"All music is political, because the truth is political."
-Joseph Shabalala
There's already been a fair amount of writing both on blogs and in the press about music in the current campaign. Perhaps most famously, will.i.am put together the "Yes, We Can" video that set Obama's speech after the New Hampshire primary to music, with the help of, among others, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Herbie Hancock. (Herbie, by the way, also obliquely referenced his support for the Obama campaign when he won the Grammy for best album this past spring. He said something like, "No one ever thought that jazz would ever be able to win the Grammy for album of the year, but I'm here to tell you, yes, we can.")
And then there are the McCain Girls. Dear God, how I love the McCain girls. I'm not sure that their most recent video is up to snuff, but their debut, "It's Raining McCain," is one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen in my life. I love the fact that they can't really sing, that one of them is singing a very high harmony part during the chorus, that the video features little McCain raindrops, that the whole production is sort of endearingly amateur and enthusiastic. What's not to like?
It's pretty clear that the Democrats have better music going for them. In fact, in terms of longevity, quality of their music, extent of appeal, and plain old mensch-ness, the Democrats have probably the two best living artists in American popular music actively stumping for them: Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen. You would have to find a pretty cold person who doesn't like either Stevie or Bruce.
And the Republicans have, who, John Rich of Big and Rich? Do they even have Big? Let me know when John Rich writes something as good as "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" or "Thunder Road."
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Know Your History
"Lauryn Hill said her heart was in Zion
I wish her heart still was in rhymin'
Cause who the kids gonna listen to?
I guess me if it isn't you."
-Kanye West, "Champion"
There's a good piece in The Root about the 10th anniversary of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. This album hardly needs my praise, but let me just say that I never cease to be impressed by this record. I agree with Teresa Wiltz that it's sad for all of us listeners that Lauryn Hill hasn't done very much since, but maybe she's happier not being involved in everything in the music industry and just raising her kids. Maybe not. I don't claim to have any insight into her personal life. I just admire her as an artist, and I hope that she makes some more music for our sake. But in the meantime, "Ex-Factor," "To Zion," "Every Ghetto, Every City," "Doo Wop (That Thing)"--not to mention the remix of "Turn Your Lights Down Low" on the Chant Down Babylon Bob Marley tribute--give us more than enough to groove on. Gotta love those late 1990s neo-soul head-nodding beats.
I'm also interested in the slate of 10th anniversaries happening in hip-hop and the sense of historical consciousness (!) that seems to be percolating here. Just a few years ago in 2006, Jay-Z celebrated the 10th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt by playing a concert at Radio City Music Hall in which he performed the entire album. And before that, 2004 saw the 10th anniversary of Nas's seminal Illmatic (one of the first hip-hop albums I ever really listened to). which was marked by a special 10th anniversary re-issue. The sense that the events of popular music are in fact properly historical events, worthy of being remembered, marked, and commemorated is a major topic of my dissertation. So it's sometimes nice to see examples in the real world when I'm not looking for them, as confirmation that I'm not completely making this up.
I wish her heart still was in rhymin'
Cause who the kids gonna listen to?
I guess me if it isn't you."
-Kanye West, "Champion"
There's a good piece in The Root about the 10th anniversary of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. This album hardly needs my praise, but let me just say that I never cease to be impressed by this record. I agree with Teresa Wiltz that it's sad for all of us listeners that Lauryn Hill hasn't done very much since, but maybe she's happier not being involved in everything in the music industry and just raising her kids. Maybe not. I don't claim to have any insight into her personal life. I just admire her as an artist, and I hope that she makes some more music for our sake. But in the meantime, "Ex-Factor," "To Zion," "Every Ghetto, Every City," "Doo Wop (That Thing)"--not to mention the remix of "Turn Your Lights Down Low" on the Chant Down Babylon Bob Marley tribute--give us more than enough to groove on. Gotta love those late 1990s neo-soul head-nodding beats.
