The Monkees and the effects of their music on the entertainment industry!
Author Archives: staceyeller
Peer Comment
Hello Charles,
I enjoyed reading your post on the electronic band, Kraftwerk. I like the fact you included background information on the group, it leads into the post really well, and helped make it flow nicely.
You did citations within your post, which is helpful, and it lets the reader know exactly where each piece of information comes from, which is something I haven’t done, but I really like that you did and I will try that in the future!
You answer each question fully and did not leave anything out. You gave each question its own paragraph, while shows great organization. There is nothing wrong with the content and organization of your post! I think we all should use your post as an example of how our posts should look! Thank you for writing so well!
Independent Research Entry
Simon and Garfunkel are the best singing duo I have ever heard. Their music has influenced artist all over the world, and continues to influence artist today. Simon and Garfunkel are one of the world’s most well-known singer/songwriter duos. Starting in 1957, their first real hit as Simon and Garfunkel was the song “Sound of Silence”.
Simon and Garfunkel’s last album was “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, and it was released in 1970. After hearing the final take of the song, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, Art Garfunkel was understandably skeptical they would ever be able to release a song that would be able to top how good “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is.
The album is the epitome of experimentation with sounds. Simon and Garfunkel experimented with the sounds of falling drumsticks to add to their songs (not just the stereotypical instruments, they created instruments from just about anything). They recorded some of these sounds on a cassette tape that Garfunkel had, and this cassette tape added some lovely reverb.
Their songs had experimented with different types of instruments as well, including the tuba, harmonica, steel guitar, congas, and the piccolo flute. Each instrument makes the songs have a different feel to the songs, so they are not held down by one specific genre.
The album is one of the greatest albums I have ever heard, I am a huge fan of Simon and Garfunkel and the dynamic they had between each other has friends and songwriters. The album has influenced me to not be afraid to try new things with sound. They really have a message that if there is something you like or an idea you have, just run with it and it could be the best thing you ever heard. It sometimes is a good thing to finish while you are ahead and I think about how that is true, because “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was an excellent album to end with.
Electronic Music Innovations
There have been many artists who have contributed to electronic music, but in my opinion, Terry Riley contributed the most. He is a composer who has deep influences in smooth jazz and classical Indian music. Riley is known for experimenting with different modal figures each having different lengths (his song, In C is one of the most notable for this technique). He is best known for his work done on the keyboard, which is usually a key instrument in electronic music.
He created the album A Rainbow in Curved Air back in 1969, which has influence games, radio and musicians. He has been known to experiment with minimalist music and has been a celebrated musician for a very long time. His most famous piece of work, In C, had been dubbed “the first masterpiece of minimalism” and ultimately won the ears of many listeners on the west coast. Despite the name In C not all of the musical samples and melodies he took were in the key of C. The song itself had 53 musical modules. Despite the piece being an elaborate work of art, it flows very smoothly and has a great tone. Many have described it as having a “hippy” sound to it. It is a very beautifully written song, and was first performed by Steve Reich Pauline Oliveros, Morton Subotnick and Jon Gibson. The song is very lose, with C being pressed on a keyboard to help everyone else performing keep the tempo. Each performer loosely goes through the different modules.
He had stated that he loved working electronic music but seemed to be drawn to acoustical sounds more. Because of this, Riley has spent more time creating acoustical pieces now than electronic pieces. But no one can really deny he had a huge role in developing and influencing electronic music. He will continue to influence artists today, you can hear his influence in many songs written and performed even now,
Peer Comment
Hello David! Your post about Brian Eno is highly informative and it was a pleasure to read. I would suggest reading your post out loud before submitting it. There were quite a few grammar and spelling errors that distract the reader from the main topic. I know it may seem nit picky but you have a few word capitalized in the middle of sentences and it is very hard to ignore it. The content is fabulous though, it was a great read, I learned some things about Brian Eno I had not picked up before your post. I can’t wait to read more of your posts!
Link—> http://davidgillispie.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/brian-eno-40-years-of-changing-music/
Electronic Music Entry
Kraftwerk is by far the most popular electronic band ever known. They have a fairly clean cut image and have mentioned drinking and drugs are off limits to them. Their music is unique in comparison to other electronic bands. Some songs they sing in both English and German, which give them an awesome edge. I do not normally listen to electronic music, but I enjoyed their use of the synth and in some songs making them sound like robots. Their use of bilingual lyrics gives them an edge not many bands have.
Kraftwerk released the albums, Autobahn, Radio-Activity, Trans-Europe Express, The Man-Machine and Computer World between 1974 and 1981. Each one of these albums was experimental and had various meanings behind the names. For example, Radio-Activity was partially about the radio and partially about radioactivity. Trans-Europe Express used a Synthanorma Sequenzer, which was created solely for Kraftwerk.
