Today's Lesson 4/30/15 - The NYC Underground

This lesson considers New York City and the cross currents that run between the worlds of music-making and the arts in a broad sense, particularly the visual and literary arts. The epigraphs above provide a launching point for a discussion about one example of such cross currents. Lou Reed, a member of the Velvet Underground, a group Rolling Stone's David Fricke described in 1989 as, "arguably the most influential band of rock's last quarter century," describes becoming multiples of himself so that he can tour frequently. While Reed associates that with the Drifters, a vocal group that purportedly performed in latter-day incarnations that included no original members, But the more obvious line of influence for Reed's thinking goes back to Andy Warhol, the New York art world's most celebrated figure and onetime producer of the Velvet Underground.

As this lesson will describe, Andy Warhol was interested in the meeting place of "high" art and commercial art. Where the paintings of Rembrandt and Leonardo Da Vinci are single pieces, with museums across the world fighting to get one of these originals, Warhol created multiples. Much of his work was done using a silkscreening process that allowed him to create a "run" of paintings rather than just one. As a process, it was, at least to the fine-art world, shocking. When Warhol went one step further and sent a "copy" of himself to give a lecture at a college in Utah, he further offended the sensibilities of his patrons. Lou Reed, who described Warhol as the Velvet Underground's "catalyst," slyly picks up Warhol's line of thinking when asked about his active schedule: "There are five of me."

This flow of ideas between Andy Warhol and Lou Reed, illustrated in their actual or purported play with multiples, is representative of a New York experience. Surveying the city from the vantage point of 1976, Nick Kent, in an article from the Rock's Backpages archive, describes the scene thus: "Getting down to basics again, I'd confidently state that out of this current plethora of new N.Y. groups, at least five are capable of exceptional contributions to rock. It should be dutifully noted that at least four of those bands bear obvious heavy debts inspiration-wise to Lou Reed's work specifically within the framework of the [Velvet Underground]." The bands/artists he's referring to include Television, the Talking Heads, the Heartbreakers, and Patti Smith. But what did they draw from Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground? As this lesson will suggest, the answer wasn't always in the music itself. The example of Lou Reed was an example of the cross current described above, that movement of influence between the art world and the music scene.

Procedure: 

1. Read the handout of the article mentioned above from the Daily Utah Chronicle. Answer the following questions.
   • Do you think what Andy Warhol did when he sent an impersonator in his place, after booking himself to deliver a lecture, was right or wrong?
   • What do you think his point was?
   • Do you think there is artistic value in his act?
   • How do you think the art world reacted?
   • How do you think this is or is not an artistic act?
2. Andy Warhol was involved as producer with the New York Rock and Roll band the Velvet Underground. Watch an excerpt from an interview with Lou Reed, the former singer for the Velvet Underground, done in 1975 on a solo tour.  After watching the clip, answer the following:

• In what ways do you think Warhol might have influenced Reed?
• What in particular makes Reed seem a product of Warhol's thinking?
• What kind of presence is Reed?
• Would you want to be the interviewer? Why or why not?

3. Reflect on the ways in which an artist who is not a musician can affect a group of musicians or an individual performer.

• Could an artist affect a band's look?
• Could an artist or writer affect their songwriting?
• Could a filmmaker affect a band's visual appearance?

4/23/15 - Glam Rock Part III

1. Carefully look at the photos of David Bowie (1973), the New York Dolls (1973) and Slade (1974). Please note that these performers were associated with a subgenre of Rock and Roll known as Glam (alternately referred to as Glitter Rock), a style of music and performance that occurred in the United States and Great Britain in the early 1970s. 

• Describe how the performers are dressed. 
• What are some professional or artistic reasons why performers might dress this way?
• What reactions might a teenager receive for dressing this way in public?

2. Watch the clip of an interview with David Bowie (1973).

• How does Bowie’s description of himself as someone who “collects personalities” help explain his physical appearance?
• Why might a teenager want to emulate Bowie’s fashion choices or adopt his “hodgepodge philosophy”?

3. Read Handout 2 – Timeline of the Early 1970s. Ask students to complete an engaged reading of the timeline on their own.  Write down any historical events that might have had a particular significance for someone in junior high or high school during these years.

