Modernism:
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
Post-Modernism
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
2) How is beat poetry linked to rap?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defense?
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
ReplyDeleteDuring the winter of 1962 and 63 Bob Dylan wrote the hit song “Masters of War” which was released on the album “The Freewheelin Bob Dylan” in the spring of 1963 (Masters of War). This song was considered a protest song that was aimed toward the cold war arms build up during the early 60’s period.
The Cold War for those that aren’t aware of it was a combination of political and military tensions between the high power of the East and Western blocs (Cold war). It was referred to as the “cold war” due to the fact that there was not actually any direct combat and warfare between these parties. However, there were wars in Korea and countries in the Middle East that had support of both the east and west blocs (Cold war).
Yet, Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” wouldn’t reach its largest audience until the 20th century during the elections and administration of George W Bush. During the fall of 2002, Bush publicly announced the launch of the second Iraq war on November 11th (Three Penny Review). This was shortly after the mid- term election where Bush used the fear of a coming war to enhance his chances at a win (Three Penny Review).
Because of this, Bob Dylan saw the relationship and effect his song might have and preceded to Madison Square Garden where he assembled a small band to play the hit. The song went viral and was a recurring track throughout further elections and events of political presence (Three Penny Review).
The track was involved in controversy for multiple reasons. Although it spoke out on decisions by high power that saw society suffer at the results of these decisions, the song was actually held responsible for cultivating the minds of the youth to make them “want Bush dead” (Three Penny Review).
The song is said to have continuously been so popular due to its memorable melody. It was a song that goes far, but gives people a concept that can be drawn on regarding new meanings relating to new bodies and ideas.
Following on from this song of protest, I will be looking at Lupe Fiascos album “The Cool”. Protest isn’t dead. Neither is Hip Hop.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_of_War
http://www.threepennyreview.com/samples/marcus_w06.html
Hi Lane, please check your story. I don't think it was Dylan who sang the song in 2002 to cause the controversy, but a high school band. Dylan had been singing the song consistently since the 60s.
DeleteHey Mike, just carrying on from our conversation in Class so that my points are on here for marking. Bob Dylan assembled a band together and performed the "masters of war" track publicly in Madison Square Gardens in 2002. In regard to the controversy, it was this performance in particular at the time of political administration that was said to have had a major influence on people. In particular, corrupting the opinions and beliefs of the youth which led to the multiple versions and performances of the song by others.
DeleteReally like your post! Youtube has a good video to go with the song - Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwuWL7uUFl0
Delete5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
ReplyDeleteIn regard to this question, I feel protest through rap music and hip-hop is evident although it isn’t always as direct. The quality of some of the music worth mentioning is immaculate in the way that it presents a message but one that might not be immediately understood. Language techniques like metaphors and similes have allowed these artists to craft a viewpoint without spelling it out letter-by-letter, word-by-word.
An album that stood out for me in the last decade is Lupe Fiascos “The Cool” which was released in December 2007. I wouldn’t say it is a protest album, yet it does draw on issues that reflect government decisions and the effects of global issues on the smaller communities of everyday society (Rap Genius, n.d).
The two tracks I feel resonate the most with this question are
1. Little Weapon- view here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UktEpUM-iMM
2. Streets on Fire- view here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcPUg7tl7bs
Little Weapon reflects the issues of warfare, in particular the use of firearms and the relationship of youth. Little weapon talks about children in Africa that are forced to become soldiers and kill, to youth in America that are subject to school massacres and the effect of video games. Little weapon raises issues that affect numerous groups of ethnicity and origin (Rap Genius, n.d).
SONG
Little Terry got a gun, he got from the store,
He bought it with the money he got from his chores,
He robbed candy shop told her lay down on the floor,
Put the cookies in his bag took the pennies out the drawer.
Little Kalil got a gun he got from the rebels,
To kill the infidels and American devils,
A bomb on his waist,
A mask on his face,
Prays five times a day,
And listens to Heavy Metal.
Little Alex got a gun he took from his dad,
That he snuck into school in his black book bag,
His black nail polish, black boots and black hair,
He's gonna blow away the bully that just pushed his ass...
Streets on fire is about an apocalyptic world where the Government have full control over the people (Rap Genius, n.d).
