A few weeks ago someone asked me if I'd heard the music that's being played on the radio.When I asked why, this person stated that it had a "weird," sound. After describing it, I asked if it had a single bass drum beat placed right up front so you can hear it loud and clear. This person said "yeah, now that you mention it." So, I told this person that what they heard was ,"Disco." Yep, that's right, it's "Disco," only there are no strings or horns, just synthesizers. And, it's going by the name of either "Dance," "Club," or "House," but, it's still "Disco."
What's interesting about what is happening to the music on top 40 stations, is that "Dance," "Club," and "House," have been eased into their formats a little at a time since the mid 1990s. It would seem that few people are noticing this trend because it's being done so slowly, and cross marketing has been kept to a minimal level.
Three of the of the most notable acts that are performing music in this style are Lady Gaga, Rhianna, and the Black Eyed Peas. "Dance," "Club," or "House," when coupled with a big budget video performance can make for an amazing visual experience that appeals mostly to the target demographic of 14 to 24. In fact, the result of such a combination has made stars of all three acts. But, when you finally break it on down, the music that they are performing is still, "Disco."
"Disco", is what was considered to be European R&B. In 1975, the sound made it's way to this country. The first clubs that opened didn't actually play "Disco," instead, they played R&B, along with some danceable Rock or danceable Jazz. In fact some of the first records to be played in clubs were the Commodores, "Fancy Dancer," KC and the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight," and Johnnie Taylor's, "Disco Lady," the latter of which featured an ultra funky bass line performed by none other than funkateer and James brown alum, Bootsy Collins.
R&B slowly began adopting elements of the "new" sound as Diana Ross' "Love Hangover," and Donna Summer's "Love To Love You," would attest. However, the true "Disco," sound didn't take hold until radio personality Rick Dees released his "Disco," parody, "Disco Duck," in 1976. Though the record was pure novelty, it fueled the market for more music that sounded the same. And, lets not forget the dancing. Dancing schools began to spring up everywhere as the trend began to gain momentum. In 1977, everything would change. Until this point "Disco," was the music of the masses. But, the release of the movie, "Saturday Night Fever," which severed to propel the trend to new heights also led to it's eventual decline.
The soundtrack to the movie, "Saturday Night Fever," was performed by the Bee Gee, who at one point was quoted as saying that they had no idea that what they were doing would be so huge. In my opinion, that though the movie was a success, and very entertaining, it introduced three negatives into the "Disco," trend. These negatives were, exclusivity, conformity, and intolerance. It also introduced one other thing that I like to call, the "velvet robe," mentality.
Exclusivity seemed to arise whenever clubs would change ownership. Each change of ownership meant a change in clientele. What this would mean is that a visit to a once familiar club meant finding no familiar faces in the crowd, or that you were treated as an outsider showing up on the wrong day for outsiders. Conformity meant that you had to wear the right cloths, not just dress cloths, or risk being ostracized or worse, ejected. Intolerance meant that if you weren't part of the clique that hung out at a particular club you might endure a certain amount of intimidation aimed your way in order to make you not want to come back. The "velvet rope mentality,' is an idea I used to describe the use of exclusivity, either by having an actual velvet rope and/or a bouncer hand picking who gets in or who doesn't. .
BY 1978, everything went "Disco." The popular music showcase, American Bandstand, and even Soul Train had a mirrored ball hanging from the center of their sets. And by 1979, just about every recording artist, across almost every genre, had at least on "Disco," track on their albums that were released in that year. But it was in that year, 1979, that a very powerfully negative event took place.
It happened between baseball games during a double header at Comiskey Park in Chicago. To Be Continued........
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Sing A Song
I remember, a few years ago, that I was reading an interview with a musical artist who stated that when he was stuck for ideas, that he would often listen to some classical music. He said that it acted like a reset button, or better yet, it cleansed his sonic pallet.
In my own personal experience, I bought some music by Mozart. The pieces were adagios which contained mostly strings. A couple of weeks after listening to the music, I remember that I was trying to write a bass line for a song that I was working on. To my amazement, I managed to write a bass line that modulated through several keys before returning to the root. But, nothing was as amazing as when I tried to keep up with myself on keyboard, I couldn't do it. It was just too complex. Eventually I was able to come up with something that was much simpler.
