For this assignment I am going to describe the historical and cultural importance of Bob Dylan’s song “Like a Rolling Stone.” This song including both the lyrical content and the musical/instrumental line are one of the, if not the most recognizable songs in American culture since it was first released. The writer of this song is also of historical significance. Bob Dylan was known in the 1960s for his political song writing. The 1960s was a time period of social and political unrest in the United States. With the Civil Right Movement and the controversial Vietnam War there was a lot to be said about the drastic changes that were occurring in America. Bob Dylan is one of the few songwriters of that time who is still widely known for song such as “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Time They Are-A Changing.”
The musical line of this song is very popular and majority of people would recognize the song if they heard it. It has been done over by many different musicians over the year and has appeared in many shows and movies as well. One of the reasons why this song is so popular is because of its lyrical content. The main verse lyrics are “How does it feel, How does it feel, To be on your own, With no direction home
Like a complete unknown, Like a rolling stone?” These lyrics brought with them the idea and confusion that many Americans felt during the chaos of the mid to late 1960s. It is very hard to walk away from this song once the first opening notes are played.
To share this song with other students who are unaware of this song and its importance, I would have to explain the importance and severity of the 1960s movement of social and political unrest. The Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, Women’s Rights movement along with the political tension created chaos throughout the United States. The conservative atmosphere of the 1950s clashed with the massive liberal changes within the culture. The death of John F. Kennedy brought an end to a new-age America. American society was restless and was going through what could be called a cultural and identity change. Among the young Americans at the time, it was a difficult time period many were unsure of what the U.S. government was doing and what part of society they would fit into.
This song is not only very important in the American culture but also in Dylan’s individual music career and music in general. The song was released on Dylan’s 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited. This album aided Dylan’s cut with folk music as he went forward with more of a rock sound. It can also be said that maybe it was a demonstration of what confusion Dylan was going through at the time this song was released. One of the main reasons why this song is so important is its significance years after it was first released. Everyone from The Rolling Stones to Bruce Springsteen has done a cover of “Like a Rolling Stone”. Rolling Stone magazine even named this song the number one song of all times.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Defending Britney
Defense of “Pop Music”
In this assignment, I will be defending pop music but more specifically pop music from the years 1998-2002. These years are especially important to the cultural identity of pop music. Such acts as N*Sync and Britney Spears drew massive attention from teenagers across the country and the world. This time period was a huge expansion of boy bands including Backstreet Boys (BSB), 98 degrees, and N*Sync and such female artists as Destiny’s Child, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. These musicians had millions of teenage fans who would flock to Times Squares at TRL (a music-video countdown show on MTV) just so they could possibly get a glimpse of them. Pop mania set in and soon the radios and televisions were flooded with songs, the musicians, and the fans that became obsessed with them, and who still considering Backstreet Boys was recently on tour with sold-out shows.
Many other genres of musicians did not consider boy bands and pop music to be “real” music. Many of the song lyrics by pop musicians were very corny in a sense and did not appeal to most people except 13-year-old girls. This pop music defined a generation of the teenagers of that time period, me included. Pop music received awards and what not but in retrospect and from other genres of music. Many pop musicians did not write their own song lyrics which coming a few years after musician poets such as Kurt Cobain, was a big no-no in the music industry. In the case of the attacks against pop music the most important aspect of how and why these musicians were not taken seriously were because of the media representations of them. Beacher states on page 45 “An alternative approach is to assume instead that media representations ‘re-present’ or actually create a new reality, which in turn mediates or shapes the ways in which people perceive themselves and the world” this holds true for many of these pop stars.
The female pop stars like Britney Spears were very commercialized and were put out for show as major sex appeal. This very ditsy appearance lead critics, to some extent de-value her and other female musicians in the pop industry. Even today, the effects of becoming so famous and having that female stereotype of her has messed with her head considering her relationship with the media and her breakdowns. Another criticism of pop music was that it was only loved by young teenagers, one of the most famous images is when N*Sync was at TRL and hundreds of girls lined the streets hoping to see them. TRL was one of the main ways fans of pop music at this time were able to interact with their favorite musicians. People could call to request their favorite music videos along with other things they could do.
