Lecture 10
1/30/2012 5:31:00 PM
Test:
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Saturday @ 10am
Review material on avenue
Early Rock ‘n’ Roll
 Bill Haley and the Comets
 Elvis Presley
o Poor
o Consumed black music growing up
o “outsider” but…
o “good boy”
 Redefined work ethic
o Video: Hound Dog
 Whole body moves, his body is so engaged in the
music. Nicknamed “Elvis the Pelvis”. White man who I
moving like a black performer and an issue about
masculinity (part of not moving around was to display
masculinity to show that they were in control). In
modern times, 2 methods of movement in men are
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‘allowed’. One is rocker men who move with an athletic
movement and the other time is when a choreographed
dance is performed. This also shows control.
Teases the audience at the beginning with the
movement. HE balanced sexuality by being a humble
and fun loving in interviews etc. You also get a nod to
the controversial press he received by playfully standing
and crossing his legs for a part of the song.
(Youtube performance singing hound dog (With a dog
on the piano << so NO sexual metaphor can be taken)
and Elvis is show NLY FORM THE WAIST UP singing
hound dog to the dog
 Musically known as a singer, not instrumentalist
(NOTE: great balls of fire is a perfet example of a white amn using the r’n’b
from a black person)
Buddy Holly
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Different image from other rockabilly artists (kinda geeky,
constructed a softer image of masculinity, bookish because of his
thick rimmed glasses)
o Romantic Love (idealization of romance common in pre-teen
white girls)
o Childlike innocence
o “Geeky” image
Musical importance
o Write his own material
o PRODUCER (new at this time)
 Producers are usually not tied with music
o Double tracking (singer records melody on one track and
sings melody on another track. Doing this, the second time,
the melody isn’t gonna be EXACTLY the same, it fattens up
the voice, it adds a tambour quality that isn’t created
normally)
 Started the idea of recording bits and pieces of the song
and assembling the pieces in post-production (so while
they sound like one whole piece in real-time, it was
really recorded in smaller parts)
 This lead to singers creating backup singers using his
own voice and playing it (so no backup singers needed)
o “Peggy Sue”
 Rhythm: all instruments same groove: urgency
 Guitar Solo?: blots out of the rest of the song; really
loud and in your face; not really melodic BUT it still
goes with the whole melody of the song; so its like
saying even the harsh guitar cannot put off the melody
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of the song
No snare drum – darker sound (rather than articulating
the back beat, you get a more consistent sound, no
articulation, tambour is low, producing high energy)
“Dissonant” chord;
Adds syllables to words
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Sings in a higer pitched voice compared to Elvis,
parodic (parody) quality; or it could just be a much less
masculine quality that he is articulating.
Lyrics are like lullabies; children’s lyrics
Lyrics: singing about peggy sue, he loves peggy sure,
he needs this girl (lyrical message of urgency,
instruments mirror the urgency of the lyric). All the
guy’s needs and wants is what’s being articulated, it has
nothing to do with peggy sure, he could want peggy
jane for all they cares
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The only time he describes peggy sue “pretty
pretty pretty pretty Peggy sue” we know she’s
pretty. The chord is different at this point (When
he moves away from his interests and focuses on
the girl). The sound created is a sort of dissonant
sound
Wanda Jackson
 Sam Philips was used to promoting men, he wasn’t sure what to do
with the women
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In 1959, all the rock ‘n’ roll people started falling out and all te
people thought the whole rock ‘n’ roll phase was over but women
kept playing the rock ‘n’ roll
Most commercially successful woman (b/c at this time the most
successful people were the white men)
Born Oklahoma, 1937
Started as country singer (not unusual for women to have big
powerful voices)
Toured with Elvis at the height of his success and Elvis really
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promoted her
Played guitar
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1/30/2012 5:31:00 PM
1/30/2012 5:31:00 PM