I'm also interested in the slate of 10th anniversaries happening in hip-hop and the sense of historical consciousness (!) that seems to be percolating here. Just a few years ago in 2006, Jay-Z celebrated the 10th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt by playing a concert at Radio City Music Hall in which he performed the entire album. And before that, 2004 saw the 10th anniversary of Nas's seminal Illmatic (one of the first hip-hop albums I ever really listened to). which was marked by a special 10th anniversary re-issue. The sense that the events of popular music are in fact properly historical events, worthy of being remembered, marked, and commemorated is a major topic of my dissertation. So it's sometimes nice to see examples in the real world when I'm not looking for them, as confirmation that I'm not completely making this up.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Kick it
I know that I'm slow on these things, but I dig the song "American Boy" by Estelle and Kanye West. I'm a huge fan of Kanye in general, I think he's incredibly talented, has great taste in 1970s soul, and is hilarious to boot. The levels of irony circulating in his music are too tangled for me to come up with a confident interpretation. What I've got thus far is that his music is misogynist and materialistic, he makes fun of the fact that his music (and much other contemporary hip hop) is misogynist and materialistic, but yet he still makes misogynist and materialistic music. I appreciate the kind of twisted honesty in that.
I wasn't terribly impressed with Graduation. I didn't think that anything on that record--with the possible exception of "Flashing Lights"--matched up to some of the brilliant tracks on his first two albums (of which there are many, including "Jesus Walks," "Family Business," "The New Workout Plan," "Crack Music," "Heard 'Em Say," and "Roses"). But after hearing "American Boy" and last year's remix of Ne-Yo's "Because of You" that Kanye dropped an intro verse on, I'm glad that he's doing some of these mid-tempo pop tunes. They work very well for him.
Anyway, what's the name of the next album after Graduation? What would logically be next? Post-bac just doesn't have the same kind of ring to it. Maybe Entry Level Job That Barely Pays a Living Wage? Or The Professor? But that's a trope that's already played out, in my opinion. Kanye's engagement with higher education may have run its course; he needs to find a new obsession.
I wasn't terribly impressed with Graduation. I didn't think that anything on that record--with the possible exception of "Flashing Lights"--matched up to some of the brilliant tracks on his first two albums (of which there are many, including "Jesus Walks," "Family Business," "The New Workout Plan," "Crack Music," "Heard 'Em Say," and "Roses"). But after hearing "American Boy" and last year's remix of Ne-Yo's "Because of You" that Kanye dropped an intro verse on, I'm glad that he's doing some of these mid-tempo pop tunes. They work very well for him.
Anyway, what's the name of the next album after Graduation? What would logically be next? Post-bac just doesn't have the same kind of ring to it. Maybe Entry Level Job That Barely Pays a Living Wage? Or The Professor? But that's a trope that's already played out, in my opinion. Kanye's engagement with higher education may have run its course; he needs to find a new obsession.
Monday, August 11, 2008
On the menu
Well, here's some news. There's going to be another 2-disc set of Dylan coming out of the archives in his "The Bootleg Series;" Tell Tale Signs will be released on October 7 (after I've left the country--boo!). The set focuses on Dylan's more recent material, spanning the years from 1989 (the album Oh Mercy) to 2006. Many of the tracks are outtakes from the Time Out of Mind sessions, which suits me just fine. TOOM was the first Dylan album I ever listened to. I checked it out of the public library in Fargo, eventually purchased my own copy, which I proceeded to listen to incessantly for the next few years. I still think it's my favorite Dylan album.
Anyway, after mining his back catalog from the 1960s and 1970s for a while, I'm glad that Columbia is putting out some of his most recent stuff, and I'm especially looking forward to hearing the handful of live tracks that made it onto this release. As much as I like Dylan's studio albums, he really has the potential to be amazing when he performs live, as a recent review attests. The three times that I've seen him live in small venues, he was incredible, with his summer 2002 show at Neuman Outdoor Field in Fargo standing out in my mind as being particularly impressive. The band that he had for quite a while in the 1990s and early 2000s with Tony Garnier on bass and Charlie Sexton and Larry Campbell on guitars is criminally under-appreciated. Tony had a great sense of humor and stage presence, and Larry and Charlie contributed great guitar work, as well as combining with Bob for three-part harmonies. (For example, see the version of "Blowin' in the Wind" that plays over the end credits of Masked and Anonymous.) Dylan once said that this was the best backing band that he ever had, including, well, The Band. And I'm inclined to agree. If Columbia would put out a well-recorded live set from, say, 1998, I would be much obliged.
I should also point out that Columbia is doing nonsense with various editions of Tell Tale Signs. There's a two-disc version for $18.99, a four-vinyl version for $99.99, and a "Limited Deluxe Collector's Edition" for $129.99, with the two regular CDs, an extra CD of material, a 7" vinyl, and a hardcover book which reproduces all of Dylan's single sleeves. Now, all I want would be the extra disc (indeed, what's the difference between the outtakes and live performances on the first two discs and the outtakes and live performances on the third disc?). So why do I have to pay another $110 to get this? It's bullocks. We can only hope that iTunes will eventually get all of the tracks.
