Twenty feet from Stardom

I will admit that I never distinguished the absolute importance of backup singers until i had to watch 20 feet from stardom. Now I cannot listen to a classic rock or pop song without noticing how much the song is dependent on the vocal harmony supplied by the backup singers themselves. The documentary really shed light on a profession that is most often taken for granted. The film really describes how important it is in unifying the sound that the singer is trying to achieve. One of my favorite parts in the film is when Merry Clayton is describing how she was woken up at two in the morning and told to go down to the studio and do the backup for a little know band called the Rolling Stones. She didnt really know who they were but they wanted her help with their new song Gimme Shelter. Now in my humble opinion Gimme Shelter is the Rolling Stones greatest song. Clayton describes how they wanted her to sing the chorus with the lyrics Rape......Murder its just a shot away.Mick Jagger was really supportive of Clayton, letting her put her own emotion into the song and not sing to support Micks lead vocals. Of course the high point in the song is when Clayton is refrained and lets loose with the high octave blaring of RAPE....MURDER she goes so high her voice cracks and if you listen closely you can hear Jagger yell Whoa in the studio because he was blown away by Clayton's voice. Its one of my favorite moments in the film, and its the best part of that song, and its the one part that isnt the bands, which shows just how taken for granted a good backup singer can be. The other part of the film deals with Darlene Love, who was asked to fill in with her vocals with the band but never given proper credit for that. Darlene Love and The Blossoms were promised a solo recording contract with Phil Spector but he made sure she was never able to break free. Ironically the song Darlene Love sang as part of the Crystals Hes a Rebel was their only #1 hit in the U.S. After that Spector did everything he could to keep her from leaving. When you realize that Darlene Love helped sing back up on Be My Baby, Johnny Angel, Monster Mash, Doo Ron Ron, Baby I love You to name just a few is amazing. And when Ronnie Spector couldnt hit the high emotional notes of Chrristmas, Baby please come home, Dalene sang it herself, and its still the best rock and roll Christmas song ever. And she sang the best SNL parody Christmas song ever as well with Christmastime for the Jews, which is hilarious. At least for her recognition came when she was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame.

Soundtracks

This week I had to re-watch Boogie Nights, for my film class which was fantastic. I was fourteen when that film came out and I remember going to the movies with my two friends Justin and Nathan, and sneaking into it at the old Copper 7 by my house. We knew we weren't suppose to, but we were tall, and no one questioned us once inside, and plus we really wanted to see Heather Graham cause we all heard she was naked in it. Well needless to say we were exposed to a whole host of new information, images and terms that at the time we didn't know what they meant, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the movie, and the soundtrack. The whole film was like a party, and the music just carried it along. When the film ended we felt a certain sense of triumph, at having succeed with our little plan of youthful mischief. Weeks later I bought the soundtrack at Media Play because I couldn't get the great music of 70's funk, and pop songs out of my head. Thus began my great love affair with soundtracks. Soundtracks when done right can  come together to create a perfect musical narrative. Plus sometimes I just want the one song without having to buy an individual artists whole album. I always liked how a song from a film can evoke  a powerful memory or feeling. Most people remember John Travolta strutting to Staying Alive by the Bee Gees without really remembering the actual film. Of course Pulp Fiction had a great soundtrack. Tarantino has a great knack of resurrecting long forgotten classics. Dick Dales Misirlou, Jungle Boogie, by  Kool and the Gang, Chuck Berrys excellent You Never Can Tell, and Lonesome Town by Ricky Nelson. Wheres else could you find such an eclectic compilation.Same with Jackie Brown, with its use of old funk songs Across 110th Street by Bobby Womack and Peace works so well within that film, and then you get Johnny Cash's Tennessee Stud, awesome. Other soundtracks I grew up with, were Trainspotting, which made Iggy Pops Lust for Life iconic, and then ending it with Underworlds Born Slippy made it even better. It was all the fun without the problematic heroin addiction. Wes Andersons Rushmore exposed me to the Kinks, and Cat Stevens. And then of course their is the Coen Brothers really use music to enhance the narrative of the film, even when unearthing obscure songs. Raising Arizona really only had one song Carter Burwells Way out There, that great yodeling song that is its theme, but damn if it isn't catchy. I remember seeing the trailer for O'Brother Where Art Thou, and buying it before it came out, because I loved hearing that old fashioned bluegrass music. That soundtrack had a lot of great old songs, of course the Soggy Bottom Boys Man of Constant Sorrow turned out to be a big hit when it was released. Sometimes you get a soundtrack with a song made directly for the film that goes beyond the film. Wonder Boys is one of my favorite films and Bob Dylans Things Have Changed made the film even better for it. American Gigolo is alright but the absolute best part of that film is Blondie's Call Me. That song should have won the Oscar that year, but when it comes to Oscar song winners it seems they rarely get it right except for Loose Yourself by Eminem from 8 mile that was right on. But sometimes you go to buy a soundtrack and the one song you want isnt on there because they didn't get the rights to the song or who knows. Why Does the Soundtrack to Blue Velvet not even have  Blue Velvet on it???? WHY!!! Oh well I digress, Here's to you soundtracks, keep on rocking....in films..and on cd because Iam the last person who still buys them.

