Rock Final Flashcards

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1
Q

Black Sabbath - “War Pigs”

A
  • first full-on metal band
  • power trio + Ozzy Osbourne (lyrics)
  • disregard harmony
  • does not represent the virtuosic aspect of metal
  • prominent drums
  • lyrics - social commentary, war, occult images
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2
Q

Cake - “Short Skirt/Long Jacket”

A
  • alternative rock
  • distinctive style –> heavy bassline, manachi trumpet
  • dry, sarcastic humor
  • prominent bassline
  • call and response
  • choked repetitive, catchy guitar riff
  • sounds like a party
  • lyrics - paradox/contradiction
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3
Q

John Denver - “Take Me Home, Country Roads”

A
  • singer-songwriter
  • tuneful melody with tinge of melancholy
  • written about Maryland backroads
  • lyrics - nostalgia for home
  • folk <==> country rock
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4
Q

The Doors - “Riders on the Storm”

A
  • bluesy sound
  • keyboards
  • lyrics - existentialism, dark, relfect Morrison’s poetic/philosophical interests
  • off of LA Woman (71) –> last album before Morrison died
  • utilized groundbreaking recording techniques
  • laidback tempo
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5
Q

The Doors - “The End”

A
  • blues
  • from The Doors (67)
  • lyrics - existentialism
  • instruments introduced stepwise
  • Morrison’s vocals dominate
  • keyboards
  • experimental - sounds, form, length
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6
Q

Snoop Dogg - “Who Am I? (What’s My Name)”

A
  • rap
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7
Q

Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five - “The Message”

A
  • innovator/pinoneer in rap music
  • turntable techniques that would revolutionize rap - the sound collage
  • completely recontextualized cut and pasted sound clips
  • presents a brutal picture of life in the ghetto
  • shows that rap music was more than just party music and could be serious social commentary
  • 16-beat rhythms
  • electronically generated sounds
  • rapping - no singing
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8
Q

Jimi Hendrix Experience - “Voodoo child”

A
  • power trio
  • virtuosic soloing
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9
Q

Michael Jackson - “Thriller”

A
  • black pop
  • Thriller (82) album and three music videos
  • helped transform the music video from a song-with-video into a mini-film that used a song as the focal point
  • denced with virtuosity and expressiveness
  • four-on-the-floor bass drum - heavy backbeat
  • busy rhythms
  • spooky music
  • extensive use of electronic instruments in combo with conventional instruments
  • denser, more complex texture than disco
  • expansive form allows the action in the video to unfold
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10
Q

Jane’s Addiction - “Jane Says”

A
  • The founding fathers of “Alt Nation”
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11
Q

Jefferson Airplane - “White Rabbit”

A
  • underground acid rock
  • first San Fran band to break into the mainstream
  • spanish tinge
  • crescendo
  • psychedelic sound <==> LSD
  • lyrics - repetitive, about drugs, psychedelic images
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12
Q

Janis Joplin - “Ball and Chain”

A
  • blues rock
  • born in Texas in 1943 –> Cali
  • Big Brother and the Holding Company–>San Fran, huge hit at Monteray Pop Festival
  • died from heroin OD at age 27
  • woman empowerment songs
  • recorded at Monteray Pop Festival on June 18, 1967
  • serious blues influence in this recording
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13
Q

Lady Gaga - “Paparazzi”

A
  • pop
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14
Q

Led Zeppelin - “The Immigrant Song”

A
  • hard rock <==> metal
  • bluesy
  • proto-metal
  • fantasy elements
  • from Led Zeppelin III (70)
  • simultaneous guitar/bass riff emphasizes the beat
  • talented musicians
  • loud, strong beat
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15
Q

Madonna - “Express Yourself”

A
  • sexy pop
  • combines provacative, shocking and controversial themes and images with bright, accesible music
  • shows rapid evolution of the music video
  • simple, catchy melody
  • trendy sounds and rhythms
  • skillful production
  • club music
  • complete control over her career –> making key decisions about every aspect of production and promotion
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16
Q

Metallica - “Master of Puppets”

A
  • 80’s trash metal
  • also popular outside of core metal cultures
  • style changes thruout career
  • virtuosic playing
  • LOUD
  • extended instrumental “solos”
  • sectionalized form
  • speedy, dark sound
  • lyrics - about how drugs can effect your life
  • updated metal sounds
  • almost no exposure on radio or television
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17
Q

Bob Marley and the Wailers - “Get Up, Stand Up”

