Lecture 9 - Pop and Heavy Metal (1980s) Flashcards
What happened to the music industry in the mid 1970’s? Due to what genre? And then what happened in 1979?
Why did this happen?
What was there an increase of?
In the mid-1970s, the American music industry expanded due to disco (disco was huge) and then, in 1979, it experienced an 11% drop in annual record sales nationwide.
There was a national recession; people weren’t buying as many albums/singles + There was competition from other forms of entertainment that provided leisure; home videos (VHS tapes), cable TV, video games
Increase in illegal copying called pirating with cassette tapes
What is illegal copying/pirating? Why was this easier to do with cassette tapes?
It is an act of illegally reproducing or disseminating copyrighted material
It was easier with cassette tapes because people could easily copy a friend’s CD or copy what they heard on the radio so then you could create your own playlist and mixtapes.
What genre started to rise in the 80s? Do they take a small piece or big piece of the music industry? Who were the big names at this time?
rise in heavy metal and more and more metal bands and offshoots but
they will still take a relatively small piece of the music industry in comparison to some of these big names.
- Big names like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, and more
What pieces of technology allowed for the playing of cassette tapes? What peice of technology did cassette tape sales surpass in 1984?
What did the development of digital technology sound recording lead to the introduction of?
tape players (called walkmans) and larger portable players (boomboxes, ghettoblasters)
cassette tape sales surpassed those of vinyl records in 1984
The development of digital technology sound recording led to the introduction of the 5-inch compact disc (CD) in 1982 and portable CD players (discman).
What decade did CD’s overtake cassette sales? What were the advantages of Cassette tapes?
CDs will overtake cassettes sales in the 1990s.
Advantages: there was better sound quality, increase in portability, decrease in price, ability to make copies
What American cable channel started in the 80s? What song did they start with and by who? What are artists expected to do now? What did this cable channel take over as for artists? Why? What happens to American Bandstand? What does this cable channel shift our focus away from? What realm does it shift music into? What becomes an important element?
MTV (Music Television) started in 1981
“Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles.
Artists are now not only expected to create music on cassettes, perform live, and create music in studios but also to create music videos for MTV.
MTV takes over as a very desirable place for artists because it was another way to get their music heard and becoming overnight stars
American Bandstand does last through the 80s but falls by the wayside because MTV takes over as a place where younger people go to get their music and get their music heard
Shifts the focus away from radio and records
taps into our sense of hearing, and shifts music into the realm of visual
Visual becomes such an important element in the making of these music videos
What was MTV dedicated to doing?
How does MTV affect radios?
What did MTV become the center of?
They were dedicated to airing music videos
MTV started to rival radio as the primary vehicle for music consumption
became the center of the American pop music industry
What are the two priorities of Music Videos?
1) Visual elements
Factors of appearance and the ability to dance and move become important because it was about how they’re performing, how they look like, how much dance and choreography are included
2) Musical elements
Who is the core audience of MTV? What artists did MTV favour?
1) American Midwest (white youth market)
- This market was largely young and white
MTV started out with these very racist programming practices where they favored white artists in comparison to black musicians or musicians of other minorities
Why was MTV criticized initially? Who did MTV ignore?
They had racist programming practices.
MTV ignored black artists and other minorities
What label threatened to ban white rock musicians from playing on MTV? What artist did MTV start putting on their channel to change all of their white format? What made MTV realize that this is what the audience wanted to hear?
Epic Records
the channel finally relented and put Jackson’s videos into heavy rotation
The success of his album ‘Thriller’ made MTV realize this is what the audience wanted to hear
When/Where was Michael Jackson born? When did he start performing? Why was he a child prodigy? What is his signature dance move? What labels did he sign with?
- Born in Gary, Indiana in 1958
- Started perfuming at age 5
- because he had the ability to perform, sing, dance, be so charismatic, and take the lead in terms of the band
- The moonwalk
- Signed with Motown for a while and released some solo albums and at 17 he switches to Epic; this is the label where he pursues his solo career. Releases singles that chart really well
Who did Michael Jackson team up with at Epic? What did they record together? What did it result in? How does Jackson incorporate disco? How old was he when he won his first Grammy for Best R&B male vocal performance?
- At Epic, Jackson teamed up with producer Quincy Jones
- recorded ‘Off the Wall’
- resulted in 2 singles, “Rock with You” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” (starts to make a name for himself as a solo artist)
- Jackson is extending the tradition of disco, visually and musically, he is riding the disco wave and creating music to be danced for which is one of the primary functions of music especially pop music
- 22 years old
What did Jackson believe in? Who does he team up with as a result of this? Who else does he team up with?
- Believed in the power of collaboration. He understands that collaborating with other big names that represent other types of popular music can be an asset and not a sort of competition
- He teams up with Paul McCartney (one of the Beatles) and does a duet with him and it does really well
- He also teams up with Eddie Van Halen, an incredible and a huge force in playing guitar, featured a guitar solo (beat it)
What instrument played a key role in this decade?
