Music Then and Now

Michael Jackson - Beat It 

It received the Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, as well as two American Music Awards. It was the second single off the album to be put into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame. The single was placed Rolling Stone placed on the 344th spot of its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".The song was also featured in the National Highway Safety Commission's anti-drunk driving campaign. It has been covered and remixed by so many bands, Pierce the Veil, Fall Out Boy, Pomplamoose, Justin Bieber, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Fergie, John 5, and most famously "Weird Al" Yankovic - Eat it! 

"I wanted to write a song, the type of song that I would buy if I were to buy a rock song... That is how I approached it and I wanted the children to really enjoy it—the school children as well as the college students." - Jackson 

Sources
https://web.archive.org/web/20080530224757/www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527/page/33

Twenty-one pilots -Heathens

This was so much harder! So for some guidance looked into the Grammy From this as it's just passed. It named David Bowie as the best rock song - Although he is British so looking at the list of nominations, at who was American and remember who stuck on the Top 40's also who was featured in films and the winner came to - Twenty -one pilot - Heathens. The song really does stick out from last year and was definitely over played.  Now, will it be remembered in 30 years? Unfortunately, only time will tell.

As I was writing the song I was like, I want this song to be a Twenty One Pilots song first. And I want it to resonate with our fans and make sense at our show. Even though the themes in the movie inspired the beginning of it, as the lyrics came together, and as the song came together, I realized, like, this was our song.
— Tyler Joseph speaking about the song

Sources:
http://www.popbuzz.co.uk/music/artists/twenty-one-pilots/news/twenty-one-pilots-heathens-lyrics-meaning/#4D70hDaLv2MWQQho.97

Run-D.M.C & J Cole

Run-D.M.C were a rap group established in 1981 and arguably one of the most influential artists within hip-hop genre. The three men in the group – Jason Mizell, Darryl McDaniels and Joseph Simmons – helped pave the way for emerging hip-hop artists. Run-D.M.C along with LL Cool J and Public Enemy were part of a new emerging rap generation called the ‘new school’ of the hip-hop genre. They were among the first within this specific genre to win a Grammy and also the first to have their album go gold.

https://youtu.be/4B_UYYPb-Gk

‘Walk This Way’ was a Run-D.M.C cover of the rock group Aerosmith; this showed that although both groups are from different genres and both had differences in terms of backgrounds and identity, it was still possible to create a song that ranched out to different fan bases. The music video highlights these differences and it is evident to see through the fashion choices Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C have. At the beginning of the video you see members of the rap group and the rock group in separate rooms next to each other, the hip-hop artists hear the loud rock music and  become upset due to the noise, this shows how a crossover of genres such as these were extremely rare during the 80s and as well before. This collaboration highlights the growing change within 80s culture as individuals had a growing sense of freedom in terms of identity, just because you are a part of a certain social grouping doesn’t mean you have to have stereo typical ideals that reflect your background.

J Cole is a talented rapper that not only is successful because of the production of his music but because of the depth that his lyrics show. He tackles contemporary issues that mainly relate to America but in certain cases worldwide. He uses a poetic style of rap in his songs and tends to tell stories of his of his upbringing and problems that his community had while growing up and have to this day.

https://youtu.be/Sai1FnNyOrI

‘High for Hours’ is a song that reflects America’s hypocrisy throughout history, from the offset of the first verse he attacks America’s past faults.                                                                                              

‘American hypocrisy, oh, let me count the ways                                                                                               They came here seekin’ freedom                                                                                                                  Then they end up ownin’ slaves’

He continues to speak about his meeting with former President Barack Obama, acknowledging that there has been change as the most powerful man of the country at one point was an African American. However he argues that there isn’t enough support for young African Americans. He asks Obama ‘As the President, what’s keepin’ you from helpin’ niggas out?’. This highlights a range of issues that effects the ethnic minorities within America such as police brutality and racial profiling. Within the lyrics of this song Cole attacks America’s military as he believes that America does the ‘same shit’ as ISIS, he believes that both sides ‘take a life and call it righteous’. This is an extremely controversial point to make but it highlights that some of the decisions America makes for example war is highly hypocritical. This song represents todays era as it shows how individuals within America and across the world are critical towards government, increasingly now due to Donald Trump becoming the President.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Keisha's Song

'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' Robert Hazard vs Cindy Lauper and Keisha's Song


Cindy Lauper is a vibrant and colourful woman who portrays the 80's through her style and lifestyle, best known for her song 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'.