ReplyDeleteSONG
Disease the virus is spreading in all directions
No safe zone no cure and no protection
No symptoms to find the signs of an infection
No vaccines remedies and no corrections
Quarantines the dreams and cut off our connections
Don't let em in not a friend not a reflection
Everybody's got it and want you to have it next and
Don't accept em if you wanna stay as an exception
No pill
Can heal
The ill of this
Sickness some are still in doubt of it's existence
Some call it forgiveness and some call it the vengeance
Some say it's an exit and some say it's an entrance
The poor say the rich have the cure
The rich say the poor are the source
Revolutionaries say it's psychological war
Invented by the press
Just to have something to report
Some say the first case came from a maternity ward
Some say a morgue, some say the skies, some say the floor
Whores say the nuns, nuns say the whores
And everybody is sure
The scientists said it only infects the mind
The little boy said it only infects the girls
The Preacher man said it's gonna kill off the soul
A bum said it's gonna kill the whole wide world
This is one album I instantly thought of when thinking of protest or a voice for the people regarding issues that are relevant globally. Lupe Fiasco has seen great recognition regarding his lyrical talents and his vision is reflected through his music. Similar to Bob Dylan’s song “Masters of War” aimed originally at the cold war and then George Bush. Lupe aims his music toward the high power in hope to resolve particular issues also.
Lupe- “My fight against terrorism, to me, the biggest terrorist is Obama and the United States of America. I’m trying to fight the terrorism that’s actually causing the other forms of terrorism.” (The Daily Caller, 2013).
References
The Daily Caller (2013) Retrieved on Tuesday 20th May from http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/21/report-rapper-lupe-fiasco-thrown-offstage-at-inauguration-event-after-anti-obama-rant/
Rap Genius (n.d) Retrieved on Tuesday 2oth May from http://rapgenius.com/LupeFiasco
Good work, Lane.
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DeleteNice posts Lane. I checked out those songs and Lupe Fiasco in general and yeah, you could definitely say that he makes protest music. He seems to keep it consistent too, as in he doesn’t make just the odd song ‘protest’ but rather it permeates most of his work.
DeleteWhilst I think there always has and always will be a spirit of protest music, I feel maybe the spirit of todays protest is not as concise or meaningful than it once was. I think when considering modern protest music I feel like its important to look back at periods of protest music with a definite spirit.
During the late 1950’s and early 1960’s were a folk music revival, with the likes of Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs and most notably Bob Dylan. The period was a time of grate social unrest with the black civil rights movements and the drafting of young men to fight in the Vietnam War. Using folk-style instrumentation, often acoustic guitar and harmonica or in some cases banjo with simple rhythms were used, which made songs easily replicable, leading to them being performed by average people and embraced as the ‘peoples music.’ (1) A shift gradually occurred in folk music from a literal protest to more metaphorical, introspective commentary about government and social inequality.
During the late 60’s early a new genre began to emerge in New York and London. Punk rock was a term used to refer to the unrefined quality of the music: (punk meaning rookie) the genre began largely with garage bands with next to no knowledge of music. (2) Thus the music tended toward crude highly distorted guitars and raw, un-melodic vocals. Punk was largely a response to the times, especially in Britain with economic recession and high unemployment leading to the disillusionment of young men in industrial areas of Britain, the conservative government under Margaret Thatcher. Thus punk tended toward social commentary, political attacks and anarchism.
Another important period is the late 1970’s, with the beginnings of rap music within the hip-hop culture. Rap music arose as a voice for disenfranchised youth living in the Bronx in New York, a low socio economic area with a predominantly African American population. Rap’s foundations are in the use of drum machines, incorporating DJ’s scratching and sampling from other artists and rhythmic chanting. It was followed by gangster rap, which had similar origins in the violence of inner city life in Los Angeles but a heavier more aggressive tone. Acts like NWA and Ice T became controversial for their outspoken lyrics toward the police whom they perceived as racist.
Looking at these genres and movements in music we see a trend. Protest music typically arises from a particular subgroup of society, with an aim to vent about or confront perceived injustices. Typically the people producing the music came from a common background with similar outlooks, experiences and ideologies.
DeleteThe music industry has changed, in the aforementioned musical scenes; many more independent record labels existed. However these days the music industry is largely controlled by five international companies. They are less inclined to take risks and are driven by profit, so if a song is not perceived as profitable it will likely not get attention. “In an industry that releases nearly 30,000 albums a year, a hundred of which might be hits, instant success is needed for an artist to receive proper support from a record company” (Goniprow, 2007)
Another idea is that whilst protest music unified and sustained momentum toward an issue, it does not start movements. There are not so many unified movements in western culture currently as there were. This is possibly due to the idea that many current issues fall outside of the average youth mindset. In the aforementioned movements, young idealist people were the driving force behind sustaining the movement, as during 1960’s there was little media to consume so many people followed the trends of popular culture. Now there is a mass the mass of media available for selection, meaning not all youths are going to be focusing on the same issues. For example, drafting did not occur for the Iraq war beginning in 2003, so its impact was not so strong on youth as it was during the Vietnam War, where drafting occurred.