In another bizarre similarity, and proof that Radiohead and Dylan have some link in places outside of my enfeebled head, Radiohead did the same thing with In Rainbows, putting out another disc of songs that was only available for those willing to fork over the big bucks (I think it was 40 British pounds, which at current exchange rates is something like a million dollars) for the box set. Observers of the airline industry are lamenting the rise of "a la carte" pricing, in which pillows, blankets, even checked baggage now require the payment of an additional fee. Me, I'm all for it, if it actually is a way of raising revenues to meet rising costs, and not just a way for the airlines to squeeze you for more money. If you're able to lower my fare because you're able to charge the guy who checks 6 suitcases and a set of golf clubs more, I couldn't be happier. I am also a supporter of "a la carte" pricing in the music industry. As with so many other things, online music stores (such as iTunes) are a huge influence in the resurgence of "a la carte" pricing in music. In a general sort of way, popular music switched from being sold by the single in the 1950s and 1960s to being sold by the album in the 1970s. This is the era, or at least when I became aware of it in the mid-1990s, of: "Why do I have to pay $15.99 if I only like one song?" Now, of course, you don't. "A la carte" pricing in the music industry is coming back. You can pay 99 cents on the iTunes music (or, if one is so inclined, download it for free from any number of services--not that I endorse such a practice). iTunes can also work the opposite way, especially in the case of "iTunes special addition" albums, which feature extra content that one can only access if one purchases the entire album from iTunes. So, our dutiful music fan who goes out to his local record store at midnight on Monday when the new albums are released to buy the CD of his favorite artist will be quite disappointed to wake up on Tuesday morning to discover that iTunes is selling a special edition with two bonus tracks and an alternate take of the first single. Our fan know doubt wants access to that material (he is dedicated, remember, and went to get the album at midnight), but unless he is willing to fork over another $9.99, in addition to the $14.99 for the actual physical copy of the CD he already bought, he's out of luck.
So, I like "a la carte" pricing. I like the idea of a lot of material being available and listeners being able to choose to purchase what they would like and not be forced into purchasing things they don't want because they are bundled with things that they do want. But I also understand the downsides involved. As someone who definitely grew up in the CD era, I do appreciate the idea of crafting a coherent set of songs. When I listen to music on my iPod, I always listen by albums, and I like that the album (definitely not an "a la carte" format) encourages artists to think about how the songs will be listened to together. Ultimately, I think that listening to a well-crafted album is a much more satisfying experience than listening to isolated songs, even really good isolated songs. But things like the iTunes music store may be encouraging artists and listeners to go back to the "a la carte" method, and in some ways I am disappointed by this. I am all for choice, but I hope that artists and listeners will still recognize the value of music that comes in units larger than a 3 and half minute single. What the iTunes music store would be great for is getting out bonus tracks, outtakes, and live performances quickly and cheaply, so that fans don't have to pay a premium for "collectors editions" or "deluxe boxed sets." But somehow I doubt that the music industry actually has its fans interests at heart.
Anyway, after mining his back catalog from the 1960s and 1970s for a while, I'm glad that Columbia is putting out some of his most recent stuff, and I'm especially looking forward to hearing the handful of live tracks that made it onto this release. As much as I like Dylan's studio albums, he really has the potential to be amazing when he performs live, as a recent review attests. The three times that I've seen him live in small venues, he was incredible, with his summer 2002 show at Neuman Outdoor Field in Fargo standing out in my mind as being particularly impressive. The band that he had for quite a while in the 1990s and early 2000s with Tony Garnier on bass and Charlie Sexton and Larry Campbell on guitars is criminally under-appreciated. Tony had a great sense of humor and stage presence, and Larry and Charlie contributed great guitar work, as well as combining with Bob for three-part harmonies. (For example, see the version of "Blowin' in the Wind" that plays over the end credits of Masked and Anonymous.) Dylan once said that this was the best backing band that he ever had, including, well, The Band. And I'm inclined to agree. If Columbia would put out a well-recorded live set from, say, 1998, I would be much obliged.