• Which events on the timeline do you recognize?
• Which events do you think had a greater meaning for people who had actively participated in the cultural and political events of the 1960s? Why?
• Do you see any events that seem to relate directly to teenagers? If you were a teenager at this time, do you think you would have felt a part of the culture or outside of it? Explain.

4. Watch the trailer for American Graffiti (1973). This film was one of the highest grossing movies of 1973.  In other words, a lot of people went to see this movie!  

• How is early Rock and Roll music from the late 1950s and early 1960s used in American Graffiti? Why do you think the filmmaker selected this particular music for the soundtrack?
• The tagline of American Graffiti asks, “Where were you in ’62?” If you are 16 when this film is released in 1973, how old were you in 1962? Do you think this film would have resonated with you? Why or why not?

5. Read Handout 3 – Alice Cooper.  Please watch the clip of Alice Cooper performing “I'm Eighteen” (1971).  Carefully study the lyrics to "I'm Eighteen"  

• How does Alice Cooper seem to challenge the “seriousness” of the early 1970s? Is the band’s performance intended to be funny, serious, or somewhere in between?
• Is the host’s warning valid about how Alice Cooper’s performance could be construed as “offensive” to certain audiences? Why or why not?
• Based on both lyrics and music, what might a teenager find relatable in this song?
• “I’m Eighteen” reached number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Based on the events on the timeline of the early 1970s, why do you think this song was so successful? 

SUMMARY: 

What about the idea of creating one's own identity—such as the “image” of Alice Cooper—might appeal to a teenager in the early 1970s?

Today's Lesson 4/22/15 - Glam Rock Part II

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How was Glam Rock part of a new teenage culture in the 1970s?

OVERVIEW

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, popular music culture had grown up and grown serious.

Songs from the period, whether James Taylor's "Fire and Rain," Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," or the Eagles' "Desperado," showed artists turning inward and emphasizing musical virtuosity. Singer-songwriters performed to seated houses, but even Rock and Roll audiences had become more passive than participatory. It was a culture that embraced denim, facial hair, and  hippie-ish attire—the trappings of a “laid-back” sensibility—as symbols of their time.

A somber mood hung over not just the music but the country. In May 1970, the Ohio National Guard fired upon unarmed Kent State University students protesting U.S. Military operations in Cambodia, killing four and wounding nine. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young would respond to the incident in their song “Ohio,” recorded and released less than three weeks after the shooting. Later that year, trials began for American soldiers implicated in the My Lai massacre in South Vietnam. And in 1972, the Watergate scandal broke, ultimately bringing down President Nixon and further shaking the public’s trust in government.

With the spirit of the 1960s still in the air, the focus remained on a population that came of age in that era. But a new generation of teenagers, too young to have marched on Washington or been eligible for the draft were left in the shadows, without a clear identity. Who were among the next generation of teenagers? And what was their music?

With television’s All in the Family and George Lucas’s film American Graffiti major success stories, it seemed that the baby boomers were all that one heard about, talked about, or watched on the screen. The teenager of the early 1970s was all but invisible.

"Glam" became the buzzword for a new teen-focused music that cut through the seriousness and signaled a return to rudimentary Rock and Roll, awash in flamboyant fashions and theatrical posturing. Glam records were sometimes “bubblegum”— unpretentious, adolescent, and fun—but at other times they were groundbreaking artistic works. Its representatives were David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Roxy Music, Slade, Sweet, and others. David Bowie drew on his training in theater and mime to create his Ziggy Stardust persona, an androgynous alien-like humanoid who sang about space exploration and Pop superstardom. Alice Cooper combined horror movie spectacle with Rock and Roll anthems of teen angst, including “I’m Eighteen” and “School’s Out.” Teenagers of the early 1970s reveled in the made-to-shock styles and recordings of their new heroes. The hippie met his match.

Through an examination of musical performances, film trailers, television interviews, and archival photographs, students will investigate the cultural landscape of the early 1970s to better understand the rise of Glam and what the music offered teenage audiences who came of age after the radical social movements of the 1960s. 

Procedure: 

1.  Please copy the chart in the enclosed HANDOUT

2. Watch the clip of the Eagles performing “Desperado” (1973).  Then, watch the  clip of Sweet performing “Ballroom Blitz” (1973). 

