rap is a pattern leaving us “anticipating what melodies, harmonies, and rhythms may come next” (Resnick 1). The music controls the subconscious, from determining, excitement and happiness to disgust and sadness guiding the human condition.

Rap is an essential source of pleasurable experience, either by itself or assisted with a variety of other pursuits of enjoyment. It can be structured and delivered such that the narratives offered to its listener’s aid in a purifying journey. The genre exhibits the ability to express energy and pleasure, resulting in the music being stored as a means for gaining the values of life experienced as joyful. It serves the need for experience; much deeper meanings are uncovered often quite profound.

Rap’s alliance with this level of experience has been acknowledged throughout recent history as adding a profound realm of value to human life.

Caswell, Estelle. “Why We Really, Really, Really like Repetition in Music.” Vox, Vox, 13 Oct. 2017, www.vox.com/ videos/2017/10/13/16469744/repetition-in-music.

Changizi, Mark. “Why Does Music Make Us Feel?” Scientific American, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, A DIVISION OF NATURE AMERICA, INC., 15 Sept. 2009, www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-music-make-us-fe/.

Morel, Jacques. “Jaden Smith’s Hidden Shakespeare Homage In ‘BLUE.’” YouTube, YouTube, 6 Dec. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLzWSGd0OIU. “Music and the Human Condition: Steve Everett at TEDxEmory.” Performance by Steve Everett, Youtube, 13 Dec. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgbvCxlIqbw.

Reimer, Bennett. “Why Do Humans Value Music?”

Northwestern University.

Resnick, Brian. “The Scientific Mystery of Why Humans Love Music.” Vox, Vox, 4 Feb. 2016, www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/2/4/10915492/why-do-we-likemusic.

- BENJAMIN KAPLAN

Tim Bergling, known as Avicii, has been one of the most influential musicians for my generation. His ingenious mind was able to create remixes of almost every variety of music. From remixing hip-hop, country, R&B, and rock music while also creating his own music, Avicii was able to captivate the world with the new trend of electronic music. Growing up in Stockholm, Sweden, Bergling was exposed to electronic music at a very early age thanks to the likes of bands like Swedish House Mafia, Basshunter, The Knife, and many more. Since the age of 16, Avicii was releasing his remixes of a variety of electronic music forums. In a time when EDM and dance music popularity is rapidly growing, Avicii entered the music industry at the perfect time. Many critics and music professionals credit Avicii in helping electronic music gallop into the top 40 radio music genre’s. In his prime, Avicii was ranked in the top 10 of DJ’s from 2011-2015(Cijffers). During that time period, he released his best music work yet and took the music industry by storm. According to Billboard, from 2012-2015, Avicii had three songs reach within the top two for dance hits including ​Wake Me Up!, Hey Brother, and Levels(Zellner). As we near the one-year anniversary of Avicii passing, I wanted to look back at the life and true impact this artist had on the world.

As technology has evolved for the music industry, artists have been able to create and develop a new style of music. With the capabilities of new equipment like the audio interface, keyboards, controllers, digital audio workstation and others, artists have created a new trend of upbeat and trendy music. Artists like Skrillex, Tiesto, Calvin Harris, David Guetta and more have been able to captivate many listeners while constantly bringing hundreds of thousands of fans to live music festivals. The equipment that helps produces this electronic music was used to its full advantage as unique digital, audio, and visual effects separated electronic music concerts from every other genre of music.

With music festivals increasing in demand, Avicii was obviously a huge name promoters tried to sign for live events to bring in maximum revenue. Major Dj’s like Avicii demanded six-digit compensation for performance which slowly became the new norm in the festival market. In 2014, when Avicii was at the peak of his popularity and electronic music revenue grew nearly 40%, he earned 28 million dollars with a large proportion coming from live events. Overall, Avicii gross earnings over his career, which were primarily based on live performances, totaled to around 90 million dollars (​Karaian​). Avicii took full advantage of the change in venues and rapid increases in ticket prices. This modern movement of music festivals has been a massive difference compared to previous music generation due to the number of people attending live events as well as

AVICII’S LIFE, IMPACT, AND PRESENCE ON THE MUSIC INDUSTRY the revenue the music industry produces.