This song was and still is a popular song, it was produced in 1983 and was a chart-topping megahit. The following article describes what Cindy's agenda was with the song, as being apart of a feminist movement; 'Lauper recounts that she wanted “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” to become “an anthem for women all around the world… and a sustaining message that [women] are all powerful beings.”' This song was seen as a pop anthem of the 1980's, however the song was not written nor was she the first artist to perform the track, instead it was first sung from a man's point of view, Robert Hazard, which inevitably held a completely if not opposite meaning.

Cindy Lauper's version of the song does come across as quite empowering, the first scene of the video shows a woman bored of the 'usual'; cooking, cleaning, basically domestication. Cindy is singing for her gender, reiterating how much 'girls just wanna have fun', 'when the work and day is done oh girls they wanna have fun', also how women are dominated by men; 'some boys take a beautiful girl and hide her away from the rest of the world'. In the Washington Post an article speaks of Cindy's 2012 memoir, stating about her choices to leave home; “I left home at seventeen,” she wrote. “I took a paper bag with a toothbrush, a change of underwear, an apple, and a copy of Yoko Ono’s book Grapefruit.” This song would have set a standard for women showing that success can be succeeded with or without a man, as during the 80's was a time of 'affirmative action', which 'refers to policies designed to increase the presence of 'underrepresented' demographic groups', such as women.

Contemporary song by Kendrick Lemar called 'Keisha's Song' is a song that is completely different to Cindy Lauper, however they have similar meanings. 'Keisha's Song' is about 'girls on beach boulevard', who are prostitutes trying to get money, I feel like this song will not represent todays society but it represents its corruptness and flaws, how women need to sell their bodies for money just to live. This was a good comparison to 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun', as it too insinuates sex, but in a normal way, compared to Kendrick Lamar's song. It too represents the minorities and not having enough help or not being taken seriously, the video below shows a black woman, treated as a minority.

http://musicsp14group2.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/2014/02/25/cover-song-analysis-girls-just-want-to-have-fun-cyndi-lauper-vs-robert-hazard/


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/30/cyndi-lauper-on-capitol-hill-and-the-secret-feminist-history-of-girls-just-wanna-have-fun/?utm_term=.3e267461a928


http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/guideDesc.asp?catid=126&type=issue (affirmative action)

1980s American Music - Then/Now

With many great songs they are often attached to great films; a marketing technique where when you hear the song you immediately think of the film and vice versa. The music video as seen above shows a montage from the film Rocky III with the films theme song 'Eye of the Tiger' playing throughout. The montage shows multiple fighting scenes between Ivan Drago (Hans Lundgren), Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), and Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), which all reflect the animalistic imagery of motivation and never giving up. The idiom meaning of the tiger refers to Rocky 'stalking' his 'prey' in the boxing ring along with a 'survival of the fittest' concept to the fight. 

With the film being released in 1982 and the song coming out the day after, this video has a highly definitive feel of the 1980s era. The importance of the song in connection with the film cannot be overstated. This is because after the release the song became massively popularised in relation to people in the fitness industry including marathon running, weightlifting, and physical therapy. Co-writer of 'Eye of the tiger', Jim Peterik, stated that the "song has crept into the motivational aspect of it [sport]", and that it took him a while before he realised the song was timeless. The lyrics are undoubtedly motivational, for example: "Don't lose a grip of the dreams of the past. We must fight just to keep them alive". You could comprehend these lyrics regardless of the era you're in which, in part, makes the video so popular. Also, the fact that the video was made just nine years ago emphasises the long lasting legacy of this definitive 1980s film and song. 

The contemporary music video above is of Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" and undoubtedly has a strong case for remaining a substantially impactful song in thirty years time. Since being released in 2015, "Alright" has been universally acclaimed with the hook, "We gon' be alright!" representing a message of hope, in despite of the pain and suffering black people in particular have suffered. The songs religious connotations are particularly significant as he raps "If God got us then we gon' be alright!", which reflects the Christian ideology that if you are a true believer of God then you believe in his plan and that eventually, everything will be 'alright'. 