I should also point out that Columbia is doing nonsense with various editions of Tell Tale Signs. There's a two-disc version for $18.99, a four-vinyl version for $99.99, and a "Limited Deluxe Collector's Edition" for $129.99, with the two regular CDs, an extra CD of material, a 7" vinyl, and a hardcover book which reproduces all of Dylan's single sleeves. Now, all I want would be the extra disc (indeed, what's the difference between the outtakes and live performances on the first two discs and the outtakes and live performances on the third disc?). So why do I have to pay another $110 to get this? It's bullocks. We can only hope that iTunes will eventually get all of the tracks.
In another bizarre similarity, and proof that Radiohead and Dylan have some link in places outside of my enfeebled head, Radiohead did the same thing with In Rainbows, putting out another disc of songs that was only available for those willing to fork over the big bucks (I think it was 40 British pounds, which at current exchange rates is something like a million dollars) for the box set. Observers of the airline industry are lamenting the rise of "a la carte" pricing, in which pillows, blankets, even checked baggage now require the payment of an additional fee. Me, I'm all for it, if it actually is a way of raising revenues to meet rising costs, and not just a way for the airlines to squeeze you for more money. If you're able to lower my fare because you're able to charge the guy who checks 6 suitcases and a set of golf clubs more, I couldn't be happier. I am also a supporter of "a la carte" pricing in the music industry. As with so many other things, online music stores (such as iTunes) are a huge influence in the resurgence of "a la carte" pricing in music. In a general sort of way, popular music switched from being sold by the single in the 1950s and 1960s to being sold by the album in the 1970s. This is the era, or at least when I became aware of it in the mid-1990s, of: "Why do I have to pay $15.99 if I only like one song?" Now, of course, you don't. "A la carte" pricing in the music industry is coming back. You can pay 99 cents on the iTunes music (or, if one is so inclined, download it for free from any number of services--not that I endorse such a practice). iTunes can also work the opposite way, especially in the case of "iTunes special addition" albums, which feature extra content that one can only access if one purchases the entire album from iTunes. So, our dutiful music fan who goes out to his local record store at midnight on Monday when the new albums are released to buy the CD of his favorite artist will be quite disappointed to wake up on Tuesday morning to discover that iTunes is selling a special edition with two bonus tracks and an alternate take of the first single. Our fan know doubt wants access to that material (he is dedicated, remember, and went to get the album at midnight), but unless he is willing to fork over another $9.99, in addition to the $14.99 for the actual physical copy of the CD he already bought, he's out of luck.
So, I like "a la carte" pricing. I like the idea of a lot of material being available and listeners being able to choose to purchase what they would like and not be forced into purchasing things they don't want because they are bundled with things that they do want. But I also understand the downsides involved. As someone who definitely grew up in the CD era, I do appreciate the idea of crafting a coherent set of songs. When I listen to music on my iPod, I always listen by albums, and I like that the album (definitely not an "a la carte" format) encourages artists to think about how the songs will be listened to together. Ultimately, I think that listening to a well-crafted album is a much more satisfying experience than listening to isolated songs, even really good isolated songs. But things like the iTunes music store may be encouraging artists and listeners to go back to the "a la carte" method, and in some ways I am disappointed by this. I am all for choice, but I hope that artists and listeners will still recognize the value of music that comes in units larger than a 3 and half minute single. What the iTunes music store would be great for is getting out bonus tracks, outtakes, and live performances quickly and cheaply, so that fans don't have to pay a premium for "collectors editions" or "deluxe boxed sets." But somehow I doubt that the music industry actually has its fans interests at heart.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Unimpressive Fandom
I'm not one of those crazy Radiohead fans, although I did once take a Greyhound bus 12 hours, from my hometown of Fargo, ND to Chicago, to see a Radiohead concert. OK, so that might actually count. I wouldn't call myself a crazy fan of anything, really, because despite the fact that I might seem to the average person to be totally devoted to (for example) both Bob Dylan and Radiohead, these are artists who inspire far more than the modest amount of devotion I can give to them. I mean, OK, I paid money to download In Rainbows (despite the fact that it was free, and I bought it on vinyl when it came out, too), I've seen Bob Dylan concerts in four different states, and I once saw Radiohead two nights in a row at Madison Square Garden. But I'm merely an amateur compared to the people who follow Dylan on tour, collect every Radiohead b-side, subscribe to XM Radio so that they can hear Dylan's weekly "Theme Time Radio Hour," or hang out in Oxford supermarkets amongst the organic produce hoping to catch a glimpse of Thom Yorke. But that was a very long bus ride that I took. So that might earn me honorary membership in the club of Radiohead superfandom. I just hope the membership cards are cool.