One of the few reputations the electronic music genre has carried on from previous generations is the presence of drugs. With the absurd amount of money artists make from live events and other revenue streams, the presence of money in the music industry usually leads down a road which conflicts with drugs. Many artists have fallen victim to the presence of drugs including some of the most famous musicians like ​Jimi Hendrix, Heath Ledger, Amy Winehouse, Chris Farley and sadly many more. The stereotype of a drug infected community has infected the music industry, especially in the electronic music industry. ​​Avicii, unfortunately, was addicted to many different narcotics.

In Avicii’s life, his family and friends always expressed their concern for him and the anxiety he had when performing music(​ Tsikurishvili​). The documentary “Avicii True Stories” does a great job of getting an inside look at the life of Avicii while exploring the extreme pressures of drugs while being a music performer. In the documentary, it shows Avicii describing the constant pressures of being an internationally known DJ. He describes how other DJ’s continuously drank at their live performances while still being able to release new billboard ranked music throughout the year. It was clear when watching the documentary that the stress of making music dominated his life and his mind. Constant pressure from friends and business partners to continue to make music and tour lead him to retire in 2016. Avicii could not find the same joy and passion for making music and performing on a weekly basis. This troubled him as many of his friends said he often worked as a perfectionist. On April 20th, 2018 Avicii took his own life. Although the cause of death has not been released, it’s a major probability that an overdose was the cause

of death. According to a press release by his family, Avicii suffered from ​“thoughts about Meaning, Life, Happiness. He could not go on any longer. He wanted to find peace.”(​ Britton​). His life was unfortunately cut short due to the peer pressures of his entire environment. The pressence of the music industry, drugs, and peer pressure lead him to such a sad event. One of the major themes displayed in Avicii’s Documentary is how the music career lifestyle can seem appealing to outsiders but the toll taken on by artists can sometimes be too much. As the music industry and culture continues to grow I hope it can separate itself as a friendly companion with drugs as well as having constant pressure on artists to produce music. If the electronic music genre can distinguish itself from past generations of music I can only believe artists will only have more time and energy to produce their best music.

Cijffers, Charlotte Lucy. “Poll 2018: Avicii.” ​DJMag. com,​12 Oct. 2018, djmag.com/top-100-djs/poll-2018avicii.

Zellner, Xander. “Avicii’s Biggest Billboard Hits.” ​Billboard,​Billboard, 21 Apr. 2018, www.billboard.com/ articles/columns/chart-beat/8358844/avicii-biggestbillboard-hits.

Britton, Luke Morgan. “How Did Avicii Die? Death Reported as Suicide after Family Say: ‘He Could Not Go on Any Longer.’” ​NME,​NME, 6 Nov. 2018, www.nme. com/news/music/how-did-avicii-die-2298210.

Karaian, Jason. “Avicii’s Fortunes Mirrored the Rise of Electronic Dance Music.” ​Quartz​, Quartz, 21 Apr. 2018, qz.com/1258832/aviciis-net-worth-reflectededm-as-a-force-in-the-music-industry/.

Tsikurishvili, Levan, director. ​Avicii: True Stories.​​Netflix​, 2017.

-MATT CHASE

Every spring and summer, thousands of people make their way through the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford, CT for what they hope is a great night full of fun, dancing, lots of alcohol, and amazing headlining acts. But for those who haven’t been, the real question you’re probably thinking is, “is it worth going?”.

As someone who lives twenty-five minutes away in MA, I have had the chance to attend some of these concerts with many of my friends, so I have a relatively solid idea of what they’re all about. There are a number of aspects to these concerts, and the only way truly to know if they’re the right saturday night event for you is to go to one! From popular mainstream acts like Lil Uzi Vert, Future, Chance the Rapper, and Florida Georgia Line, to older bands like Santana or Iron Maiden, Xfinity Theatre has a variety of choices for all music fans and could be your next destination.

One major aspect of these concerts to note is that there will be many, many drunk people at the venue. From crazy intoxicated teens who “pre-game” in the giant parking lot that many call the “dirt lot”, to the fun and boisterous adults that buy large cans of beer and

fruity drinks inside the theatre, there will be no lack of drunk people. If this just isn’t you and your buddies’ scene, then that’s completely fine, and I’m sure music sounds great with headphones cuddled up in your comfy bed eating some popcorn or candy. But, if you’re willing to give it a chance, with these drunk concert-goers comes a fun, loud and eventful night!

