Midterm 2 (Part 2) Flashcards
Political & Economic Context of Late 60s
Mistrust in government continues with ongoing Vietnam war + Civil Rights movement = counterculture
Central Themes/Influences of Late 60s
- Disillusionment (honest themes)
- Free Love (explicit lyrics)
- Drugs (hallucinogenins and Eastern culture)
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Album emblematic of counterculture; first album to be presented completely whole (no singles)
- Cover: many counterculture figures
- Unique instrumentation on every song
- Drug influences (A Day in the Life)
- “Be In” Audience (symbolic of communal living)
Psychedelic Rock
Emerged out of San Francisco, confluence of folk rock, hard rock, blues, Latin and Indian music
Jefferson Airplane
First band out of psychedelic scene to achieve national success (ACID ROCK)
White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)
Quintessential psychedelic rock; latin and bolero influence (one big crescendo)
- Theme: irony of parents condoning drug use, despite all the drug references in Alice in Wonderland
- 16:00!!!
Janis Joplin + Big Brother and the Holding Company
Psychedelic band which hopped on Jefferson Airplane bandwagon
- Album ‘Cheap Thrills’
Summertime (Big Brother and the Holding Company)
Cover of G.Gershwin TPA standard
- Distinct vocals by Joplin; raspy, multiphonics (2 notes produced at same time)
The Grateful Dead
Psychedelic band infamous for life performance
- ‘Live/Dead’ album recorded over many shows (songs like jam sessions)
- Counterculture community = Dead Heads
Jim Morrison
Lead singer of The Doors, famous for:
- Stage presence
- Outrageous lyrics
The Doors
Band name originates from “The Doors of Perception”, reference to a hallucinogenic trip
- Difference from other bands: no bass player!
Light My Fire (The Doors)
Quintessential psychedelic rock
- Theme: thinly veiled reference to all nighter of sex and drugs
- Changed radio consumption of rock (short version charted → long version played → increased record sales)
Jimi Hendrix
Most inventive guitar virtuoso of the guitar era
- Feedback, distortion, volume!
Jimi Hendrix and the Experience
Band formed in London, debuted in America and Monterey Pop Festival (Cali)
- Hendrix guitar tricks on display (with teeth, behind back, set on fire, made love to it!)
Star-Spangled Banner (Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock)
Unprecedented guitar playing (orchestra worth of timbre)
- Can hear the rockets and bombs
***Fine line between music and noise!
Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix)
Quintessential Hendrix guitar
- Experimentation galore!
- Established the Hendrix chord (tritone)
The End of Counterculture
- 60s counterculture goes mainstream (centralized producers profiting)
- Deaths of Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison
- Dissolution of Beatles
Conservative Approach (of 70s)
New approach of the 70s involved:
- Mature themes (no more disillusionment, free love, drugs)
- Nostalgia for earlier age
- Reintroduction of the division between black and white music
Emerging Technology of the 70s
Magnetic tape → 8-track + cassettes
The Illusion of Choice
Pop music splinted into MANY genres with goal of increasing marketability
Radio’s Album Oriented Rock (AOR)
Effort to increase record sales by playing songs that could only acquired by buying full album
- Airtime given mostly to white artists (rock becoming more ‘white’)
Carole King
First a songwriter working in the Brill Building, then became singer
Its Too Late (Carole King)
Soft rock which emulated the 70s conservative approach
- Mature theme: end of relationship, acceptance of change and growing apart
- Instrumental variety
Joni Mitchell
Confessional singer-songwriter