PUNK

I love Punk music. Granted I never conformed to the look that so defied the punk movement. Mohawk, leather jacket, ripped ironic t-shirts etc. But like Johnny Rotten always said and I'am paraphrasing "once rich kids started dressing that way, the punk movement was over. We couldn't afford nice leather jackets, we were poor so we wore what we had." That's where I fit in, by the time i was in high school , I was dirt poor. I wore what i had but i tried hard not to dress poor. I went to school with rich kids who lived in Ken Caryl Valley and who wore bobby pins as earrings and neatly dyed florescent Mohawks. They said they were punk but they didn't have a fucking clue what that meant. It wasn't about the clothes, although that was a part of the anti-establishment routine,  it was more about the music as an outlet and expression of raw anger and dissonance. Anger at the ruling class majority that unified society through its conformity. Rebellion at who deemed what was  popular and acceptable and what wasn't.  Punk music stripped that all away, and let loose a torrid of fast unrellentless sounds that expressed the hidden feelings of a generation. Re watching the great documentary on the Sex Pistols the Filth and the Fury it is fascinating what they were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time, and how incendiary and original their music was. Theirs is an unlikely story. Coming from truly impoverished conditions, stealing instruments and teaching themselves how to play Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock Paul Cook and later Sid Vicious, somehow cut through the pretension that had defined England in 1975, and created a voice for the lost generation of youth that were living in squalled conditions in England and who was desperately looking to break free. Songs like Anarchy in the UK, and God Save the Queen came out at the right time and right place when music really mattered and actually had an effect on people. They were polarizing and represented the opposite of what was the norm was at that time. Saddled by miss management, and infighting, and the addiction of Sid Vicious is was inevitable that they couldn't have lasted any longer than the two years they were together. But is it better to burn out or fade away? For them it was better to burn out quickly and leave such a huge impact on society and future bands than to have continued on into the 80's and become parodies of themselves. They will forever exist in the cultural consciousness as young, raw, and indelible to their time and place. Besides The Sex Pistols and The Clash, my favorite punk band was The Ramones. Representing the New York punk scene the Ramones were the flip side of punk music. Their were a unified quartet  singing loud  and fast and  they told stories in their songs. Stories about everyday life and the hardships of it. It would be easy to just get lost in the fast tempo of their songs, and miss the theme altogether, but if you did, that was your problem. Songs like Were A Happy Family, Commando, and the KKK Took My Baby Away, were social commentaries, not so much about chaos and anarchy but what was recognizable about what was happening in your day to day life. I don't know what constitutes as punk music today. Whatever it is it doesn't matter to me, because it has already been done better. Thats the beautiful thing about the music of The Ramones, and The Sex Pistols, and The Clash, is that it doesnt age, or date itself, its just as raw and powerful as it was when it was first recorded.

Martin Scorsese The Music Master.