Senior correspondent at Business Insider, Ben Gilbert, stated the hook and overall song has also established an "anthem of the modern civil rights movement". This is majorly because of the message's association with Black Lives Matter and the fight against police brutality towards black people. A number of protests have occurred since the songs release where the chant of "We gon' be alright!" has been heard. For example, the shooting of 12 year old Tamir Rice in Cleveland sparked massive protests where the hook was heard in the national spotlight. Ultimately, if the affects of the song have produced this movement, then in thirty years time and race relations are still problematic particularly in the U.S. police department then it'll be likely this song still has great importance to Americans that seek real social justice. The long lasting legacy of this video, if it does happen, will overtly be because of the symbolism of hope and religion, both of which are perpetual in America. 

1980s music and music now

Michael Jackson was the defining male artist of the 1980's, with the themes of his music moving away from simple feel good tunes to songs and videos that represent social problems of the time. His music video for the 1987 song Bad chronicles the real life story of the 1985 death of black Stanford scholarship student from Harlem, Edmund Perry by a plainclothes white police officer.

"Michael Jackson's short film for "Bad" was the first of nine short films produced for recordings from Bad, one of the best selling albums of all time. The "Bad" single hit No. 1 in three countries in 1987, topping the charts in the United States, Spain and the Netherlands and reaching Top 5 in the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia and elsewhere. In the U.S., "Bad" was the second of five consecutive No. 1 singles from one album on the Billboard Hot 100-making Michael the first artist to achieve this milestone. Inspired by the real-life story of Edmund Perry, a prep school graduate from Harlem whose shooting death by a plainclothes policeman galvanized New York City, "Bad" stars Michael as Darryl, a student returning to his inner-city home while on break from a prestigious academy. In the short film's extended black and white sequence, Darryl comes into conflict with his neighborhood friends (led by actor Wesley Snipes in a breakthrough role) after showing discomfort over their attempts at petty crime. Angrily dismissed by his friends for no longer being "bad," Darryl challenges them in an abandoned subway station. As the film suddenly transitions to color, Darryl, clad in the black leather outfit Michael wears on the Bad album sleeve, leads a troupe of dancers in a high energy performance of "Bad," asserting his toughness without resorting to violence and ultimately earning the respect of his peers." description of the official music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsUXAEzaC3Q 

The message is clearly anti-violence, in particular in gangs and from the police. It also represents the period as it was a defining moment in terms of choreography and became one of his most famous songs and videos.

In terms of contemporary videos that define the era, Kanye West's 2013 song BLKKK SKKKN HEAD defines modern racial issues. Obviously the title alludes to the KKK, as well do other lyrics in the song. The broad context of the song is race related crimes, especially by police. This shows that in the 23 years between the release of the songs, little has changed. However, Kanye is more obvious with his lyrical content: with such examples as  the lines 

"Stop all that coon shit (black)

These niggas ain't doin' shit (black)

Them niggas ain't doin' shit"

Rolling Stone said of the song "next time someone says America is post-race, play 'em this, and watch their head explode".  http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-songs-of-2013-20131204/kanye-west-black-skinhead-19691231 It is particularly interesting to note that 2013 was the year that #BlackLivesMatter trended on twitter after the aquital of George Zimmerman for the shooting of black youth Trayvon Martin. 

Then and Now - 80's Music

The song Born in the USA was a 1984 rock song that many people believed that is projected the sense of American patriotism, but it was really used for Springsteen to criticise the structure of society, war and the treatment of the working class as well as a boy who is forced into war and returns to find that there is nothing left for him in this country.

“Sent me off to a foreign land/ To go and kill the yellow man”. 

This is a clear reference to the Vietnam War. Often in war, the people lower within the class systems were forced to do the actual fighting because they had no other options. Especially in the Vietnam War when the draft was implemented, the rich were able to avoid it by going to school, but the poor didn't have those opportunities, thus going to war was there only choice.