Whilst protest songs are still made by many, there are a few protest musicians who make constant politically themed music. It is more likely that they will produce one protest song amongst the rest of their popular releases.
1) Reuhl, K. (2014). All About the Folk Revival. Retrieved 4 June, 2014, from:
http://folkmusic.about.com/od/folkmusic101/a/60sFolkRevival.htm
2) Cooper, R. (2014). The History of Punk Rock. Retrieved 4 June, 2014, from:
http://punkmusic.about.com/od/punk101/a/punkhistory2.htm
3) Goniprow, D. (2007). Where Have All the Protest Songs Gone? Retrieved 4 June, 2014, from http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/srhonorsprog/43
2) Post-Modernism, How is beat poetry linked to rap?
ReplyDeleteBeat poetry is a form of writing style with some writers, society from mid-1950s and 1960s in New York City and on the west coast. The beats were also close to be intertwined with poets of the San Francisco Renaissance movement, such as Kenneth Rexroth and Robert Duncan. (“A Brief Guide to the Beat Poets,” n.d.)
Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs are the best well known for the post-World War II writers during the Great Depression in United States. These writers were interested in changing consciousness and defying conventional writing. (“What Is Beat Poetry?,” n.d.)
The society at the time was the corruption and degradation of moral values. That is why immoral and delinquent were frequently used.
The beat poetry was used verbally and some poetry themes were sexual freedom such as liberation for the black, women and Native Americans. In 1960s this influenced the songs of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and the other folk singers. They tried to express the awareness of ecology and the way how humans harm the planet through the songs. Also, they appears to help to get women’s and gay’s rights movements.
On the other hand, Rap which showed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the vocal style with the emceeing, MCing, spitting, or just rhyming poetry and songs. Rap music was developed from the street fights and the rap lyrics were normally related with drugs, alcohol, homosexuality and freedom. People who raps normally like to live outside the bounds of society. It was caused with dissatisfaction of the conservative society in 1950s and disillusioned society after the War.
References
A Brief Guide to the Beat Poets. (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2014, from http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/brief-guide-beat-poets
What Is Beat Poetry? (n.d.). wiseGEEK. Retrieved May 23, 2014, from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-beat-poetry.htm
Your answer is vague. Note that the form of beat poetry is very musical.
ReplyDelete
DeleteThere are some similarities between poetry and rap.
They have a rhythm to phrasing of poetry and rap. Rhythm such as iambic pentameter is created with a combination of words in poetry. There are 10 syllables per line totally. Normally the first word of them is an unaccented syllable. (Donohue & Contributor, n.d.)
Generally, there are always rhyming on rap and poetry. Rhyme is the pattern of repetition of same final vowel sound and following consonant sound which is shown a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words. It usually come at the end of lines in poetry and rap. (“Rhyme,” 2014)
References
Donohue, C., & Contributor, eHow. (n.d.). Similarities & Differences Between Poetry & Rap. eHow. Retrieved May 26, 2014, from http://www.ehow.com/info_8508048_similarities-differences-between-poetry-rap.html
Rhyme. (2014, May 25). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rhyme&oldid=607700752
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Elena,
ReplyDeleteI like your post about rap music and the beat movement. I agree that they are stylisically quite similar. In my post, I have tried to elaborate on some of these points.
2. How is beat poetry linked to rap?
American beat poetry originated in 1950’s San Francisco. It was a social movement concerned with achieving illumination, often through the use of alcohol, drugs and Jazz music. The term ‘Beat’ originally meant ‘beaten down’, though the pioneers of this movement were predominately from well-educated, middle class backgrounds. The original beat poets, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, met at a University bar.
After World War 2, America become concerned with a return to conservative values and family structures. The Beat movement was a rebellion against these conservative beliefs, and against consumer culture, which they believed was at the root of inequality. The beat poets drew influence from the Romantic poets of the 1800’s, and also Native American and Eastern philosophies. They were often criticized for being unrefined, and un-academic, because of the use of slang and obscenities in their poetry (Rahn, 2011). They talked openly about sex and drugs, which scandalized 1950’s American society.
Although spoken poetry is still around today, the Beat movement was short-lived. In the early 1970’s another social movement emerged, rap music. In the Bronx and Harlem, young people mixed melodies from existing songs with poetry lyrics, talking about life in the hood. At the time, disco music was the dominant culture. Teenagers from poor neighbourhoods couldn’t afford to get into clubs, so they created their own scene.
Rap music has strong Jamaican and African roots, and was influenced by the African griot tradition. The griots were West-African story tellers who travelled around the country telling stories and passing on information. These story-tellers prided themselves on their vocal and lyrical qualities.