'From the first shot of his first feature,” Roger Ebert wrote in 1990, “Scorsese has loved to use popular music as a counterpoint to the dramatic moments in his films. He doesn’t simply compile a soundtrack of golden oldies; he finds the precise sounds to underline every moment.” This quote from Gantsters Mixtape: The Rock and Roll music of Martin Scorsese  perfectly sums up the very idea of what music means to films and to life itself. A song can inflect and infer so much more emotion and mood that dialogue alone can. And Martin Scorsese is the maestro when it comes to using popular music to define action and narrative within film. Mt favorite film of all time is Goodfellas. For me this film, reminds me of my family specifically my mother. We would always watch this together when I was growing up. She was Italian and grew up in North Denver in the 50's. Her high school classmate Skip Laguardia was gunned down in his driveway by the mafia in Denver, which if you didn't think their was any mafia in Denver, their was. I remember eating a Gaetanos restaurant when i was a kid and hearing stories and being both intrigued and scared because that place was in a shit part of town. So i was of course always fascinated by the mafia and what makes Goodfellas greater than most is how this tale of gangsters is told along with the music. The music is juxtaposed in-between dialogue, the songs themselves often comment on the action happening on screen, and the songs instantly define each of the decades represented within the film, from the 50's through the 80's. When I hear Tony Bennett's Rags to Riches, I can only think of Ray Liotta slamming the trunk shut and opening the film. It is undeniable  and brilliant, and sets the tone of the entire film. The early songs in the film when Henry is growing up, like "Cant we be Sweethearts" by the Cleftones, and Speedo by the Cadalliacs, give the first part of the film an nostalgic romanticized look into the past, that in retrospect wasn't as carefree and innocent like the songs themselves. Studying the musical cues of Goodfellas exposes just how perfectly the songs go with the scenes themselves. "I Will Follow Him" by Betty Curtis plays when Karen tracks Henry down after he stood her up the first time.  During the legendary 3 minute steady cam shot of Henry and Karen walking through the kitchen up to the restaurant "Then He Kissed Me" begins playing by The Crystals. The song begins with the words "he walked up to me" and from Karen's perspective Henry is walking and leading her into his world both psychically and romantically.The song comments on the scenes itself. Classical compositions in film convey mood, but popular songs underlie meaning. And that's what Scorsese is great at. Even if a snip-it of a song  is played for a second then switches into another song altogether it would appear random but like the mind itself always racing from thought to thought the songs demonstrate the frantic emotions of being human.

80's Movie Musical Montage

 Some of the most iconic and indeminable moments in film occurred  when music was grafted onto a specific scene or played out during a  riveting montage sequence. When done right it can be a magical thing, that can live on outside the entire film itself. Most people haven't seen Saturday Night Fever, but they know John Travolta strutting down the street to Stayin Alive. They know Rocky, running up the steps to Flying High. Now their is one decade that is always underestimated, one decade whose music gets criticized, and whose  films overlooked. And that decade is the 80's. But I don't care I love the 80's. I love the big hair, the shoulder pads, the neon, the kitsch, Max Headrom, Ninja Turtles, Freddy Kruger you name it. I love it for all the reasons people don't. For all its faults, it remains an identifiable decade. For me and i don't want to sound like an historical chauvinist, but since the Millennium, I cant distinguish it. It is a time of everything and nothing at the same time, does 2000-2010 feel or look different in its appearance to 2015? I don't know, and I dont really care. Anyways back to the 80's, it is easy to overlook and compartmentalize the music of the 80's. Yes, Pop music was fueled by synthesizers, and one hit wonders, who carved out their own niches between Michael Jackson and Madonna. But when I watch Ferris Buellers Day Off and Ferris sees Cameron's Dads, Ferrari and Oh Yeah comes on by Yello, it doesn't get much better than that. Or when Judd Nelson raises his fist at the end of The Breakfast Club and Dont You Forget About Me starts playing by Simple Minds i'm reminded at how perfect that song ends the film. Its easy to overlook the lyrics but if you take the time that song encapsulates the emotion of high school. Its no coincidence that those two films were made by John Hughes, who in my opinion stands well above  most filmmakers. As a writer and director he always managed to incorporate music in his films at the right place that always invoked a felling or image that was undeniable. Ferris Bueller lypsinging to Wayne Newtons Danke Schoen to the Beatles Shake it up Baby reveals Ferris as a character both childlike and sincere and a rock star at the same time, which is what he was. Or who could forget John Candy mimicking playing the piano to Ray Charles Mess Around, while driving down the highway in Planes Trains and Automobiles. Both hilarious and endearing and by the time and by the time the film reaches the last shot with John Candy and Steve Martin walking together to Every time You Go, your heart cannot well up fast enough. Thats how powerful music can be when appropriately integrated within a film. This got me thinking about other classic songs from films in the 80's, of course their is Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News from Back to the Future, Ghostbusters from Ghostbusters Ray Parker, and one of my personal Favorites, Call Me by Blondie from American Gigolo. Eye of The Tiger, Rocky 3, View to a Kill from the James Bond film of the same name by Duran Duran. Old Time Rock and Roll, Bob Seger, from Risky Buisness which is still a classic scene, and  thats the only rock song in the whole film the rest is Tangerine Dream and In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins. Then you had musicians contributing to the entire film soundtrack like what Prince did with Purple Rain and Batman. Jack Nicholson as the Joker, desecrating  all that artwork to Party Man by Prince perfectly encapsulates the Joker. And not mention my favorite band of all time AC/DC providing the soundtrack to Maximum Overdrive. When the drawbridge opens on its own in the beginning killing the people on the bridge and Who Made Who comes on, you know your in for a ride. Everyone knows the scenes from Dirty Dancing, Footlose and Flashdance. They have become like parodies of themselves, but that shouldn't diminish them, and besides that theirs also plenty of other great stuff in the 80's that gets neglected when it comes to the films and the music.