Personally I have been to three country concerts at Xfinity Theatre and I would have to say that they’ve all been nothing short of a great show. Florida Georgia Line had the house cranking back in 2017, and that was a concert nobody in attendance could ever forget. Hits such as “May We All” and “God, Your Mama, and Me” absolutely rocked the stage and had couples dancing, kissing, and doing whatever else their hearts desired. It wasn’t until they closed with their biggest hit called, “H.O.L.Y”, which was the number #1 country song in the year 2016 (Billboard), came through the speakers that I was truly in awe. I found myself belting out the lyrics at the top of my lungs along with thousands of other random people, and I can guarantee that this was the loudest I had ever heard the place. So

ARE CONCERTS WORTH IT?

for the folks who call themselves country fans, buying a ticket to see a country music star at Xfinity Theatre is something you may want to check off your bucket list.

From a rap/hip-hop concert perspective, the atmosphere is totally different at Xfinity. Yes, there will still be that same crowd of teens in the “dirt lot” and the adults buying all the booze they could want inside the venue, but the vibes are more “hype” if you will. Everyone is ready to get rowdy from the moment they enter the gates! And for good reason. I’ve been lucky enough to see both a Lil Uzi Vert concert and a Future concert there and let me tell you, it is honestly a crazy atmosphere.

From the instant I was even on the premises of the theatre, chants such as, “Uzi! Uzi! Uzi!”, are ringing about the crowd. People walking with a noticeable pep in their step, super anxious and eager to enjoy the concert they paid to see. Now I may be slightly biased because Lil Uzi Vert is top three in my all time favorite rappers, so of course, I loved every aspect of the concert. From the moment Uzi was on stage, the music was absolutely blasting out of the large theatre speakers so loudly that I could barely even think. Whether it was his all-time

best song, “XO Tour Lif3” (2017), or two of my favorites “20 Min” (2017) and “Money Longer” (2016), my eyes and ears were captivated the entire time along with the thousands of other people. Constant jumping up and down, yelling lyrics and cheering for every song seems like it would get old, but with a huge crowd around and a performer like Uzi on the Xfinity stage, you wish the concert never ends.

Deciding whether or not concerts at Xfinity Theatre are right for you isn’t easy. The only way to know is to check out the lineup for online, and see if there’s someone that you’re a fan of performing there. In my opinion around sixty bucks for a cheap seat in the general admission lawn is honestly a steal, because the music and atmosphere created in the theatre is truly like no other and make it well worth the price. Country fans, rap fans, rock fans and music fans, take a look at this year’s lineup and decide for yourself whether you and your friends will take the risk on an Xfinity concert ticket for a night to remember.

-SPENCER ROBBINS

WOODSTOCK: A MONUMENTAL SUCCESS OR FAILURE? The Woodstock Music Festival was held in Bethel, NY in August 1969. Without unpacking the larger themes associated with the festival, Woodstock was intended to be a celebration of music and billed with the phrase, “An Aquarian Experience: 3 Days of Peace and Music,” (Woodstock).

The lineup of artists included Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Canned Heat and a variety of musicians from different genres of music (Woodstock). Contrary to the romanticized image of what the founders intended, Woodstock quickly turned into a muddy, drugged chaos. The chaos behind the festival spoke to a larger and more complex issue within the United States at the time.

The mayhem within the festival was an animal in its own. Today, many speak about the Woodstock music festival as failing so stupendously that it became a success. The festival consisted of oversized crowds of around a half a million individuals since the fences were trampled and suddenly Woodstock became ticket-free; the audience traveled back at least two subway stops away from the stage and the performers. The stage was in constant danger of collapsing, leading to individuals standing underneath in order to stop the entire platform for caving in. Not to mention the rain that became a hazard as well as creating a muddy, messy experience. David Dalton remarks on his own experience in at Woodstock, stating that, “...it was an over-rehearsed costume musical with a cast of hundreds of thousands of weekend hippies, a kinky remake of The Sound of Music.” (Dalton). The entire experience from his point of view, was a combination of drugs and discombobulated performers and attendees which on some level, was most likely the reality of Woodstock. Woodstock was stereotyped by hippie culture, which of course gives way to another aspect of the festival. Dalton discusses the drug culture within the festival almost to distract the audience from the dysfunction of the event, “Woodstock, if anything, was the point at which psychedelics ceased being tools for experience and perception and became a means of crowd control.” (Dalton). Dalton claims that the reason for the lack of violence was rooted in the drugged haze of the audience. The chaos associated with Woodstock however did not take away

from the entirety of the experience; but the underlying themes with the festival created a new meaning to the event.