The guitar, and its virtuosic display in pop music such as “Thriller”
What is the best-selling album in the history of the music business? What did Miahel Jackson’s content on MTV prove to record companies? What did Michael Jackson’s career coincide with?
‘Thriller’ album by Michael Jackson
Jackson’s content on MTV made record companies realize they needed to invest in this new format
His career coincided with the development of MTV and the music video format making it wonderful for him. MTV development worked in his favor, convincing labels and producers that this is something they should fund and invest in and worth spending money on because they would reap the rewards if they did produce excellent music videos to go with these songs
Who is “Billie Jean” by? What genre? What form? What does the Introduction sound like? What instrument is also present? What do the voices/instruments do in the song? How does Jackson sometimes sing/is also his trademark?
- Words and music by Jackson
- Genre is pop
- Verse-chorus form with a pre-chorus that repeats same lyrics
- Introduction: The bass groove in the opening sounds like “I Can’t Help Myself” by the Four Tops; the synthesizer enters playing a repeating 4-chord pattern
- synthesizer
- instruments or voices entering or leaving the fray/texture
- Sometimes Jackson sings with a kind of hiccup. Articulates the sounds of a word at the end/beginning of phrase. This is another trademark of his
In ‘Billie Jean’, who does the vocals? What does Jackson do in terms of the melody? What is an Octave? What do we also hear with the instruments and the voices too? How does Jackson sound like?
- Jackson sings all the lead and backing vocals throughout (illusion of backup singers but its just Jackson)
- frequently doubling the melody an octave higher (heavy reverb and vocal exclamations/flourishes)
- think of an octave as a thickening device for the voices and could happen in instruments, where they are playing the same note simultaneously but in different parts of the range. could have a high C, a medium C, a low C, all kinds of different Cs to create texture and textural variety
- We will also hear reverb and distortion usually only in instruments but could happen with voices too
- Michael sounds like he’s in a space with lots of echo and this thickens the texture and density of the track and makes it that much more satisfying and interesting
In ‘Billie Jean’ what are lyrics about?
- youth pregnancy, a hot-button topic in the 1980s
- he’s denying that a child is his
- dealing with more serious topics
What is a pre-chorus? What does it build? Is it usually a short or long section? What does the pre-chorus do in terms of the lyrics? What kind of material does a pre-chorus have?
- The pre-chorus is a small section that bridges the gap between a verse and a chorus
- It builds anticipation so we have to get to that chorus section; it just builds up the hype
- It is usually a shorter section and helps lead from point A to point B or verse to chorus
- pre-chorus usually repeats same lyrics but there is not clear cut rule, more fluid
- a pre-chorus has contrasting material
Why do songwriters consciously borrow or self borrow from others or their own songs? Who did this?
pay homage, out of respect, or to parody, or to give some sort of context
Michael Jackson with the song ‘Billie Jean’ and borrowed from the Four Tops song called ‘I Can’t Help Myself’
Check up
With the release of Thriller in the early 1980s, MTV demonstrated an appealing new format that record companies could not ignore as a fad. What was the new format?
a) Vinyl record albums
b) Talent shows
c) Music videos
d) Radio dance parties
e) Television commercials
c) Music videos
Why did it take so long for MTV to play Michael Jackson’s music?
a) Because he was from England
b) Because he was too young
c) Because he was too old
d) Because he was black
e) Because he was on the Epic roster
d) Because he was black
Identify the name of the song section that leads directly into the most memorable part of the song:
a) Verse
b) Coda
c) Reprise of introduction
d) Chorus
e) Pre-chorus
e) Pre-chorus
When/Where was Madonna Louise Ciccone born? What did she work as first? Who did she sign with? Where did she make her first TV appearance and what did she sing?
- Born in Bay City, Michigan in 1958
- first worked as a professional dancer in New York, appearing with the Pearl Lang and Alvin Ailey dance companies
- Sire Records
- American Bandstand and sang “Holiday”
How many hit singles did Madonna’s album “Madonna” contain and what were they? Why did she have a controversial presence? How did she respond to this? How did she use music videos? What did she shift to doing?
- contained 2 hit singles, “Borderline” and “Lucky Star”
- controversial presence in the music business, lots of critics over the years who questioned her reliance on appearance and projecting a sex symbol bimbo image
- she’s responded to this upfront and has said that its her right as a feminist to portray whatever kind of image she wants and that she’s never been forced or coerced into being anything except for what she has wanted to be
- used music videos as an advantage to push boundaries in terms of what viewers were used to seeing depicted on TV and in music videos and she introduced a wide range of imagery and themes and levels of provocativeness with her music videos
- Over time, Madonna covered fewer songs and wrote more of her own because she realized that was an advantage
Who is “Like a Virgin” by and what genre? What is the form?
- By Madonna and genre is pop
- Form is compound AABA with the A sections following verse-chrous form
How is the form for ‘Like a Virgin’ by Madonna compound AABA? What makes up the instrumentation?
- In this song, the A section breaks into 2 verses and a chorus and then the second A section does the same thing
- layers of synthesizers, drums, guitar, lead vocals