Rock Films and Gimme Shelter.

Rock documentaries or Rockumentaries as they are refereed to in the article On the Cutting Room Floor, have always appealed to me, as have rock biographies that have been made into feature length films as well. Reading about the chronological order in which they have evolved is a fascinating account. The article chronicles the birth of what essentially was a filmed concert known as the T.A.M.I.(Teenage Awards Music International) show in 1964 which featured an impressive array of talent. From the Rolling Stones to The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, Leslie Gore, Chuck Berry, James Brown, and Bo Diddly to name a few. It wasn't so much a look into the private lives of the performers which would define the later rockumentaries but more in the  vain of being a spectator in a concert hall with the best seat in the house. Then came Monterey Pop the film which was documented by D.A. Pennebaker who had previously chronicled cinema verite style Bob Dylan in Dont Look Back. Whats interesting in the trajectory of rock films up till then was how they retained a cult status, whereas they were films seen by the hard core fans only rather than the mainstream. This of course changed with the release of Woodstock which was filmed and released by Warner Brothers in 1979. Woodstock functioned as an event film directed by Michael Wadleigh the film featured "visual effects, consisting of split screens, superimposition's, and double framing, as well as interviews with the crowd as well as the concert footage made this documentary something special." This concert film had a higher ticket price of $5.00 it was a documentary that transformed the subject according to "Cutting Room Floor" to cinematic art". The film was a huge financial success. If Woodstock set the mode for the future of rock films, then Gimme Shelter set the tone of cutting edge documentaries regardless of the subject matter. What began as a chronicle of the Rolling Stones by the Maysles brothers and their Madison Square Garden concert turned into something far more disturbing and revealing. After the Garden performance the Maysels followed the Stones to the Altamont Speedway in California. The Maysels like they did with the Beatles when they first visited the States, approached the film with a direct cinema approach whereas the audience is a fly on the wall. But similar to what would be seen in news documentaries they did play the footage back while Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts looked on giving it a film within a film experience. What sets Gimme Shelter apart is that it at first appears to be a straight forward look at the Stones performing and letting their guard down somewhat. The footage isn't a Hollywood production like Woodstock, or in other rock films made currently but a single camera view of a great band. But then things turn once they reach the speedway, and the Maysles were their to chronicle it as if they were journalists covering a war zone. From the beginning of the free concert the crowd begins to arrive en-mass, but the vibes and general ambiance of the crowd is off. It is almost a palpable feeling that something is going to happen and its going to be bad. Once the Hells Angels arrive, you new it wasn't going to end well. When it was over four were dead, and the summer of love was officially over. Whats amazing now is looking back at the reception Gimme Shelter received at the time of its release. Critics labeled it "one of the most unpleasant, bleak, depressing movies they've ever encountered." They obviously missed the point. Filming a concert doesn't constitute anything other than a representation of what you couldn't see on your own. The notion that these films are made to expose the artists with their guard down, is somewhat of a fallacy because they still know their  being filmed, regardless of what they lead you to believe. But what the Maysles brothers did was have enough foresight to turn their attention away from the concert and show the cultural disintegration that was happening right in front of them. It was a clash of cultures fueled by drugs and violence that shattered the Utopian reality of Woodstock a mere two months prior.

