Motown (In the Shadows of Motown)

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• Motown (In the Shadows of Motown)

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Surf Music in CaliforniaThe Beach Boys

• Rock music and California
• Hollywood further normalizes Rock music as truly
  American music
• Glamorizes new kind of suburbia
• Landscapes, beaches, parties combined
• Wealth, fast cars, endless roads, and beautiful
  people
• Surf Rock (Paradox)
• Celebrates this
• Also shows hints of tedium with suburban life

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• The Beach Boys
• Epitomize movement
• Brian Wilson and band caught both sides of
  paradox
• Surfin U.S.A. (1963)
• Anthem of surf music and California
• Signifies California lifestyle
• Considered a classical Rock song
• Co-written by Chuck Berry and Brian Wilson
• Same melody and form as Chuck Berrys Sweet
  Little Sixteen (1958)
• Surfer Girl (1963) Doo Wop Influence

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I Get Around (1964)

• No. 1 on Billboard singles chart for 2 weeks
• Broke Beatles monopoly on the position
• At time when Beatles invaded
• Superficially, a celebration of cars and
  cruising, but
• Expresses frustration and boredom with suburban
  life and working-class culture (Lyrics)

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The Beach Boys as Innovators

• Rivals with Beatles
• Brian Wilson as Arranger/Producer
• Inspired by Spectors recordings
• Independent and layered sound
• Vocals dominated by Wilsons falsetto
• Unique instrumental combination
• Catchy rhythmic patterns
• Driving bass lines
• Influenced by Middle Eastern musics
• In My Room (1963)
• Co-written by Brain Wilson and Gary Usher
• Introspective and vulnerable
• Suggests suburban agoraphobia
• 1966 Wilson has nervous breakdown on stage while
  touring
• Remains in group as songwriter and studio
  producer
• Allows him to push musical boundaries

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Pet Sounds (1966)

• Inspired by Beatles Rubber Soul (1965)
• Break from Surf Sound
• Collaboration with Tony Asher
• First Concept album?
• Unified musically and thematically around notions
  of God, love, and alienation
• Tells the story of the difficult transition from
  youth to adulthood in Sixties America, the
  exciting but often fleeting nature of love, and
  the yearning for a better future.
• God Only Knows (1966)

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Good Vibrations (1966)

• Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love
• Elaborate concept of a rock song
• Among greatest achievements
• Long
• Multiple contrasting musical sections
• Complex production
• Sound effects
• Unusual instruments
• Sleighbells
• Theremin (electronic instrument)
• Required 6 months, 20 recording sessions, 4
  studios, and 50,000 to create
• Recording technique and production now important
  element in rock music
• Reached No. 1 on Billboard chart
• Sold 400,000 copies in only four days

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The British Invasion February 7, 1964

• Beatles
• Billy Kramer and the Dakotas
• Gerry and the Pacemakers
• Hollies
• Dave Clark Five
• Rolling Stones
• The Who
• The Yardbirds

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American Music in Britain

• American popular music available around the world
  starting with Jazz Age (1920s)
• Great Britain natural market for American music
• Historically and linguistically
• British Musicians Union ban on American music
  until 1956

• British artists resurrected music ignored,
  forgotten, or discarded by Americans leading to
  new innovations
• Went to original sources
• Interested in music in authentic and original
  contexts and sound
• Influenced especially by Blues
• British Blues Revival (London)
• Better at this music and more comfortable with it
  than Americans
• Later all re-imported into US

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Mersey Beat (The Liverpool Sound, Beat Music)

• Mid-1960s pop music from NW England
• All-male groups
• Mixture of early American Rock n Roll with
  minimal Anglo-Celtic influences

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The Beatles (The Fab Four)

• Formed in 1962 John Lennon, Paul McCartney,
  George Harrison, and Ringo Starr
• Named after Buddy Holly the Crickets (Beetles ?
  Beatles) because
• Lineup of 2 guitars (lead and rhythm) with bass
  and drums
• Influenced by
• RnR
• RB
• Pop
• Motown
• Vocal style combines RB with falsetto pop styles

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Love Me Do (1962)

• First official UK single No. 17 on UK pop charts
• Roots in American popular traditions
• Simple back-beat percussion (from Rockabilly)
• Rhythmically even bass
• Constant strumming guitar
• Use of harmonica
• Use of blues inflections
• Country ballad singing style
• Began British Invasion of American music
• Breaks with dominant professional standards of
  1960s British music industry
• Not trained and skilled like professional studio
  musicians
• Audience approves musical style, not companies
• First song from UK to receive international radio
  and record distribution