The main criticism of this type of music is its superficiality. Music is “the ideal vehicle for communicating exceptional emotions; perhaps its mediocre moments give the listener room to make sense of all that intensity.” (Powers 238) Even though the lyrics and the music may have been superficial it reached out to a generation of teenagers. I know from personal experience, that every time I hear a certain N*Sync song it brings to the days of my first middle school crushes and school dances. One thing that become much more prominent and popular after pop mania was the fan culture and fan clubs, which was taken to a much higher level. Fans of N*Sync and Backstreet Boys collected magazines articles, posters, videos and even Barbie dolls of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. As Beacher says on page 60, “Being a fan involves active participation and knowledge of a particular media text or event, as displayed through logos, photos, clothes, and so on.” Many of the pop fans collected plenty of memorabilia because of their obsession with their favorite music groups.
In this assignment, I will be defending pop music but more specifically pop music from the years 1998-2002. These years are especially important to the cultural identity of pop music. Such acts as N*Sync and Britney Spears drew massive attention from teenagers across the country and the world. This time period was a huge expansion of boy bands including Backstreet Boys (BSB), 98 degrees, and N*Sync and such female artists as Destiny’s Child, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. These musicians had millions of teenage fans who would flock to Times Squares at TRL (a music-video countdown show on MTV) just so they could possibly get a glimpse of them. Pop mania set in and soon the radios and televisions were flooded with songs, the musicians, and the fans that became obsessed with them, and who still considering Backstreet Boys was recently on tour with sold-out shows.
Many other genres of musicians did not consider boy bands and pop music to be “real” music. Many of the song lyrics by pop musicians were very corny in a sense and did not appeal to most people except 13-year-old girls. This pop music defined a generation of the teenagers of that time period, me included. Pop music received awards and what not but in retrospect and from other genres of music. Many pop musicians did not write their own song lyrics which coming a few years after musician poets such as Kurt Cobain, was a big no-no in the music industry. In the case of the attacks against pop music the most important aspect of how and why these musicians were not taken seriously were because of the media representations of them. Beacher states on page 45 “An alternative approach is to assume instead that media representations ‘re-present’ or actually create a new reality, which in turn mediates or shapes the ways in which people perceive themselves and the world” this holds true for many of these pop stars.
The female pop stars like Britney Spears were very commercialized and were put out for show as major sex appeal. This very ditsy appearance lead critics, to some extent de-value her and other female musicians in the pop industry. Even today, the effects of becoming so famous and having that female stereotype of her has messed with her head considering her relationship with the media and her breakdowns. Another criticism of pop music was that it was only loved by young teenagers, one of the most famous images is when N*Sync was at TRL and hundreds of girls lined the streets hoping to see them. TRL was one of the main ways fans of pop music at this time were able to interact with their favorite musicians. People could call to request their favorite music videos along with other things they could do.
The main criticism of this type of music is its superficiality. Music is “the ideal vehicle for communicating exceptional emotions; perhaps its mediocre moments give the listener room to make sense of all that intensity.” (Powers 238) Even though the lyrics and the music may have been superficial it reached out to a generation of teenagers. I know from personal experience, that every time I hear a certain N*Sync song it brings to the days of my first middle school crushes and school dances. One thing that become much more prominent and popular after pop mania was the fan culture and fan clubs, which was taken to a much higher level. Fans of N*Sync and Backstreet Boys collected magazines articles, posters, videos and even Barbie dolls of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. As Beacher says on page 60, “Being a fan involves active participation and knowledge of a particular media text or event, as displayed through logos, photos, clothes, and so on.” Many of the pop fans collected plenty of memorabilia because of their obsession with their favorite music groups.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Critical News Analysis
Local TV Format:
I watched the Fox 9 News at 9:00 p.m. tonight. The first story that was shown was the Border Battle football game between the Minnesota Vikings and Wisconsin Green Bay Packers. This was a sports story and lasted approximately three minutes and twenty seconds. The next story was about a domestic situation in Dodge County where the mother, son, two daughters, and father had been stabbed. The mother and son had died; this story was about crime and last about two minutes. The next story was about young couples that were hit by a criminal after being chased by police. The couple was hit from behind while at their car. The couple are still both in wheelchairs and this story last about two minutes and fifteen seconds. Another story after this was about a sex predator at Lake Harriet who has been grabbing and exposing himself to women. This story was a minute and twenty seconds long.