Monterey POP

Looking back at the Monterey Pop music festival that was held in 1967 in California i can only wish that somehow I could go back in time and be their in person. Be their to  witness the historic American debut of Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Ravi Shankar, not to mention the incomparable Janis Joplin, giving a performance of a life time only to have it not be recorded. Reading about the Monterey pop festival from Flowers in the Dustbin, I am in awe at how this event was in a sense teh perfect meeting between folk music and legitimate Rock and Roll, standing side by side, in unison although To quote James Miller Monterey Pop integrated the hardest rock and Roll into the mainstream of the global music business. And after the summer of love Rock and Roll was no longer a genre of popular music it was Pop music." To me it seems that the Monterey Pop festival is somehow overlooked by Woodstock two years later, but for me Monterey was more tight knit, and welcoming. Woodstock was too big, a festival in excess, whereas Monterey Pop was still about the music first, before it become something garish. For me watching Ottis Reading in one his last performances before his premature death in an airplane crash six months later is both humbling and spectacular at the same time. Watching him sing Respect, and Satisfaction, backed by Booker T and the Mg's only enforces that he was the master of soul. In Flowers in the Dust Bin, Miller describes "Janis Joplin as someone of modest technical means, who shrieked and screamed, as if possessed in the grip of a demon." He would later say that upon Janis's first powerful performance which was accidentally not filmed, that her second performance wasn't as great, because hysteria is hard to fake a second time. I couldn't disagree more. I think to say that Janis Joplin was limited in her singing is an understatement. I believe that she was a master of vocal control, who chose to sing from the depths of her soul.  To describe her performance as hysterical, is an insult, especially to women, hysterical being an infliction that was imposed on women in the 18th century. What Janis Joplin did as a singer and performer was something akin to James Brown, or any other rhythm and blues singer. With each performance she left a piece of her soul on the stage. Watching her sing it is raw and gritty, and wholly original for a woman to be in the same league as her male counterparts.  Watching her sing Ball and Chain even if it was the second time is nonetheless spectacular.
    Other highlights of the show that were impressive, were of course The Who, who appropriately sang My Generation, a fitting tribute for the changing times and culture as witnessed by the massive crowd of hippies and counterculturealists sitting on the ground. It is safe to say that watching DA Pennebaker's film of Monterey Pop their is a sense of one-up-man-ship going on between the performers. Which leads to Jimi Hendrix. Its hard to top The Who, especially Pete Townsand, but I feel that Hendrix new that he could out-guitar-him, so to speak, and he did. Watching him bang out Wild Thing is at first disconcerting, then mesmerizing. He made it look effortless, as he strummed the guitar, and contorted it, exacting every conceivable sound form it, in every possible position. And when the guitar could no longer emulate the song Jimi simply offered it to the rock gods, and set it on fire. But whats funny is that it didn't seem pretentious, it was just a humble offering from a master. And to conclude the film is of course a 20 minute clip from Shankar's four hour performance. The performance acts as a cleanser, it is so original, the sitar just washes over you, clearing your mind of all worry and thought you become almost trance-like listening to it. I can only imagine sitting their for four hours, and what effects it would have had, especially high.