The elephant in the room in August 1969 was the political turmoil apparent throughout the United States. With Richard Nixon in the White House, dealing with the ongoing war in Vietnam, the public was outwardly dissatisfied with the actions of the government. A notable performance at Woodstock was Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. This performance of the National Anthem sent an indirect message to the government as well as the audience expressing public sentiment towards obvious political issues. Hendrix played the anthem with long, drawn out chords, creating almost a screech that resembled an air-raid siren or some call out for help; the emotion and the symbolism of the song was abruptly apparent (Cush). The Star-Spangled Banner, originally a song that emulated liberty and justice, now illuminated the ugliness and brutality behind American glory (Cush).

The Woodstock music festival was a monumental success.

The success itself did not come from the core performances from well-known artists, instead it came from the social and political message and sentiment sent to the public as well as the government. Marked by Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of Star-Spangled Banner, the United States as an entirety was taken back by the indirect voice from the screeches of an electric guitar. Woodstock represented a turning point for the American narrative. Woodstock gave the American public the ability to speak through radical political protest, the media, as well as other mediums including the music industry.

Cush, Andy. “Remember When Jimi Hendrix Protested the National Anthem on a National Stage?” Spin, SPIN, 12 Sept. 2016, www.spin. com/2016/09/remember-when-jimi-hendrix-protested-the-national-anthem-on-a-national-stage/.

Dalton, David. “Woodstock.” Rock’s Backpages, 1999, www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/woodstock-2.

Degliantoni, Lisa. “Woodstock Revisited.” EBSCOhost, Aug. 1994, search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9409027585&site= eds-live.

Editors, History.com. “Woodstock.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Mar. 2018, www.history.com/topics/1960s/woodstock.

Role, et al. “Jimi Hendrix: The Road to Woodstock.” BBC, BBC, 2 Sept.

2018, www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03p7p6v.

“The Woodstock ‘69 Lineup.” Woodstock, www.woodstock.com/lineup/.

Yglesias, Ana. “Two Woodstock 50th Anniversary Events Are Coming.”

GRAMMY.com, Recording Academy, 26 Feb. 2019, www.grammy.com/ grammys/news/two-woodstock-50th-anniversary-events-plannedaug-2019.

- OLIVIA BAGLIERI

PHISH FANDOM For nearly every band, developing a strong community of followers is right up there with making good music on their list of priorities.

For some musicians, the mildly extreme description of their fans as “cult like” would be a great source of pride. Eyebrows can’t help but be raised, though, when a fanbase is so dedicated to a band that nearly 70,000 of them travel deep into rural northern Vermont, abandon their cars, and hike down highways in August heat to hear their favorite band play one final concert. Who is this band that created such a die hard following throughout the 80s and 90s? What’s life like for fans and their friends and family? And how does a quiet farming town react when tens of thousands of people roll in and take over for a weekend?

Phish was formed in 1983 at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. The original group consisted of Jon Fishman on drums, Trey Anastasio on guitar and vocals, and Jeff Holdsworth on guitar. Holdsworth left two years after their inception, but they picked up bassist Mike Gordon and keyboardist Page McConnell which solidified their group. They began their careers performing at college campuses near Burlington and around New England, not recording an album until 1988.

In 1991 Phish started traveling and playing around the country, continuing to broaden their fanbase. By the late 90s, partially on account of their nonstop touring schedule, they had gained serious popularity, and despite taking a break from music in 2000, the band’s listening base continued to grow as they cemented their position as an influential part of American rock history. Thanks to incessant pleading from their loyal fans, Phish got back together in 2002 and began touring again, but after releasing an album in 2004, they decided to give one last concert and break up for good. Even after that 2004 concert, they continued to sporadically release music, never completely committing to a separa-

tion. Much to the delight of their ceaselessly devoted following, they formally reunited in 2009, and have since released 9 albums and continue to tour.

When Phish announced in 2004 that they were throwing in the towel for good, one fan described the pain she felt as “worse than if every boyfriend I’d ever loved had gotten together to end things with me in unison”.