Anyway, I'm seeing Radiohead next Tuesday night just across the river in Camden. I'll let you know how the show was.
Anyway, I'm seeing Radiohead next Tuesday night just across the river in Camden. I'll let you know how the show was.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
I Won't Dance
Well, I didn't get to see Appetite for Destruction, a GN'R tribute band, tonight. In true GN'R fashion, the show was cancelled. That's almost too much, isn't it, when the tribute band takes verisimilitude so seriously that they start missing gigs, just like the original band. I wonder if they pick up addictions and court appearances, too.
I was curious to see how wild this band actually was, if the guitarist looked like Slash (or Buckethead, or neither, I guess). But it means that I didn't have to take the train to Glenside tonight, and that I get to watch the finale of So You Think You Can Dance, a show that Catharine has been watching with something approaching fascination and that I've been watching with something that could safely be described as morbid fascination. Having mostly missed out on the last few years of American Idol, I've been very interested in the music that is played on the SYTYCD (this is the official acronym). Who among us does not like NASCAR, and who among us does not like a good Celine Dion power ballad from time to time?
And, while I clearly don't know anything about dance, the type of dancing that is featured on this show and labeled as "rumba" doesn't bear much resemblance to what my feeble ethnomusicological brain recognizes by that genre name. Oh well, maybe they know something I don't. Anyway, Catharine voted for Twitch. We'll see what happens.
I was curious to see how wild this band actually was, if the guitarist looked like Slash (or Buckethead, or neither, I guess). But it means that I didn't have to take the train to Glenside tonight, and that I get to watch the finale of So You Think You Can Dance, a show that Catharine has been watching with something approaching fascination and that I've been watching with something that could safely be described as morbid fascination. Having mostly missed out on the last few years of American Idol, I've been very interested in the music that is played on the SYTYCD (this is the official acronym). Who among us does not like NASCAR, and who among us does not like a good Celine Dion power ballad from time to time?
And, while I clearly don't know anything about dance, the type of dancing that is featured on this show and labeled as "rumba" doesn't bear much resemblance to what my feeble ethnomusicological brain recognizes by that genre name. Oh well, maybe they know something I don't. Anyway, Catharine voted for Twitch. We'll see what happens.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Invitation to the Blues
Hello, I'm John Meyers, a grad student in ethnomusicology at the University of Pennsylvania. I am currently writing my dissertation about tribute bands, audiences, and historical consciousness in popular music. This blog will hopefully be a way to step back a bit from some of that very intensive writing and researching and to try my hand at making some more succinct comments about music, culture, politics, or whatever else seems interesting.
The blog title comes from a line in Don DeLillo's novel Underworld. DeLillo has FBI director J. Edgar Hoover think, after hearing of a Soviet nuclear test in 1951, "All these people formed by language and climate and popular songs and breakfast foods and the jokes they tell and the cars they drive have never had anything in common so much as this, that they are sitting in the furrow of destruction." It's a heavy line, befitting the pessimism and paranoia of a man like Hoover. It's not an idea that I would have subscribed to in the 1950s, nor do I subscribe to it now. My own personal obsessions have to do with understanding how the same forces, albeit operating on different scales, effect events personal, popular, and political. I'm also sad to say that the blog will probably mostly focus on the first half of the title--my own area of relative expertise--with little attention paid to breakfast foods. But I'm open to suggestions or recipes, too.
The blog title comes from a line in Don DeLillo's novel Underworld. DeLillo has FBI director J. Edgar Hoover think, after hearing of a Soviet nuclear test in 1951, "All these people formed by language and climate and popular songs and breakfast foods and the jokes they tell and the cars they drive have never had anything in common so much as this, that they are sitting in the furrow of destruction." It's a heavy line, befitting the pessimism and paranoia of a man like Hoover. It's not an idea that I would have subscribed to in the 1950s, nor do I subscribe to it now. My own personal obsessions have to do with understanding how the same forces, albeit operating on different scales, effect events personal, popular, and political. I'm also sad to say that the blog will probably mostly focus on the first half of the title--my own area of relative expertise--with little attention paid to breakfast foods. But I'm open to suggestions or recipes, too.
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