The Jester Bod Dylan

James Miller summed Bob Dylan up Best when he said the "He could irritate, and engage. He could provoke an argument, cause a furor, polarize a tight knit subculture like the folk community while making music an art form that demanded for its sincere reception something like the shock of conversion." I find that a perfect summation of Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan to me cannot be categorized or pigeonholed within a single genre or ideology. He is his own in every sense of the word and whatever that is it doesn't matter. I've always been fascinated by what happened when Dylan played his electric guitar and the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 accompanied by an on stage band. When he began to sing Maggie's Farm the crowd goes hostile shouting jeers such as "Sellout,"and "Play Folk" music. Pete Seeger becomes so incensed he threatens to pull the electrical wiring out of the wall, while srceaming and shouting. All this because he decided to play in a way that didn't fit into the "folk" ideology of its time. Dylan was inspired by Woddy Guthie, and fell into the folk music scene, touting songs that were expansive lyrical poems. But I've always felt that Dylan played songs for himself first and foremost and it was the people who listened to them that extracted meaning out of them and interpreted them in their own way regardless of what Dylan meant, consciously or not. But at his heart Dylan was still a musician, where as Pete Seeger only used  music to promote a Utopian folk lifestyle. That's why Seeger was outraged that Dylan didn't play the humble folk guitar and wear the customary work shirt and blue jeans of the working man as a show for solidarity. Because it threatened what he was trying to create for himself and his followers. Its hard  to understand now because their is virtually no mainstream music that has any ideology other than to sell records. And if an artists establishes themselves through one genre of music, then abandons it, like lets say Taylor Swift did with country or whoever they are embraced as reinventing themselves. And that's what Dylan did, he continued to do what he wanted and play what he wanted, regardless of whatever genre it was and if he hadn't, he would have  be a footnote in folk music history, like Peter, Paul, and Mary, or The Kingston Trio. Because the ideology of folk music could only sustain itself for so long before becoming  tired and played out.And ultimately that's why Dylan was able to sustain his creativity through the late 60's and  70's and beyond making in my opinion some of his best work, Buckets of Rain, Knocking on Heavens Door, Lay Lady Lay, Hurricane and my personal favorite from Wonder Boys, Things Have Changed, and the great stuff he did with The Traveling Wilburys etc. Music that transcends genres.
   I think one reason why I like Bob Dylan so much is how he evokes emotion in his music. His voice although instantly recognizable, doesn't have a masterful vocal range, but  he is able to pronounce and emphasize words, that gives them meaning, beyond what other artists can do. Like James Miller points out in how Like a Rolling Stone on the page is a song that just lays their, but how Dylan drags out and pronounces "How do you FEEEEL" it turns the question into an insult." So for me every time I listen to his songs I notice and interpret things differently than I did when I heard them the first time. Its like rereading a good book, or re-watching a movie and discovering  more than you realize.  His songs give you more to think about, whether its about life, or love, or politics or all of it and I cant say that about much of the music I hear on the radio right now.

The Beatles: A New Appreciation

  Growing up I was always a little ambivalent about the Beatles. I always liked their music, I had the obligatory Beatles CD of their number one hits, but that was about it. I had friends in High School who lived and breathed the Beatles and immersed themselves in them. And they would talk about the Beatles first movie A Hard Days Night, and I would talk about The Wall. It wasn't until recently that I revisited The Beatles, their music and A Hard Days Night that I finally got it. Reading about the cultural phenomenon of Beatlemania from Flowers in the Dustbin was a revelation.  I had never realized that The Beatles appearance on The Ed Sullivan show in Feb 1964 came just a couple months after president Kennedy was killed and America was needing something new to embrace. Something different, wonderful and wholly original than what America had at that moment to offer. Seeing their press conference leading up to their appearance on the Ed Sullivan show it is evident how they appealed to the youth culture of America. Whereas Elvis was something mystical and unattainable, these four lads, where youthfully comic, honest and authentic. They might have been a little cocky  but not pretentious. And watching them I could understand how relate-able they were, you could identify yourself within them. To quote Kenneth Womak and Todd Davis's Beatles on Film article each one had their own attributes, "John, was the one with the sarcastic intelligence, Ringo had the affable personality, and good natured humor, George was quiet and reserved and Paul had the boyish charm and good looks."
 Those personalities were suited to be filmed, and A Hard Days Night is a wonderful expression of themselves as "personalities." It was inevitable that they would make a film, but that the film would stand alone as a good film that embraced the mythology of the Beatles without succumbing to the later expectations of what the Beatles were was pretty remarkable. Credit must be given to The Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who realized that film was a great way to expose the Beatles in new markets. From United Artists perspective they signed on to release the film "for the express purpose of having a soundtrack album." Of course the focus for a soundtrack album usually laid bare any notion of a good film, the best example being Elvis whose films were in large part no equal to the man himself. I think A Hard Days Night succeeds on the merit of the director Richard Lester. His bold vision to create a cinema verite' style film shot in black and white still manages to to endearing, honest, and genuinely funny in a subtle way. Its an impressionistic look at fame and the trials and absurdity of it. The film at its heart is a "pop musical that splices micronaratives about each band member together," And on top of that it creates the musical sub genre of getting the band together and to the show in time. Which  has been duplicated and copied many times in many other films. Ultimately what A Hard Days Night did in the end was cement the Beatles mythology, according to Womak and Davis. "Mythology finds its roots in our desires to tell stories about ourselves." And that's what the film did while integrating six new songs into it. I must say that  I Should Have Known Better is the best song in the movie, but what do I know. In the end the Beatles would make three more feature films Help, Let it Bet, and Yellow Submarine. Those films reflect a different Beatles, a band that had with each new album adapted and changed both in  their musical style, their personal lives and in their general outlook on life and fame. The Beatles are so ingrained in the culture it is easy to take them for granted but sometimes to re-discover and appreciate its necessary to start at the begining. Thats what I did.

