Posts

SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT

Image
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT Smells like Teen Spirit is my favorite Nirvana song. It embodies everything Nirvana was. The biggest difference between music in the 80s and the 90s was attitude. Songs from the 80s were generally about having a good time and celebrating how great it is to be alive. They were all about loving life. They partied hard. This generated a lot of fun but mindless songs. I love listening to 80s bops but there's nothing poetic or thoughtful about 80’s power anthems such as “I wanna dance with somebody” by Whitney Huston, “Material girl” by Madonna or “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by Wham! In the 90s, musicians ditched synthesizers and cheesy lyrics. The lyrics started to express deeper emotions. Songs in the 90s were full of angst and social commentary. This change was largely brought on by Nirvana, and the song Smells like Teen Spirit, which was released in 1991. When Nirvana hit the scene in the early 90s it was like somebody dropped a bomb on the music scene...

THRILLER

Image
  THRILLER Thriller is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson. The Thriller music video is considered one the most famous music videos of all time. The Thriller dance has become the world's most famous choreography. But you already knew that. You have probably already heard the song Thriller multiple times, watched the music video and you might even know the dance. Something you might not know about Thriller is that it was originally titled Starlight. Background vocals for Thriller were recorded in a shower stall. This especially noticeable in in the chorus. And it’s the only music video in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. The first time I watched the Thriller music video I was five years old. I was lying on the couch crying because my uncle had just accidentally elbowed me in the face, it’s a long story and its ends with me losing my two front teeth. 13 years after the first time I watched Thriller, I can look past the bad memories associated with it ...

RAPPERS DELIGHT

Image
  RAPPERS DELIGHT "Rapper's Delight" is a seven minute song. Yes, you read that right,   s e v e n   m i n u t e s   I spent 21 minutes of my life listening to "Rapper's Delight" for this blog.  And not only is it seven minutes, it is seven minutes of pure chaos.  "I said-a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie To the hip hip hop-a you don't stop the rock It to the bang-bang boogie, say up jump the boogie To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat" "And you can be my boyfriend you surely can Just let me quit my boyfriend called Superman  I said, "He's a fairy, I do suppose Flyin' through the air in pantyhose  He may be very sexy or even cute   But he looks like a sucker in a blue and red suit" "Ever went over a friend's house to eat  And the food just ain't no good?   I mean the macaroni's soggy, the peas all mushed  And the chicken tastes like wood   So you try to play it off like you think you can  By sayi...

GIVE UP THE FUNK

Image
GIVE UP  THE FUNK   The first time I heard this song I was watching Glee. The song was featured on a terrible episode. During the episode, Jesse broke up with Rachel, Puck and Finn almost got expelled, and the glee club's rivalry, vocal adrenaline, toilet paper papered their choir room. I know, very dramatic. The point of all these bad things happening in the episode was to put all the characters in a funk, hehe get it? And lead them to singing “Give up the Funk” at the end of the episode.  Despite Glee being ridiculously cheesy I won’t hear a word against it. Watching Glee is definitely a guilty pleasure of mine. If nothing else, this show introduced me to one of the greatest funk songs of all time.  I chose this song because I remembered listening to it on Glee but I also chose this song because I like Funk music. I would never choose to listen to it. And my favorite popular genre from the 70’s is actually disco but I like the uniqueness of funk music.  “Give...

SATISFACTION

Image
(I CAN'T GET NO) SATISFACTION If there was a team of the world's best scientists and mathematicians that was dedicated to determining the most instantly recognizable guitar riff of all time and they came up with anything other than the Rolling Stones' “Satisfaction” intro, I’d tell them to reevaluate. The guitar riff that opens “Satisfaction” is composed of only three notes and is known as one of the  easier  lines to learn on the guitar. But the simplicity of the riff doesn't make it any less iconic. If you are wondering if you will recognize the guitar riff and are considering listening to  “Satisfaction” right now to see if you will , I'll save you some time, you'll recognize it. However, if the team of  scientists and mathematicians were trying to determine the Greatest guitar riff of all time, Queen or AC/DC might give The Rolling Stones a run for their money. In addition to t his song opening with a catchy guitar riff it also features Mick Jagger's gr...

BE MY BABY

Image
BE MY BABY Be My Baby is a song that was preformed by the American girl group The   Ronettes.  This was the first Ronettes song that was produced by Phil Spector and released on his label, Philles Records. This song showcases Spector's "Wall of Sound" production technique and most importantly, this song opens the iconic 80's rom com Dirty Dancing .   I JAM to the Dirty Dancing Movie Soundtrack. I have nothing against Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald. They were both revolutionary artists and I enjoyed writing blog posts about songs that they sang. However, when we listened to this song in class I couldn't help but think Finally we are listening to music that I actually like. If you ever want to feel like you're living in an 80's rom com listen to  Be My Baby and the rest of the  Dirty Dancing Soundtrack.  The lyrics to Be My Baby are fairly basic and in my opinion they don't really stand out among the hundreds of other 80's rom ...

NANCY (WITH THE LAUGHING FACE)

Image
  NANCY (WITH THE LAUGHING  FACE) Who runs the world? Fangirls do, obviously.   Fangirls have been one of the primary drivers in popular music for decades now. While music and musicians have had fans since before songs were even recorded, it’s argued that "fan girling" started in the 1940’s. Long before Beiber Fever and One direction Infection swept the nation, the very first fangirls had their hearts beating for Ol' Blue Eyes, The Sultan of Swoon, T he Very First Modern Pop Superstar: Frank Sinatra Frank Sinatra was an acclaimed American singer and actor who is generally viewed as one of the greatest musical artists of the 20th century. Frank had a sensational array of hit songs including "Nancy (with the laughing face)” "Nancy (with the laughing face)” was composed by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Phil Silvers and was of course performed by Frank Sinatra which made it an instantaneous hit. I personally believe that this song (and Sinatra in general) deser...