Please answer the following questions based on this week’s YouTube playlist.
1) Alan Freed’s Big Beat Show 1959
a. How do you react to the “scandalous” nature of what you hear and see in terms of attire, style of dancing, sound of the music, and other such considerations? It is scandalous by today’s standards?
b. Place this video clip, recorded in 1959, in the context of the Civil Rights movement. What had been achieved? What was yet to come?
2) “Sixty Minute Man” by the Dominoes
a. In terms of what you expect to hear when you hear that something is Rock and Roll, what is missing? What instruments should you hear that you don’t?
b. In terms of what you expect to hear when you hear that something is Rock and Roll, what is here? What elements allow this to be placed in the Rock and Roll sound world?
c. What do the above answers tell you about the true purpose behind genre labeling for Rock and Roll?
3) Chuck Berry: Rock Legends (you only need to watch until the break that occurs at 11:27)
a. Who was the Blues guitar player identified as an early influence on Chuck Berry?
b. What city did Chuck Berry travel to as his music career was first progressing?
c. What chart did “Maybellene” first reach the top of? What 2 genres did it combine?
d. The video mentions that Chuck Berry is telling stories about being young. He was definitely writing to target a teenage audience, but he was in his thirties when he was performing these songs? Comment on this as it relates to the idea of identity and authenticity.
4) “School Days”
a. What is it about the instruments and how they’re used that makes this song distinctly Rock and Roll?
b. Comment on how the lyrics are contributing to an “us versus them” mentality? Who are “us” and “them?”
c. Look up the true definition of the word “anthem.” How does “School Days” fit (or maybe not fit) into that genre category?
5) Sam Phillips Interview on Elvis (Sam Phillips is the man who made the first Elvis record) (you only need to watch until 4:23)
a. Comment on Sam Phillips’s statement that Elvis has “one of the most believable presentations” and his contention that Elvis was “born with it.” Link this to ideas of authenticity, relatability, and the use of Rock as an identity statement for 1950s teenagers.
b. Phillips actually talks about his recognition of the people who were listening to Elvis, both “black and white” and the need to mold Elvis’s presentation in order to please these people. How does this relate, whether in support or in contradiction, to the ideas presented above about authenticity?
6) “That’s All Right, Mama” by Elvis and by Arthur Crudup (listen to both versions)
a. Both versions open with the guitar. What is similar and different about the guitar introductions?
b. How would you compare the vocal performance style in each one?
c. What instrument do you hear in Crudup’s version but not Elvis’s?
7) “Hound Dog” by Big Mama Thornton
a. Think back to the R&B songs we heard in our last unit by Louis Jordan and others. How does Big Mama Thornton’s sound compare, both in terms of similarities and differences? Think in terms of details such as vocal performance style, lyrics, and the instruments used.
8) “Hound Dog” by Elvis Presley. This is the performed that resulted in Elvis being condemned for being too “animalistic” and “vulgar.”
a. Compare and contrast this version with Big Mama Thornton’s original. Think in terms of tempo, vocal performance style, role of instruments, etc.
b. What is it about Elvis’s stage persona that shocked people? Does it have the same effect today?
9) “Tutti Frutti” by Little Richard (original) and Pat Boone
a. After listening to both versions, write a one paragraph review meant to convince listeners of why they should prefer one version over the other. Think of this as a mini record, concert, or book review.
(Link directs to music playlist in regards to assignment)
Part 2:
1) What were the early race, class, and sound world connotations of the term R & B?
2) How was “jump blues” a product of the necessities of the era?
3) Compare and contrast “club” blues and “jump” blues, making reference to the respective examples on our playlist.
4) Compare the T-Bone Walker song “Stormy Monday” with the Orioles song “It’s Too Soon to Know.” What is different about the Orioles song that might have contributed to its crossover appeal?
5) Compare “Wabash Cannonball” with any of the other Hillbilly songs included in this week’s unit. List 3 ways in which Roy Acuff was changing the direction of Hillbilly music based on what you hear in these songs.
6) What kind of impact did the professionalization of race and hillbilly singers that came about due to radio in the 1920s have on the idea of authenticity in these genres, especially authenticity in terms of listeners believing that their musical icons came from the same ethnic and/or socio-economic backgrounds as them?
a. Did it change how musicians performed race and class?
b. Did it change the music listeners consumed?
c. Also note how many of the Hillbilly bands of the 1930s were formed by or sponsored by flour companies. How does this impact the notion of authenticity in country music? Also think in terms of the constructed country identity of Grand Ole Opry performers.
7) Write a few sentences that explain the parallels and differences between the marketing of Blues and Country records. There are many possible directions you can go with this question! Be creative and formulate your own answers based on the materials you read and listened to for this week.
246225
2 hours ago
Part 3: (2 documentaries and youtube playlist will be linked to assignment). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1C4Vt7YOyW7mQRY0MGfcR_GU14YI738d
1) Please comment on how the song “Respect” and other songs that aren’t literally addressing racial inequities in their lyrics are Civil Rights movement songs that are laying an important foundation for the movement.
2) How would you describe the stage attire of the soul performers, especially the Black soul performers? What might the significance of the attire choices have been?
3) Smokey Robinson said “we’re going to make music with” what two characteristics? According to him, who would be the intended audience? What would the subject and nature of the lyrics be? How does this relate to the function of soul as a form of identity reclamation?
4) Write a short lyrical analysis and history of “Say It Loud, I’m Black and Proud” that focuses specifically on Soul and Civil Rights.
5) Write a few sentences that places the race issues surrounding Motown and Soul within the context of the 1950s and ‘60s. Transcending race yet not putting Black performers on record labels, music for everybody regardless of race, pop crossover, stage presence, color-blind, and many other things that were mentioned in either documentary are topics you might address with this question.
6) Listen to “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke. Comment on the lyrics in the context of what was going on in the United States in 1964. Then talk about the music itself. What characteristics of the music make this an ideal example of 1960s soul.
246225
2 hours ago
All parts should be written separated!!!
246225
2 hours ago
Part 3 documentaries :
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