The next story was much longer and had any sub stories. It was about unnecessary healthcare. They gave a story of a man who had back surgery and then woke up after surgery blind. This story dealt with many other issues such as the politics of healthcare and how much doctors get paid. After this long story there was a commercial break and then three really short stories about the hurricane in Cuba, the school collapse in Haiti and the space ship with the Minnesotan woman.
Activity for Teaching Critical Analysis of News
As a teacher, I think I would do a few different activities to help my students better understand the news and it’s biases. First I would have my students compare different news channels, like we did for this assignment, and see what differences this noticed such as the news anchors, language, story selection, visual images and so forth. I would have them compare and see if one favored more stories or if there was a variety. After we have discussed this I would have them then look at newspapers and do the same thing. I also think it would be a good idea to have the students do news comparisons at all levels of news starting from local news such as channel fox nine here in the twin cities, to country-level news like CNN and Fox News, and then at an international level of comparing our CNN news to the BBC news or the French news.
I would also have them analyze different types of news such as political news, sports news, cultural news and etc. It is important students note language, story selection and the visual images represented in each newscast. I would also try to explain to my students about corporate influences and who owns what news channels and how that can potentially impact what is shown on those channels. Online news and blogs are becoming more and more popular so it would be important to explain blogs and the difference between opinions and news and facts. Also, on a sub-topic when dealing with news on where the newscast received their facts from. Researching the research that is being presented. Many of the medical and other studies are blown out of proportion and need to be more closely analyzed.
I watched the Fox 9 News at 9:00 p.m. tonight. The first story that was shown was the Border Battle football game between the Minnesota Vikings and Wisconsin Green Bay Packers. This was a sports story and lasted approximately three minutes and twenty seconds. The next story was about a domestic situation in Dodge County where the mother, son, two daughters, and father had been stabbed. The mother and son had died; this story was about crime and last about two minutes. The next story was about young couples that were hit by a criminal after being chased by police. The couple was hit from behind while at their car. The couple are still both in wheelchairs and this story last about two minutes and fifteen seconds. Another story after this was about a sex predator at Lake Harriet who has been grabbing and exposing himself to women. This story was a minute and twenty seconds long.
The next story was much longer and had any sub stories. It was about unnecessary healthcare. They gave a story of a man who had back surgery and then woke up after surgery blind. This story dealt with many other issues such as the politics of healthcare and how much doctors get paid. After this long story there was a commercial break and then three really short stories about the hurricane in Cuba, the school collapse in Haiti and the space ship with the Minnesotan woman.
Activity for Teaching Critical Analysis of News
As a teacher, I think I would do a few different activities to help my students better understand the news and it’s biases. First I would have my students compare different news channels, like we did for this assignment, and see what differences this noticed such as the news anchors, language, story selection, visual images and so forth. I would have them compare and see if one favored more stories or if there was a variety. After we have discussed this I would have them then look at newspapers and do the same thing. I also think it would be a good idea to have the students do news comparisons at all levels of news starting from local news such as channel fox nine here in the twin cities, to country-level news like CNN and Fox News, and then at an international level of comparing our CNN news to the BBC news or the French news.
I would also have them analyze different types of news such as political news, sports news, cultural news and etc. It is important students note language, story selection and the visual images represented in each newscast. I would also try to explain to my students about corporate influences and who owns what news channels and how that can potentially impact what is shown on those channels. Online news and blogs are becoming more and more popular so it would be important to explain blogs and the difference between opinions and news and facts. Also, on a sub-topic when dealing with news on where the newscast received their facts from. Researching the research that is being presented. Many of the medical and other studies are blown out of proportion and need to be more closely analyzed.
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