What happened to me is what's been called,"the Mozart Effect." This is said to happen after 10 minutes of listening to Mozart or other pieces of classical music. But, my point in bringing up that aspect of listening to classical music is just to highlight the benefits of listening to it.
Much of the music of the 70s remains popular to this day and I think that it's due in part to the influence of classical music and a strong sense of composition. This was the era when artists were given more artistic freedom. With that freedom, music artist began to add to their music, everything but the kitchen sink. Artist combined their skills as songwriters with a good amount of composition and arranging. And while strings and horns have been around since the beginning of recorded music, in the 70s they became a larger part of an artist's musical vision.
Artist across just about every genre were combining their favorite musical styles and writing songs within the 3:30 format that radio airplay required. The result was an awesome amount of music that often defied classification. At any given time, the pop chart might have contained a song from Aerosmith, Stevie Wonder, Charlie Rich, Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, and Earth Wind & Fire, all in the top 10.
Isaac Hayes became know for his skills as a composer when he scored big with the soundtrack to the motion picture "Shaft." At the time he had be writing songs with his partner David Porter. As a solo artist, he gained a reputation for taking standards like Burt Bacharach's "Close To You," and arranging it into a sprawling 8:58 opus. While some music critics at the time criticized him for what they called, "excess," many other artists followed his lead into success. One such artist was Barry White, who was known for doing the same with his original compositions.
Movies and TV shows may also have a score as well as a soundtrack. The score being the music that is composed for placement within the film at a particular moment to accentuate or highlight that scene or moment, while the soundtrack will usually contain music or songs that are written for the film. Scores, when they are well written, often go unnoticed, as they may have such an impact that the scene that they're included in becomes a highlight of the movie.
While classical music might not be everyone's cup of tea, there's still a good chance that a song that was or may still be popular, contains either some horns and/or strings, or a touch of classical influence.
In my own personal experience, I bought some music by Mozart. The pieces were adagios which contained mostly strings. A couple of weeks after listening to the music, I remember that I was trying to write a bass line for a song that I was working on. To my amazement, I managed to write a bass line that modulated through several keys before returning to the root. But, nothing was as amazing as when I tried to keep up with myself on keyboard, I couldn't do it. It was just too complex. Eventually I was able to come up with something that was much simpler.
What happened to me is what's been called,"the Mozart Effect." This is said to happen after 10 minutes of listening to Mozart or other pieces of classical music. But, my point in bringing up that aspect of listening to classical music is just to highlight the benefits of listening to it.
Much of the music of the 70s remains popular to this day and I think that it's due in part to the influence of classical music and a strong sense of composition. This was the era when artists were given more artistic freedom. With that freedom, music artist began to add to their music, everything but the kitchen sink. Artist combined their skills as songwriters with a good amount of composition and arranging. And while strings and horns have been around since the beginning of recorded music, in the 70s they became a larger part of an artist's musical vision.
Artist across just about every genre were combining their favorite musical styles and writing songs within the 3:30 format that radio airplay required. The result was an awesome amount of music that often defied classification. At any given time, the pop chart might have contained a song from Aerosmith, Stevie Wonder, Charlie Rich, Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, and Earth Wind & Fire, all in the top 10.
Isaac Hayes became know for his skills as a composer when he scored big with the soundtrack to the motion picture "Shaft." At the time he had be writing songs with his partner David Porter. As a solo artist, he gained a reputation for taking standards like Burt Bacharach's "Close To You," and arranging it into a sprawling 8:58 opus. While some music critics at the time criticized him for what they called, "excess," many other artists followed his lead into success. One such artist was Barry White, who was known for doing the same with his original compositions.
Movies and TV shows may also have a score as well as a soundtrack. The score being the music that is composed for placement within the film at a particular moment to accentuate or highlight that scene or moment, while the soundtrack will usually contain music or songs that are written for the film. Scores, when they are well written, often go unnoticed, as they may have such an impact that the scene that they're included in becomes a highlight of the movie.