While high levels of band loyalty isn’t uncommon among music listeners, Phish fans are unique in just how many of them have made Phish a major part of their lives. One article, written for Vogue by a self-proclaimed “Phish wife”, describes the measures her and several of her friends went to in order to accommodate the Phish fans in their families. She tells of New Year’s Eves spent at concerts watching Phish members “ride in on a giant hot dog high above the noodling masses of New York’s Madison Square Garden”, dinner date conversations infused with Phish related reference, childhood milestones spent home alone with her daughter, all in account of her husband’s obsession with Phish.

In one of the greatest expressions of Phish fandom in the band’s history, nearly 70,000 people drove into rural northern Vermont to listen to their favorite band play what was supposed to be their last ever show in 2004. Expectations were high before the concert, fans hoping for closure as the band who had brought them so much joy left the music scene with one final hurrah. Much to their dismay, the concert was a complete disaster. Torrential rains pummeled Vermont during the days leading up to the show, and the farmer’s field rented for the show turned into a mud pit. Cars couldn’t get in or out, campgrounds were ruined, and it quickly became apparent that there wouldn’t be enough room for everyone slated to show up. The venue was wildly unequipped for the influx of people that would make Coventry, a

town of barely 1000 people, the largest city in Vermont for the weekend. Local and state road systems were equally unprepared, interstate traffic coming to a dead stop for miles.

When bassist Mike Gordon came on the radio to say there was no more room for concert goers at the venue, people abandoned their cars and belongings and decided to walk the rest of the way. One local recalled, in a dazed sense of amazement that seemed not to have faded over the last 15 years, that there was “more trash than I ever thought possible”. She remembers locals offering (or charging for) rides, selling water bottles, and sorting through trash alongside roads after the weekend had ended.

As much as the concert rocked northern Vermont, it was an even more tumultuous experience for Phish fans. Those dedicated enough to abandon their cars, and slog through fields of mud in humid August heat were treated to what is widely considered the worse of Phish’s nearly 1,700 shows.

One fan described the atmosphere as “dark, depressing and generally unpleasant”, with “the emotional trappings of a funeral.” Mr. Miner, the renowned Phish blogger, put it best: “the music, overall, matched the vibe of the festival as well—an utter fucking mess. Calling Coventry a travesty would be the understatement of the century.”

Very few bands in history have creating followings as unwaveringly committed as Phish has. These are people who travel the country attending 15 or more shows a year, spend major holidays at Phish concerts, and are

willing to abandon cars and other worldly possessions and hike down highways for miles to be transported to a special, higher place only Phish’s music can take them. They wreak havoc on entire states for weekends at a time, get stuck in lakes of mud, listen to the worse shows of their lives, and still come out the other side as loyal as can be, ready for the next show.

“Coventry, Vermont (VT 05855).” Accessed March 1, 2019. http://www.city-data.com/city/Coventry-Vermont. html.

Miner. “Mr. Miner’s Phish Thoughts » Coventry,” August 14, 2014. http:// phishthoughts. com/tag/coventry/.

“Personal Stats.”

Accessed March 1, 2019. http://www. ihoz.com/raw.htm.

“Phish | Biography & History.”

AllMusic. Accessed March 1, 2019. https:// www.allmusic. com/artist/phishmn0000333464/ biography.

Gary E. Lindsley, “Thongs Of Phish Heads Walk Into Festival Site”, The Caledonian Record, 8/16/2004 Ruiz, Michelle. “Confessions of a Phish Wife.” Vogue, December 28, 2015. https://www.vogue.com/article/ confessions-of-a-phish-wife.

Spencer, Kate. “Remembering Coventry: 5 Unforgettable Moments From Phish’s 2004 Break-Up Show.”

VH1 News, August 14, 2014. http://www.vh1.com/ news/53573/phish-coventry-10th-anniversary/.

“Worst Phish Performance of All Time?” Accessed March 1, 2019. http://forum.phish.net/forum/ show/1333241772.

“Four Members of Phish Set for SPAC Triple Play | The Daily Gazette.” Accessed March 1, 2019. https://dailygazette.com/article/2016/06/30/four-members-phishset-spac-triple-play.