Thank God For Bandstand

My mom always said thank god for American Bandstand because she hated the Hit Parade. The Hit Parade was on from 1950 to 59 and featured a whole host of clean cut kids singing bad renditions of the most popular hit songs of the day. It was like today's Kidz Bop. But In 1957 when Dick Clark's American Bandstand came on you were finally able to see who was singing your favorite songs everyday after school, and that was a wonderful thing. It was like hanging out with your favorite friends daily.  By today's standards American Bandstand seems an easy sell, but its not until I read more into the history of Bandstand from James Millers Flowers in the Dustbin that I now have an even greater appreciation for what Dick Clark achieved. The analyzing of teenagers in 1957 was incredible to me. The teen of the 50's was a "generation of teenagers to never have know an non prosperous world." They had not experienced the Depression and they were to young to know the horrors of World War 2. They had money to spend and were psychologically free to spend it on leisure items that their parents could not."Of course this included the freedom of expression to enjoy music and for that, the teenagers  needed a moderator, a gentle master of ceremonies to the music and Dick Clark was just the man. He realized that the young people of the country was a powerful element that had not been properly reached, or acknowledged. Now Dick Clark was above all else a shrewd business man and he approached the music industry from a business perspective, He wasn't a music enthusiast but in a sense that's what was needed for the show to work. Those who had a supreme passion for the music above all else were the ones who failed. Alan Freed cared more about the music itself and disregarded the rules, and ultimately lost. Dewey Phillips did the same thing and failed. So its no surprise that Dick Clark looked at those failures and set up a controlled format that left no room for scandal, or failure. The show was filled of course with regular white teenage dancers from 14 to 18 dancing to the music which anchored the show down. Strict clothing requirements made sure the censors were pleased. Boys had  ties and jackets, Girls had simple skirts and blouses tight sweaters and slacks were forbidden. The performers lip synced to their own songs. But by doing that it guaranteed it always sounded perfect and eliminated any room for error. By doing this Dick Clark minimized Rock and Roll as a negativism, and made it accessible to mainstream America. If Rock and Roll could be viewed in the capacity of a nice wholesome show, showcasing the popular music of its time then somehow that's ok and theirs nothing to fear in that. Racially speaking the dancers were a majority of Caucasian kids who were normal everyday kids which connected with the everyday kids at home. The network allowed no more than nine Negros on dancing on the show at a time, in the shows beginnings. Ironically the dances displayed on the show by the main dancers were dances developed by black kids, granted they were cleaned up, but the show did expose the country to the dances themselves. Dances like The Stroll, and The Twist. Dick Clark's hands might have been tied but by having his dancers display and slowly erode the physicality of this black intimate dances he was striking a blow for civil rights.  Dick Clark single handily turned Philly into a music mecca and in doing so he gave every performer a chance to fulfill their dreams. Acts who would have never been seen or heard gained instant celebrity. From The Ronetts, to Frankie Vali and the Four Seasons, to Frankie Avalon, and Connie Francis, Bobby Darin, all the way to the television debut of Madonna the list goes on and on till 1989. American Bandstand went for 32 years. Which is absolutely incredible, for a man who didn't have an ear for music, he did more for music and exposing it to the country than anyone. Long live the eternal teenager Dick Clark.