• How are these two performances different from one another?
• Between the Eagles and Sweet, which of these two bands do you think is trying to make “serious” music for adults? 
• Which band do you think has a stronger appeal to teenagers looking to have fun? Explain your answers.

Today's Lesson 4/21/15 "Glam Rock"

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How was Glam Rock a reaction to the "seriousness" of popular music at the time?

OVERVIEW

In the wake of the somber introspection of the Singer-Songwriter movement, Glam Rock brought a sense of theater back to Rock and Roll.

With artists such as James Taylor and Gordon Lightfoot becoming major figures on the international popular music scene, many considered Rock and Roll to be losing its connection to the "show." For listeners who grew up with R&B, it was clear that things had shifted. If a James Brown live show included dance, costume, and theatrics, a James Taylor live show included none of that. Earnest, stripped down, often presented by a solo artist with a guitar or piano, the music of the Singer Songwriter movement aimed at intimacy and honesty.

Glam Rock was a kind of reaction, an unsettling opening up of the possibilities. It took different forms, from Roxy Music's Pop Art approach to Slade's back-to-basics Rock and Roll to David Bowie's theater of identity. But, across the board, it brought the "show" back to popular music.

This preliminary lesson centers on an investigation of Glam as a reaction. Through a set of comparisons, students will be asked to describe what they see as Glam Rock's fundamental characteristics.

Procedure: 

1. Watch the clips of Jackson Browne performing the song "Before the Deluge." As they watch, tell students to consider these questions:
• What is the mood of the performance?
• Does Browne appear to be focused on the audience as he performs? Describe the performance style as it relates to the conventions of musical showmanship.  In other words, is he more focused on playing, or relating with the audience? 
2. Play the clip of David Bowie performing the song "Rebel Rebel." Take notes on the performance. 

Today's Lesson 4/17/15

EQ: 
How was Heavy Metal involved in the 1980s controversy surrounding the creation of parental advisories for “offensive” music?

Background: 

In the early 1980s, Heavy Metal, which had begun as a somewhat marginal musical genre, began to enjoy mainstream success with the popularity of such bands as Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Kiss, and Twisted Sister. Around the same time, MTV was born, offering a new venue for popular music and a new way for it to enter American households on a grand scale. With their high energy and visual splash, Metal bands became a mainstay of the channel, bringing the music of these groups considerable attention not only from fans, but from parent groups who deemed much of it “offensive” and sought ways to shield their children from it.

At the height of Heavy Metal’s mainstream success the wife of then-Senator Al Gore, Tipper Gore, established the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) along with the wives of several other prominent politicians. The PMRC advocated for the creation of a labeling system that would warn parents of explicit content on recordings. After a contentious hearing in the United States Senate, the record industry agreed voluntarily to adopt a labeling system that would advise parents about recordings containing content that was explicitly sexual, referenced drug or alcohol use, or contained graphic language.  While many stores continued to carry recordings bearing these labels, some merchants—most notably Walmart—refused to carry recordings with advisory labels, a policy that Walmart continues today.

In this lesson, students will investigate the connection between the popularity of Heavy Metal and the emergence of the parental advisory system. They will consider who should have the power to declare a song “offensive” and whether or not access to such material should be regulated. They will further debate the merits of the labeling system, which is still in place, and consider whether or not labeling certain recordings should be considered censorship.  

Procedure: 

1. Review the list of the "Filthy Fifteen" .  Please note that the highlighted songs are from Heavy Metal bands.  In your notebooks, answer. 

• How many of these songs are from Heavy Metal groups?
• Based on what you know about Heavy Metal, why do you think such a high percentage of the songs on the list fall into this category?
• What conclusions can you draw about how some parents felt about their children listening to Heavy Metal from this chart? What does the chart indicate about the perception of Heavy Metal music in the mid-1980s?
• Could you conclude that the efforts of groups such as the PMRC to label and limit access to music was directed largely at Heavy Metal? Why or why not?

2.  

1. Watch  the video of Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (1985) In your notebooks, answer:
   • What image do the performers in the video present?
   • What is the overall message of the song and the video?
   • Why do you think this song was included on the list of the “Filthy Fifteen?” What about it might be considered “offensive”? Why might parents not want their children to listen to or watch the video of this song?