Some major pioneers this movement were Pete DJ Jones, Kool DJ Herc, ‘Love bug’ Starski, Kurtis Blow, Run DMC, and the Sugarhill gang. A particular style of dress and speaking emerged, along with the concept of the ‘B-boy’, which is thought to stand for Beat boy, Break boy or Bronx boy.
Beat poetry and Rap music were both influenced by spoken poetry, and were used as a way to talk about social and politicial issues. They opposed the idea that poetry should be beautiful, and talked openly about pressing social issues. Both valued the use of rhyme, rhythm, and assonance (known as ‘flow’ in rap music, and used a confessional, semi-autobiographical style (Heibutzki, n.d). Protest rap and Beat poetry are still alive and flourishing today, however, much of the popular rap today is merely consumer-driven, commercialized, pop music.
References:
Heibutzki, R. (n.d). The History of Rap: Vol 1: The Genesis. Retrieved June 2, from
http://www.hiphop-network.com/articles/general/kurtisblowversionofhiphop.asp.
Rahn, J. (2011). The Beat Generation. Retrieved from
http://www.online-literature.com/periods/beat.php.
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defence?
ReplyDelete'Howl' is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955, published as part of his 1956 collection of poetry titled Howl and Other Poems.
The poem was later published by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books. When the poem was released Ferlinghetti and the bookstores manager, Shigeyoshi Murao were charged for spreading obscene literature, both being arrested. On October the third 1957 Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled the poem was not obscene.
Howl contains references to drugs, sexual practices both heterosexual and homosexual "who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy" (Ginsberg, 1955)
The 2010 film Howl depicts events of the trail, here is a clip from the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba9yazkl0UE
Retrieved on 03/06/2014 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howl
ReplyDeleteOn what grounds was 'howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defence?
DeleteHowl was accused of being obscene because of its portrayal of “sex (heterosexual and homosexual), drugs and rock and roll” (Chandler, 2012). It’s assumed that line “…who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy” which appears in the first section of Ginsberg’s poem, was the primary example of “obscenity” in the trial against him (King, 2007).
In this day and age homosexuality is accepted amongst most of the public as a part of life. Descriptions and references to homosexuality is not how it used to be, this was what resulted in the government court case for Howl offending the media.
To understand the disagreement, you must remember that America in the 50’s was not an understanding place. This is when television was introduced and so too did the idea of pop culture.
Due to the publication of TV executives and music artists they were now in position of being to attract a much larger audience, and this is what led to programming and music that were explicitly designed to be weak, unimportant and completely bland. This was done with intentions to increase the audience number. However, this created a position for various forms of entertainment. It could be said that Howl was the reason for the abovementioned tastelessness, and the beats in general as well; they were not satisfied to be fed mass marketed entertainment items.
Despite films in the 50s popularising the misfit character– there was still only so much misfit-like behaviour that was socially acceptable (sex, drugs, etc), hence the legal drama that followed Howl’s publication. 1950’s America was also a segregated time and many social taboos still existed such as racial, sexual orientation, gender and religion to name a few (Culture in the 1950’s, n.d.). This was a time order was implemented and if you wanted to stay out of trouble you would need to stay clear.
It is suggested (Slate) that the outcome of the trial was in part due to the lawyers on each side. J. W Erlich defended Howl, while Ralph McIntosh prosecuted. The case was presented in court before Judge Clayton W. Horn, who would eventually rule in Howl’s favour based on its “redeeming social importance” and the unlikelihood it would “deprave or corrupt readers by exciting lascivious thoughts or arousing lustful desire.” Despite America’s first change firmly founding the grounds of freedom of speech (which was applied to Ginsberg in his portrayal of life in Howl), it was the redeeming social importance of Howl that guaranteed its eventual release and success. And, this social importance that Judge Horn saw in Howl’s pages can never be seen more clearly than in hindsight. Horn could not possibly have known the influence the poem would have, but his prediction ended up being precise!
REFERENCES:
Chandler, A. (2012, October 3). Howl” and the Obscenity Trial.
Tablet. Retrieved June 4, 2014, from http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/113218/howl-and-the-obscenity-trial
Culture in the 1950’s. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.shmoop.com/1950s/culture.html
Kaplan, F. (2010). How “Howl” Changed the World. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/life_and_art/2010/09/how_howl_changed_the_world.html
King, L. H. (2007). ‘Howl’ obscenity prosecution still echoes 50 years later. Retrieved from http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/%e2%80%98howl%e2%80%99-obscenity-prosecution-still-echoes-50-years-later