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Beatles Early Period

• Love Me Do (1962)
• Hard Days Night (1964)
• Lyrics
• Form?
• Videos
• (clip of pre-invasion performances)
• The Cavern in Liverpool
• Twist and Shout cover

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The British Invasion

• British Rock, especially Beatles, played on
  American airwaves
• Begins to dominate charts and record sales
• Beatlemania craze caused by anticipation of
  Beatles tour through US
• Feb. 7, 1964 Beatles appear on Ed Sullivans
  television variety show
• Other groups follow, hoping to cash in on
  popularity of Beatles
• Beatles Arrive at JFK

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The Mersey Beat

• These Bands are not Beatles copycats. They
  developed simultaneously with a similar sound.
• From Liverpool
• Gerry and the Pacemakers
• Billy Kramer and the Dakotas
• The Searchers
• From Manchester
• The Mindbenders
• Hermans Hermits
• The Hollies
• From London
• Dave Clark 5

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The Mersey Beat (Continued)

• The Hollies
• Named after their idol, Buddy Holly
• Strongly influenced by the Everly Brothers
• Started by Graham Nash (later of Crosby, Stills
  and Nash) and Allan Clarke
• Had a typical Mersey Beat Sound 3 guitars
  Drums. Sang with a particular harmony.
• Bus Stop 1965 (June) Lyrics
• Carrie-Anne 1966 (May) (video)
• Look Through Any window 1965 (Aug)
• Just One Look 1964 (Feb) Lyrics
• The Searcher Needles and Pins (1964), video

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The British Blues Revival

• Muddy Waters
• One of first and most influential American Blues
  musicians in Britain
• Introduced electric guitar Blues to UK
• Rollin Stone (1950)
• Many British musicians often sat through
  rehearsals of visiting Americans

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Rolling Stones

• When the movie Blackboard Jungle, with the music
  of Bill Haley and the Comets, showed in London,
  Richards found that people were saying Did ya
  hear that music, man? Because in England we had
  never heard anything The BBC controls it and
  wont play that sort of music. But everybody our
  age stood up for that music, and the hell with
  the BBC.

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The Rolling Stones

• Name taken from the Muddy Waters song
• Covered Chicago Blues records
• Time is On My Side (1964)
• Use of Blues-inspired guitar solo
• Other elements from local British rock
• Vocal harmonies
• Sparse use of instruments

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The Rolling Stones Get an Image Change

• At first has imitate Beatles
• Matching suits, clean-cut looks, long hair
• Close harmonies and pop sound
• New look sharp contrast to Beatles
• Crude and offensive look
• Bad boy reputations
• Music reflects look
• Closer to qualities of American Blues
• Satisfaction (1965)
• Contrast to Beatles
• Harsher, raspier vocal timbres
• Little pop influence
• Lyrics more sexually explicit
• Blues-riff oriented with less emphasis on melody
• How is this more like Blues?

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The Rolling Stones (Cont)

• Manager Andrew Logg Oldham first tried to make
  them appear like the Beatles.
• Soon realized he need to make them contrast.
• The overall hustle I invented for the Stones was
  to establish them as raunchy, gamy, unpredictable
  bunch of undesirables.
• Un-matching clothes, long hair, unclean
  appearance
• Made them younger in bios
• Cut out the piano player, 6 down to 5.

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The Rolling Stones

• Arrived in US in June 1964
• Time is on my Side (1964)
• Blues and Mersey Beat sound (harmonies, guitars
  and drums), simple/safe lyrics
• Satisfaction (1965) lyrics
• Contrast to Beatles
• Vocal style (harsher, raspy)
• Riff oriented (guitar) less pop sound
• Explicit lyrics.
• As Tears Go By (1965)
• Pop Ballad (Soft Rock) to ensure widespread
  popularity in US
• (Eleanor Rigby)
• Their Satanic Majesties Request
• Response to Beatles Sgt. Pepper
• Gross Disappointment
• Brown Sugar (1971) lyrics
• In the 70s Rolling Stones returned to the blues,
  while Beatles and other explored the psychedelic
  sound

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Beatles v. Stones

• Beatles Rebellious Attitude
• Stones Attitude
• Beatles become clean cut
• Stones become anti-society
• video