A
  • reggae
  • brought international awareness to the reggae genre and its message
  • rastafarianism
  • the plight of Jamaican people
  • choked guitar
  • percussive “riffs”
  • shows Marley’s political side
  • last verse–>speak-singing style is a precursor to rap
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18
Q

Nine Inch Nails - “The Day the World Went Away”

A
  • industrial rock = pre-existing sounds + white noise
  • Trent Reznor - only official member
  • strong new-wave synth pop influence
  • dynamic contrasts–>high to low
  • simple
  • fins “the groove”
  • depressed, melancholy feeling
  • anger–>heavy distortion
  • lyrics - one verse, about death?
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19
Q

Nine Inch Nails - “Mr. Sef Destruct”

A
  • industrial rock = pre-existing sounds + white noise
  • new-wave synth pop influence
  • intro is a sound sample from a George Lucas film
  • dynamic contrasts
  • HEAVY, electric distortion
  • in-your-face screaming vs whisper-singing
  • lyrics - speak to the potential self-destruction in all of us
  • sets up the concept of the “downward spiral”
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20
Q

Nirvana - “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

A
  • Alternative goes mainstream
  • grunge = subgenre of heavy metal
  • dynamic contrasts
  • choked and distorted guitar
  • prominent bass line
  • syncopated guitar solo
  • mumbled-singing style
  • lyrics - heavy sarcsm reflects the generation
  • a dark song, depressed
  • schizophrenic shift from section to section
  • extends the emotional range of punk
21
Q

Otis Redding - “Try A Little Tenderness”

A
  • soul singer on Stax Records
  • backed by Booker T and the MGs
  • improvisational
  • reached #24 on Hot 100 list in 1966
  • slow groove/laid-back –> picks up energy
  • soul/gospel singing style
  • performed at the Monteray Pop Festival in 1967
22
Q

Pink Floyd - “Speak to Me/Breathe”

A
  • The Dark Side of the Moon (73)
23
Q

Pink Floyd - “Money”

A
  • The Dark Side of the Moon (73)
24
Q

Pink Floyd - “Time”

A
  • The Dark Side of the Moon (73)
25
Q

Radiohead - “How to Dissapear Completely”

A
  • alternative-art rock
  • styles - alt/grunge, post-modern, acoustic, prog. rock
  • shows musical influences for Johnny Greenwood
  • high pitch sound over everything
  • acoustic - soothing, dream-like
  • sound layers are individually different but integrated seemlessly
  • dramatic sound
  • strings –> clashing cluster chords
  • lyrics - repetitive
26
Q

Radiohead - “2+2=5”

A
  • alternative art rock
  • styles - alt/grunge, post-modern, acoustic, prog. rock
  • shows radiohead’s “pop sensibility”
  • getting away from the concept album
  • less studio effects
  • syncopated rhythm
  • four distinct sections - rhythm and tempo change with each
  • lyrics - political, challanges authority
  • aburptly cuts off at the end
  • title is reference to George Orwell’s 1984
27
Q

Rage Against the Machine - “Wake Up”

A
  • hard rock
28
Q

Rolling Stones - “Sympathy for the Devil”

A
  • blues and rock band
  • Dylan-esque folk song - lyrical sophistication –> questioning humanity
  • riff-based
  • syncopation
  • rhythmically dense
  • blues sensibility
  • samba rhythm–>latin percussion
29
Q

Rolling Stones - “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”

A
  • blues and rock band
  • riff based
  • syncopation
  • drummer accents the bass
  • 8-beat rock rhythm
  • catchy melody
  • rebellious, free-spirit attitude
  • upbeat tempo contrasts with drawn out singing style
30
Q

Rolling Stones - “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”

A
  • blues and rock band
  • break-thru hit in 1965
  • riff based
  • syncopation
  • the rhythm emphasizes the backbeat and keeps time
  • dense rhythmic texture
  • blues sensibility
  • chorus/verse form
31
Q

Sex Pistols - “God Save the Queen

A
  • punk rock
  • reaction to 70’s culture, class warfare
  • stripped down music
  • 8-beat rock rhythm
  • anti-establishment attitude
  • 1977 hit
  • youth-based reaction to mainstream culture
  • very quick tempo
  • simple - distorted power chords up and down the fretboard outline simple riff
  • guitar and bass in tandem –> relentless rock rhythm
32
Q

Simon and Garfunkel - “The Boxer”

A
  • singer-songwriters
  • unique vocal harmonies
  • lots of instruments - bass, harmonica, trumpet, picalo, etc
  • unconventional new sounds
  • crashing sounds is an elevator shaft sound
  • lyrics - hopelessness…carry on anyway
  • nonlexical syllables –> vocables
33
Q