-LUKE DEWEES

In June of 2018 Awful Records founder, Father, announced a deal with RCA Records that would take form as a “creative partnership.” This deal would basically give Awful the access to funding they need in order to create projects beyond the reach of their own financial ability. The implications of an independent group like Awful signing to a major label are something that has made Father and many other independent artists tread carefully when navigating the music industry.

world, and as they were clearly bringing something different to the table the music industry quickly caught on. Former Awful member Playboi Carti went on to sign with A$AP Mob’s AWGE Label and Interscope Records, with his past two albums Playboi Carti and Die Lit peaking at #19 and #31, respectively, on the Billboard chart for Top Album Sales. Carti perhaps being the stellar example of Awful’s eye for talent. Father has been offered a number of record deals over the years, but taking his time to not fall into the music industry trap that If you’ve never heard of Father many independent artists fall or Awful Records there’s a good into he turned them all down. chance that you’ve seen or heard their influence in not just With the internet, especially rap and hip hop but also in pop- Soundcloud and Instagram, as ular internet culture. The group a public platform for self problew up in 2014 with a number motion, many artists are able of releases including Father’s to grow cult followings before “Look at Wrist” featuring long ever hitting the mainstream. time Awful collaborator and The record deals that follow Atlanta native iLoveMakonnen. internet fame could often be Awful boasts an eclectic linedetrimental to the artists creup of artists including Father, ative process. Take an artist like Ashley Romero, Abra, Tommy Lil Uzi Vert for example, who Genesis, Ethereal, RichPoSlim, has a timeline of problems with Archibald Slim, Stalin Majesty, his record label Generation Zack Fox, Slug Christ, Danger Now under major label AtlanIncorporated duo Louis Duffel- tic Records. Most recently Uzi bags and Boothlord, Faye Web- has announced that he has quit ster, KeithCharles Spacebar, music and longs for the simpler Playboi Carti, and more recently days of 2013. It has been a year Alex Russell, Big Baby Scumbag and a half since his last album and Meltycanon. Ranging murelease and he has been teasing sically from emo and indie rock the release of his Sophomore to RnB and trap, Father’s eye LP “Eternal Atake” for months for talent goes beyond music to now, but due to apparent comcreatives like Zack Fox, a graph- plications with his record label ic designer/comedian/radio he is unable to release any mushow host. As an independent sic. Another example is Night record label with the internet Lovell, a Canadian rapper with at their fingertips, they have a cult following in the underprided themselves on their do- ground rap scene whose album it-yourself lifestyle of creative “GOODNIGHTLOVELL” was debauchery fueled by random set to release on January 25th, drops of content on Sound2019. Days before the apparcloud and Youtube. ent release date, Lovell shared a handwritten note to his fans The internet gave them every- notifying them that the album thing they needed in order to would not be released for anself promote and make a name other month, writing, “This for themselves in the music situation was completely out of

my hands. This album is done. I was ready to give it to you, then I was blindsided.” These are just two of many examples of artists of recent fame becoming frustrated with their label deals.

When it comes to making it in the industry, many young artists of color come to realize too late that they may be signing away their own agency in exchange for an industry check.

This is exactly what Father wanted to avoid with Awful Records. With a collective whose freedom of agency in their work was what made them so special, and who prided themselves upon their random releases, he has to make sure not to sign that away for a quick ticket to fame. So when it came out that Father had signed a deal with RCA Records there was bound to be concern within his fanbase. In interviews following his record deal and announcement of an album titled “Awful Swim” in collaboration with Adult Swim, Father has reassured fans that he took the time to choose a deal that worked for Awful.

With a team that shoots for the stars in their creative endeavors, they need the ability to pursue that while also getting the funding to do so. Father explains that under the deal with RCA they will still have control over their releases and will also receive the greater exposure that comes with a powerful record label. They will be able to reach audiences outside of their almost underground cult following while receiving the funding to dream bigger. There is no telling what Awful Records will make of this deal, but Father has voiced that his goals would include a Hulu original series or even a book detailing the story of Awful and how they got to where they are today.