Kraftwerk has influenced many bands including, Bjork, David Bowie, Joy Division, New Order, Blondie, Franz Ferdinand, Rammstein, and Daft Punk. It can be said that they have had some influence on all modern electronic music. Each album plays with the use of different languages, mostly German and English. There were a few songs that included French. Each album had a theme they stuck with pretty well; Trans-Europe Express had a theme, which was to celebrate Europe and the dissimilarity of reality and an image. Most of their albums stuck with a general theme.
I am not a fan of electronic music, but I do find Kraftwerk’s music to be interesting to listen to. They do have many innovative techniques in their recording style and in their musical creation style. I can fully understand why they have taken their place among the greats in music (not just electronic). They have influenced many bands and continue to influence bands today.
Peer Comment
Hello Roger!
I do agree with you, the Beatles Revolver is an epic album. As you have said, the Beatles did have a slight fascination with Indian culture; however, it would be an understatement to say George Harrison had a “slight” fascination with Indian culture. A great example of how much he loved that culture, he learned the sitar well enough to play in albums. The sitar is a complicated instrument to learn and for many it takes a lifetime to perfect it. George Harrison had it down after only playing for a little while. I think that is probably what makes this album so mind-blowing.
I loved reading your post; you included information in a way that made it interesting to read. I would highly suggest reading your post out loud to another person. This helps catch any of your typing errors; it also helps with figuring out wording for sentences.
Thank you for letting me read your post, I enjoyed it and cannot wait to read your other post!
Link to the post—-> http://rogergray1993.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/revolver/comment-page-1/#comment-1
What’s Going On
Marvin Gaye stepped out if his shell to create What’s Going On. People close to him told him the song would never make it, and that he was pretty much just wasting his time. Luckily for Marvin, he did not listen to them. Their biggest concerns were how pessimistic the song was. Many of the songs were about the Vietnam War and its effects on the soldiers and society. The song did not try to sugarcoat any aspect of violence.
Renaldo Benson, of the Four Tops, originally wrote the song after he saw a police brutality attack. Marvin Gaye and Al Cleveland helped compose the song with Benson.
Gaye had the appearance of a stereotypical soul singer, until he realized he didn’t want to sing love songs with the world being torn apart by violence. He used his voice to sing about things that were more important to society.
Gaye did something with the song most people didn’t do originally which was he produced his own song. He didn’t use the many talented producers offered. He included vocal chatter from two of the Detroit Lion’s, Mel Farr and Lem Barney. The song was not completed in one studio, which was also unusual at the time. The most
noticeable difference between Gaye’s What’s Goin On and other Motown hits, was the fact he used many major and minor seventh chords.
Despite innovative techniques and ideas, when Gaye showed the song to his brother-in-law, Gordy, he turned it down and is popularly quoted saying that it was “the worst thing I have ever heard in my life”. Gaye retaliated by going on strike until Gordy would release it.
This song is different from all of the protest songs I have heard in my life. I truly feel Gaye captured the scene very well and unfortunately is still relevant today. I think he took a huge risk releasing the song and that has influenced me, as an industry professional, to also take risks, and to stick by something you feel is worth fighting for.
Brian Eno- 40 Years of Changing Music
Brian Eno has been a name used frequently in the world of entertainment. Brian Eno has influenced many people, but the people who influenced him the most were The Beatles, The Velvet Underground and Jimi Hendrix (to name a few). Bands and people who had done something innovative in music influenced him. Brian Eno started out as an artist and was influenced by Terry Riley, who was associated with the minimalist movement of classical music, and is credited with being one of the pioneers of said movement. Brian Eno would take his influences with him to the studio and created sounds in ways people had not thought of creating them before.
Brian Eno is talented enough to make each of his songs different and unique, but despite this, one can tell just from listening that he is behind the song in some aspect. For example, David Bowie’s “Heroes” and David Bowie’s “Low” are different from each other with just the tonality and meaning behind each album. Bowie plays a different character in each album, but Eno kept the same instrumentation for both albums. Low is more upbeat than Heroes, consequently, Heroes is a much more serious sounding album.
Brian Eno is a pioneer in innovation, and his way of approaching everything, sets him apart from other recordings. A great representation of this is U2’s Achtung Baby! Eno rightfully wins awards for Achtung Baby! by experimenting in the studio. Eno helped U2 mark their place by making their sound different from the Joshua Tree, which was much sweeter sounding than that of Achtung Baby! Eno had a way with mixing sounds to get their irony point across. U2 is a political based band and Eno knew what to do in order to make sure they got their very strong viewpoints across.
I had never heard of Brian Eno before Music History I. After listening to him, I understand how important he is to the entertainment industry. Brain Eno is incredibly humble when it comes to his work and he has helped me realize making mistakes can sometimes lead to really wonderful things, as long as you’re happy.
StaceyEller 