When many veterans got back from the war, they weren’t treated with a lot of respect and had trouble getting their lives together. 

“Down in the shadow of the penitentiary/Out by the gas fire of the refinery/ I’m ten years burning down the road/ Nowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go”. 

The only options for the speaker of this poem were to work the rest of his life at a meaningless refinery job or to go to jail. This song was a blatant critique of how we perceive war and the opportunities of America. The title serves as an ironic reminder that even in the supposed land of limitless opportunities not everyone who is born in the United States is given the same chance to succeed.

Lose yourself was one of the very few songs that not only was defining factor for an artist, but also for the rap genre as well as the decade as a whole. The track was released as a single from ‘8 Mile’ movie soundtrack which is ‘loosely’ based on Marshall Mathers’ real life.

The origin of the song is loosely based on Eminem’s life from growing up as a troubled kid to fighting underground rap battles and making it out of the shackles that restricted him from greatness. 

“Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity, to seize everything to ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?”

These few lines encapsulate the entire essence of the song. You are given those rare chances of opportunities in your life and you have to take them. The song also represents the idea of the American Dream, it portrays a cliché but intriguing aspect of the American identity - that of individuals going from rags to riches due to perseverance and a focus on reaching one’s dreams. 

His main focus in the song is the idea of getting “one shot; one opportunity” to realize your dreams and making sure you give your all so that you don't waste it.  The idea that you can achieve anything as you put your mind to it is clearly exemplified through Eminem as he spent his overcoming adversity to get to where he is today. However it's a delivers a rather mixed message as while it may be an inspirational concept as a whole, this particular song seems to focus on celebrity as the only means to achievement.

Iconic Music of the 1980s and now

Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire

Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire epitomises the 1980s because he references all aspects that represent the culture of the 80s. He highlights the history of the United States from 1949- 1989 therefore showing a cultural and historical revolution of the country on a worldwide scale.

In reference to the 80s Joel mentions Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, Heavy Metal Suicide, Foreign Debts, Homeless Vets, AIDS, Bernie Goetz, Hypodermics on the Shore, China's under Martial Law and Rock- and - roller Cola wars.

This shows the cultural impact of the 80s through game shows which highlight the changing structure of both the Music and Entertainment Industry. Heavy Metal became a popular music genre during the late 70s and 80s, the songs had very intense and meaningful lyrics which are blamed for fans committing suicide during that era.  He also takes into consideration the Presidents role as the US took on a lot of foreign trade deals which led to debt and as a result of this were major budgeting cuts. Furthermore Veterans of the Vietnam War were found to be living in awful conditions and many became homeless. The AIDS crisis of the 1980s and the rise in drug use also showed how America was changing as they had to advance medical research in order to find out more about the disease and how it could be prevented and treated. Environmentally the Hypodermics on the Shore became a crucial point in changing how America viewed dumping environmental waste. Finally the Rock-and-roller Cola Wars highlighted the huge multinationals Pepsi and Coke's economic power on the world stage. They competed against each other using the latest popular music artists to advertise their brand in order to appeal to teenagers and a younger audience.

Jay Z - Spiritual
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7431025/jay-z-releases-police-brutality-philando-castile-alton-sterling          (Song can be heard on this website)
 
Even though the song does not have a music video it represents America because it shows how he feels being Black in America whilst be surrounded by police brutality following the Black Lives Matter Movement. The repetition of the lyric "I am not poison" exemplifies how racial attitudes still exist in America and negative stereotypes of African Americans are being highlighted in the form of social media hashtags and protests. The fact that Black Lives Matter trended worldwide just highlights how prominent the issue is in America today, it has always been a problem and there are not many signs of it getting better. Looking back on this song thirty years from now there is a high chance that this will still be a major issue for America, especially as in the last few years there has been a new name every couple of months that has been killed from police brutality or has been seriously injured. Therefore music is the prefect way for people's voices to be heard and can reach a larger audience. Billy Joel and Jay Z are clearly two very different artists with completely different sounding songs, yet they both have a powerful historical message in their songs.

Sources
http://guff.com/an-explanation-of-all-117-things-mentioned-in-we-didnt-start-the-fire
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/08/entertainment/jay-z-spiritual-song/