-KALIB VARELA

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Navigating the Transition from Independent Artist Collective to an RCA Records Deal

TECHNOLOGY & THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL ASPECT of MUSIC Technology and music have always been intertwined, from the invention of the amplifier to the development of Spotify, these two aspects of society are linked and will remain so. Arguably the biggest change that technology and social media, as they exist in the present moment, have produced, is that of easy and widespread access to music in a way that wasn’t even imaginable to previous generations. The days of physical records and albums seem to be behind us, as they take on a new aesthetic value. With one click someone can stream an entire album for free, whether they be in New York or New Delhi. While the advent of streaming services has broken down a lot of economic barriers that may have limited people’s access to music in the past, it has come at a definite cost, which although important, will not be the brunt of discussion in this article. What will be of importance is how increased connectivity and general technological advancements have created a territory that artists, and musicians alike, are exploring in extremely novel ways, and which are being experienced on a mass level of consumption unlike anything we have previously experienced as a society.

Album covers, sleeves, jackets, and inserts were all previously used mediums that musicians used to give their music a visual dimension, in some instances, to

provide context for their music, in others, just for expression. No one disputes the fact that art and music go hand in hand, as do music and fashion, and music and politics, and so on, but what seems to be a uniquely twenty first century aspect, is the multimedia outlets that are available to artists that can be synthesized into a coherent work to be experienced as a unit.

While creative and rather avant garde music videos have become more popular in Europe and specifically, London, they haven’t really permeated mainstream American culture in the same way. An explanation for this could come from the fact that creative production agencies that deal with this kind of music and video production don’t function in the same capacity in the American entertainment industry. Production companies, creative agencies, etc., tend to be much more niche and less comprehensive, leading to creation of work that isn’t necessarily as cohesive or multidimensional, simply due to a structure that isn’t necessarily as conducive to that. One example of a production hub that has avoided this, is the London based company JFC worldwide, which has produced all of Jungle’s Music Videos. JFC worldwide represents directors and acts uniquely in its ability to translate the message of the Jungle collective into an understandable art piece.

The merging of outstanding choreography, fashion, innovative set design, and strong social messaging, combined with the truly phenomenal tracks, allows the viewer to engage in a transcendental experience that previously would not have even existed without the space for such a multidimensional piece to come into existence The music video for “I dare You” by the XX is another piece of work that takes on a deeper and more emotional meaning when viewed with its music video.

An homage to Los Angeles, the place the majority of the album was written, the music video is able to elicit something that the song alone isn’t, a sense of nostalgia quintessential to the city itself, which the musicians drew upon for inspiration while writing. The music video as an art form added a further dimension to the original work, as did the story explored in the video itself, and so on. What is happening currently, is that we are living in a time where how we experience music is changing. A new genre is starting to open up that encompasses a type of mixed music that is truly meant to be experienced collectively, rather than individually in parts. Songs that may not be understandable or seem coherent by themselves suddenly make sense when viewed with their accompanying video, a new method of translation between artist and viewer has emerged. In a sense, the mixed media aspect of music videos, and other art forms that merge with music, allow the artist to experiment with more languages in order to express what they are thinking; it has opened up new av-

enues in the vocabulary of expression artists have access to in order to reach the individual.

The technological ingenuity of the 2013 music video for Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”, serves a metaphor for the new age of music we live in, and spearheaded a fascinating expansion in music appreciation and consumption. It is with keen anticipation that I look forward to seeing what mixed media musical endeavors we see in the future.

- FREYA STRASBURG

“I seem to have a wide reputation, but my records don’t sell a lot. A lot of people seem to have bought one record or they heard one record a long time ago and got me down, so they don’t have to check in anymore: ‘Oh, that guy. The one with the deep voice without a shave? Know him. Sings about eggs and sausage? Yeah, got it.’” — Tom Waits, 1993 Interview Tom Waits is not an eccentric. A beatnik, a lush, a poet, an undefinable mystery—all of these reputations and more precede him, perpetuating his mystique but never encapsulating his identity. The myth and the allure of Waits is that his varying personas have been so talked to death over the last forty years that to this day, shrouded in speculation, he remains largely misunderstood and inaccessible.

Most avid Tom Waits listeners will tell you that his early stuff isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Quick to write off his pared down, folksy music of the seventies, we point to Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs as the pivotal moments in his music career: when Tom Waits really became Tom Waits. While I don’t disagree (his experimental, genre-defying albums are, after all, exemplary models of music’s creative potential), I’d like to make the case for a young Waits. By focusing solely on the genius of his music from the 1980s and onwards, we run the risk of caricaturing that body of work as well. As the rhetoric becomes intellectualized, these albums are posited as somehow superior to the singer-songwriter croon of a 1970s Waits who is more accessible, easy listening. In this light, albums that go down smooth like Nighthawks At The Diner are overlooked.