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The Beatles as Innovators

• Beatles begin changing the Rock song
• With producer George Martin
• Use of new or adapted technologies
• Alter traditional structures
• Please, Please Me (1963)
• No. 1 hit in UK (almost ignored in US)
• Musical elements
• Lennons lyrics more suggestive
• Lennon and McCartney become songwriting team
• Band has looser, more rhythmically driving sound
• Innovations
• Instrumentation includes voice, guitar, bass,
  drums, and harmonica
• Harmonica dubbed over vocals
• More complex form
• Harmonica introduction
• aabaab Bridge aab coda

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Beatles The Middle Period

• In My Life (1965) from Rubber Soul
• Lyrics

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Beatles More Popular Than Jesus

• John made this statement to an English reporter
  in February 1966 before the August 1966 release
  of Revolver
• Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink.
  I neednt argue with that Im right and I will
  be proved right. Were more popular than Jesus
  now I dont  know which will go first rock n
  roll or Christianity.

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Revolver (1966)

• Contains variety of musical styles
• Including use of Tape Loop Collage
• Group no longer content to follow conventions of
  commercial Rock or pop music
• Eleanor Rigby (1966) Lyrics
• Scored for double string quartet by George Martin
• Song about loneliness and alienation
• Can it be considered a Rock song?

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Last Beatles Concert EVER August 29, 1966 (San
Francisco)

• Beatles went Hiatus
• We were fed up with being the beatles. We really
  hated the that fucking four-little-moptop
  approach. We were not boys. We were men It was
  all gone, all that boy shit, all that
  screaming-we didnt want it anymore. (Paul
  McCartney)
• After 6 months of no new releases or concerts,
  the public though the Beatles were finished!

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Beatles The Middle Period (cont)

• Released a double-sided single under pressure
  from Brian Epstein (manager) and EMI records.
• Strawberry Fields Forever (1967) from
  double-sided single with Penny Lane Lyrics
  (Listen all the way to the end)
• Nostalgia
• Impressions surrealism
• Steam of consciousness lyrics
• Two versions (guitar and strings) spliced
  together (technique)
• Indian Sitar (Used also by Beach Boys, Rolling
  Stones)
• LSD oriented life-style of John is evident here.
• We could not have produced a better prototype
  for the future, George Martin

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Hollies after Beatles Mid Period

• Pay Back With Interest (1967)
• Experiment with Meter
• Stop, Stop, Stop (Oct 1966)
• Middle-Eastern Sound
• Song about Belly Dancing
• Other Hollies Hits
• Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress (1972)

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Later PeriodSgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club
Band (1967)

• Often considered one of most decisive events in
  pop music history
• Album not just a collection of songs, but a
  single composition
• Concept album
• Took 4 mos. and 75,000 to record
• Within You Without You (1967)
• Use of sitar, but not in traditional method
• Mixes Western popular forms with sound of Indian
  classical music
• A Day in the Life (1967) Lyrics
• Actually 2 songs fused together
• Surreal reading of the news
• Account of an everypersons typical day
• Martins orchestral scoring
• First Beatles song to be banned in UK from radio
  airplay
• Considered pro-drug propaganda

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Rock and Roll as Art Music

• Rock music vital and resilient
• Despite internal opposition
• Despite foreign competition
• Originally Rock music expected to push boundaries
  of society and culture
• Now expected to push musical boundaries and
  conventions
• As Classical art music does in Europe
• Innovative Rock music symbolizes very American
  values

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Procol Harem

• Began as British blues revival band joined by
• Gary Brooker (fan of 17th/18th cent. Baroque
  music)
• Matthew Fisher, classically-trained keyboardist
• Whiter Shade of Pale (1967)
• Based on classical music structures and style
• Bachs Air on the G String
• Use of organ, typical Baroque instrument

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Queen

• All 4 band members college educated (art design,
  physics, biology)
• Freddie Mercury classically-trained pianist
• Intentionally pretentious and overly campy
• Performed with ornate costumes and elaborate
  stage setups
• Bohemian Rhapsody from A Night at the Opera
  (1975) vid
• Six minute Operetta
• 3 distinct sections with introduction and
  postlude
• Ballad-like opening
• Opera section sung in high falsetto
• Rock section with hard driving drum rhythms and
  guitar

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King Crimson (formed 1968)

• Court of Crimson King (1969)
• Use of the Mellotron