While classical music might not be everyone's cup of tea, there's still a good chance that a song that was or may still be popular, contains either some horns and/or strings, or a touch of classical influence.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Gently Down The Stream
Chances are, that if you are reading this, you not only know what streaming is but you use it one or more times when ever you are on line. It is through the use of streaming technology that we are able to listen to and view live broadcasts, watch videos, and listen to music online. You may in fact use streaming so much that you never realize just how much you actually use it. The application of streaming applied to music has recently been considered as one of the causes of the decline of recorded music sales. The debate rages on.
The decline in recorded music sales, actually began in the mid-1990s. At that time the World Wide Web portion of the internet was only a few years old. So, streaming could not have been a cause, at least not initially. Trying to discover the root cause of the decline may possibly go on for quite sometime. The real issue is listening, but not buying. But, music consumers have always listened without buying. But, they have also listened and bought. The issue then is, what made them buy after listening? That's a topic for a blog post all it's own.
Now, when it comes to streaming, my personal belief is that it is similar in a way, to radio and television. However, clearly as we continue to transition to an all digital society, radio and television will continue to merge with the computer and the internet. In fact, more and more flat screen TVs are becoming computerized. They are being built with the capability to log on to, and stream media from the Web. Stereo radio receivers now come with iPod docks so you can play your music from it or download music right into it.
Broadcast networks are now streaming whole episodes of your favorite shows on the Web. Local radio and TV stations are streaming their news cast and music programs, live over the Web. Websites like Hulu offer web browsers the opportunity to view episodes of popular TV show like The Family Guy and Lincoln Heights for free after registering. Youtube on the other hand, gives groups and individuals the opportunity upload and share videos of just about anything. And, Myspace is still the number one source for finding the latest in music from artist ranging from Major label to Independent to DIY artists.
Devices like TIVO are now taking advantage of streaming. TIVO, billed as the most advanced DVR on the market, now offers NETFLIX, Amazon VOD and Pandora.
And, lets not forget about the streaming music stores like, Rhapsody and of course, iTunes.
While it's possible to make a case for streaming as a cause for the decline in recorded music sales, every indication, as near as I can tell, is that streaming technology is only going to grow and become even more prevalent. And, I don't think that anyone who enjoys viewing there favorite video or listening to there favorite song would want to see an internet without it. In fact, the Web would become a very stale, quiet, and uninteresting place.
The decline in recorded music sales, actually began in the mid-1990s. At that time the World Wide Web portion of the internet was only a few years old. So, streaming could not have been a cause, at least not initially. Trying to discover the root cause of the decline may possibly go on for quite sometime. The real issue is listening, but not buying. But, music consumers have always listened without buying. But, they have also listened and bought. The issue then is, what made them buy after listening? That's a topic for a blog post all it's own.
Now, when it comes to streaming, my personal belief is that it is similar in a way, to radio and television. However, clearly as we continue to transition to an all digital society, radio and television will continue to merge with the computer and the internet. In fact, more and more flat screen TVs are becoming computerized. They are being built with the capability to log on to, and stream media from the Web. Stereo radio receivers now come with iPod docks so you can play your music from it or download music right into it.
Broadcast networks are now streaming whole episodes of your favorite shows on the Web. Local radio and TV stations are streaming their news cast and music programs, live over the Web. Websites like Hulu offer web browsers the opportunity to view episodes of popular TV show like The Family Guy and Lincoln Heights for free after registering. Youtube on the other hand, gives groups and individuals the opportunity upload and share videos of just about anything. And, Myspace is still the number one source for finding the latest in music from artist ranging from Major label to Independent to DIY artists.
Devices like TIVO are now taking advantage of streaming. TIVO, billed as the most advanced DVR on the market, now offers NETFLIX, Amazon VOD and Pandora.
And, lets not forget about the streaming music stores like, Rhapsody and of course, iTunes.
While it's possible to make a case for streaming as a cause for the decline in recorded music sales, every indication, as near as I can tell, is that streaming technology is only going to grow and become even more prevalent. And, I don't think that anyone who enjoys viewing there favorite video or listening to there favorite song would want to see an internet without it. In fact, the Web would become a very stale, quiet, and uninteresting place.
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