Townes Van Zandt - “Pancho and Lefty”

A
  • blue-collar country music of the 70’s
  • Outlaw Movement –> anti-polished, Nashville sound
  • singer–songwriter
  • greatest hit - many cover versions
  • ballad
  • lyrics - clever storytelling
  • studied at CU-Boulder–>left because of substance abuse
34
Q

The Velvet Underground - “I’m Waiting for the Man”

A
  • avant garde
  • house band for Andy Warhol’s club, The Factory
  • underground music
  • stripped down rock music
  • lyrics - about waiting for a drugdealer
  • influeced punk music
35
Q

Village People - “Y.M.C.A.”

A
  • quintessential disco
  • repetitive, cyclical harmony
  • dance incarnation of the 16-beat rock rhythm
  • electronic instruments and strings
  • quick tempo - 120 beats per minute
  • stock characters
  • coded messages about the gay community
  • YMCA became a meeting place for gays
  • macho stereotypes/hyper-maleness = gay pinups
  • their look was more important than their sound
36
Q

‘Weird Al’ Yankovic - “White and Nerdy”

A
  • parody of “Ridin’ Dirty” by Chamillionaire
37
Q

Monteray Pop Festival

A
  • first major rock festival
  • June 16-18, 1967 –> summer of love
  • international
  • major artists - Hendrix, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, The Animals, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Otis Redding,
  • bridge between two musical scenes: SanFran <==> LA
  • organized as a charity event to get all the bands to play for free
  • model for other rock festivals
  • notabl absent - the Stones, the Beatles, motown acts
38
Q

Altamont Free Concert

A
  • December 6, 1969
  • artists - santana, CSNY, Jefferson Airplane
  • Hells Angels as security
  • represents the end of the 1960’s ==> beginning of the darker 70’s
39
Q

Counterculture

A
  • late 60’s
  • political and social movement
  • free love, free drugs
  • hippies
  • protests
  • music –> acid rock
  • “turn in, tune in, drop out”
  • Timothy Leary –> LSD
40
Q

Metal

A
  • loud, angry, occult, gothic
  • looked down on
  • playing at extremely high speeds and tempos
  • virtuosity
  • speaking/shouting instead of singing
  • uses modal system instead of typical major/minor
  • visual aspect - black and red colors
  • symbols - the occult, folklore, mythology, fantasy
41
Q

Reggae

A
  • origins - ska + rock steady, African influence
  • choked guitar
  • relaxed tempo
  • flexible, fast shuffle-based reggae rhythm –> the rhythm of the song can be buoyant and lazy at the same time
  • Rastafarianism
  • describes typical living conditions in Jamaica
  • lyrics - hope for change
  • Bob Marley brought international awareness
42
Q

Rastafarianism

A
  • colors - green, red, yellow
  • dredlocks
  • Jah = God
  • marijuana - to bring you closer to God
  • Prince Rastafari - Ethiopian king claimed to be lineage of Solomon
43
Q

Disco

A
  • 70’s dance club music
  • dance incarnation of 16-beat rock rhythm
  • ebraced all races and groups - including gays
  • repetitive, cyclical harmony
  • sex and drugs
  • discos - place where rich and famous would mingle with poorer unknowns
44
Q

Punk

A
  • angry musical reaction to 70’s culture and class warfare
  • stripped down rock music - 8-beat rock rhythm
  • anti-establishment, crowd-rowsing attitude
  • fashion culture but ironically, against consumerism
  • gothic-inspired, bondage-themed fashion
45
Q

Alternative

A
  • Started in the 1980’s and popular in the 90’s
  • self-promotion, “indie” labels
  • tour-driven
  • started out as underground
  • generation x - kids from the 60’s and 70’s
46
Q

Acid Rock

A
  • psychedelic sounds
  • experimentation
  • blues influence
  • utilized recording techniques
  • distortion
  • music to enhance the trip
  • music of the counterculture –> hippies, mary jane, LSD
47
Q

Grunge

A
  • music for generation x (children of babyboomers)
  • lyrics - sarcastic, depressed, realistic
  • target audience - angry young people who were not ready to buy into “the system”
  • fused punk disaffection with the power and distortion of heavy metal
48
Q

Industrial Rock

A
  • roots in two avant garde trends in classical music
    1. musique concrete - the assembling of musical compositions from pre-recorded sounds
    1. electronic music
  • Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails
  • Reznor conveys in music and words and voice the alienation of the individual in contemporary culture
  • sense of alienation created by technology