IllustrationOlivia Gracey

His third release and first live album, Nighthawks At The Diner is essentially a performance of a performance.

Though technically a live album, Nighthawks was recorded in a studio with the addition of a jazz band and small audience.

Transformed into a microcosm of a jazz club, the studio had an ideal atmosphere for Waits to ramble through songs and spoken narratives, accompanying himself on the piano.

This early Tom Waits, despite what you may have heard, is more than the cigarette-touting beatnik poet he’s made out to be. Nighthawks at the Diner is proof. The theatricality of the Nighthawks album easily could have become a gimmick, but instead it manages to become a self-reflective commentary

WHAT WE GOT WRONG ABOUT WAITS on Waits’ persona. By creating a heightened, hyper-realistic jazz club atmosphere, it’s almost as if Waits himself is in on the joke. His ability to riff on the atmosphere of late night diners and poke fun at his own loneliness shows that Waits is more than a down-andout lush. While he could have amplified and perpetuated this caricature of himself, Waits instead impresses with a myriad of winding tales and meticulous observations that inject humor and awareness into his songs. In many ways, the narratives he creates in Nighthawks At The Diner are a prequel to the lyrics that accompany the more sonically complex tunes of Waits’ later aesthetic.

Though far from his most popular work, it is albums like Nighthawks At The Diner that showcase Waits’ burgeoning storytelling prowess. Even more than the jazz band and live audience, it is the lyrics that set us so completely and authentically within that hazy, late night headspace. Poking fun at the quality of diner food on “Intro To Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson)”, Waits’ largely improvised musings on the Copper Penny restaurant chain turn cheap eats into comedically poetic meals. “Intro To Better Off Without A Wife” sees Waits turning his bachelorhood into a raunchy joke about taking himself out on a date, ending with the confession: “I’m no different, you know, I’m not weird about it or anything, I don’t tie myself up first, I just kinda spend a little time with myself”.

This version of a lonesome Tom Waits gives greater dimension to the whiskey-drinking brokenhearted man we often make him out to be.

Delving into the Nighthawks lyrics proves that

even when playing the part, Tom Waits has always been more complex than the persona we created for him. On the second track “Emotional Weather Report”, Waits uses the weather forecast as a poignant and extended metaphor for his lonely emotional state.

He growls: “well, the extended outlook for an indefinite period of time / until you come back to me, baby / is high tonight, low tomorrow / and precipitation is expected,” smartly inserting double entendres even in the midst of a profound isolation. And while the tone of Waits’ words is melancholic throughout, at the end he cleverly quips, “Now back to the eleven o’clock blues / Doctor George Fischbeck ain’t got nothin’ on me!” departing, if only momentarily, from his barstool poet persona.

Nighthawks At The Diner is the last in a series of albums sonically marked by this persona, a sort of final farewell to his early reputation.

What Waits does so masterfully with this album is subvert his reputation not by radically departing from it, but rather by exaggeratedly embodying and essentializing it, giving us exactly what we asked of him to an almost absurd degree. All the while, the songs he produces remain lyrically evocative and impeccably detailed, proving to us yet again that Waits really is a master of disguise.

Mark Rowland. “Tom Waits’ Wild Year.” Musician, January 1993, Rock’s Backpages. https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/tom-waits-wild-year.

Tom Waits. “Intro To Better Off Without A Wife.” Nighthawks At The Diner, Howe, 1975.

Tom Waits. “Emotional Weather Report.” Nighthawks At The Diner, Howe, 1975.

- OLIVIA GRACEY

FLY ME TO THE MOON (COVER)

Coming home to you Might look great from afar Lying in my bed at night With, all these battle scars Sometimes it hurts, being your man Sometimes it hurts, when your near me With you I don't belong I'm gonna leave you that's for sure Peace is all I pray for No more hateful looks galore Sometimes it hurts, me it’s true Sometimes it hurts, loving you With you I don't belong I don’t need this ring anymore You left me on the floor After years of this here war Sometimes it hurts, me it’s true Sometimes it hurts, loving you

-GIOVANNI ORTIZ