Buddy Holly: Not Fade Away

This week marks the 56th anniversary of the day the music died, the plane crash in Clear Creek Iowa, that claimed the lives of Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly. The event has been immortalized for so long. La Bamba came out when I was a kid, I remember watching it and somehow hoping the ending of the film never came. You listen to American Pie, your reminded vividly of what it must have been like that day. But it seems to me that the advent of their death has overshadowed their actual contribution to the history of Rock and Roll music.Knowing the music is what makes them live forever not just knowing how they died.  J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson gets overlooked completely, in regards to his musical contributions. Few know that he helped write with George Jones, and wrote his hit "White Lighting." He also wrote   Johhny Prestons #1 hit song "Running Bear" which wasn't released until after the Boppers death, but still shot up the charts. And of Course his own hit song Chantilly Lace, which he is most known for. At 17 when Ritchie Valens died he had done more for the Latino Rock community than any other Hispanic person at that time. Everyone knows La Bamba, but Come On Lets Go and Donna which went to #2 are wonderful signature songs as well. And finally Buddy Holly. I knew Buddy Holly's music the most. Theirs not a film soundtrack that takes place in and around the 50's and 60's that doesn't have a least one Buddy Holly song on it.Think Stand by Me etc All his hits songs are interchangeable and instantly recognized in the Rock and Roll canon. But he was the one I didn't know as much about specifically. It wasn't until I read Jonathan Cotts article simply titled Buddy Holly, that I found an even greater appreciation for him. Between 1957, to 1958, Buddy Holly had 7 top forty hits in the United States is a remarkable feat when considering that by todays standard one hit song by an artist usually defines their entire album. And he did this all before he was 22. Which makes me realize that I have accomplished nothing. It is amazing to consider that Buddy Holly and the Crickets, where the first white rock stars to play their own material. Not covers, but their own songs. They were the first white group to feature lead-rhythm bass drum lineups. Buddy was the first to double track his voice and guitar. He single handily popularized the Fender Stratocaster, and used strings on a rock and roll album. He was the first to popularize wearing glasses onstage. Paul McCartney admitted that Buddy Holly and the Crickets were the inspiration for the Beatles themselves. Both as a self contained musical unit and inspiration for some of their hits songs, like Here comes the Sun, and Every Little Thing.
     Its also easy to overlook Buddy Holly's songs and style as well.Like Jonathan Cott points out, Holly presented himself as "playfully ironic with a certain childlike quality that defined his personal style." He wasn't trying to present himself as a crooner, or sex symbol because if he had it would have felt false. Yet his songs are about the "invertible expectation of someday finding love." Songs like "Words of Love" "True Love Ways" He  communicated this by incorporating simple sentence structures, reduplicating symbols, speaking  in singsong, and incorporating his signature "hiccup" going from deep bass to falsetto. And of all the songs that have been written about women Peggy Sue stands alone as a "true rock and roll" heroine where the listener invisions what Peggy Sue looks like, a first of its kind compared to the other songs about women, and girlfriends. When you listen to Buddy Holly you get a crisp polished sound that was always ahead of its time. It tools his death and the death of Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper to realize this.  Lets hope we keep on listening in the future and "Not let it Fade Away"

ELVIS Reborn

When describing Elvis and his indelible aura as an American Icon, words somehow cannot properly encapsulate the man, the myth, the legend. You either get it or you don't and if you don't that's your loss. Reading Greil Marcus's article Elvis: Presliad was a wonderful reminder of what made Elvis Presley just "Elvis." And its the passage detailing what would be known as Elvis 1968 comeback special that was absolutely riveting  A couple years ago when they released the Elvis miniseries, with Jonathan Rhys Meyers it coincided with the remastered release of the Elvis 68' special and Elvis Aloha from Hawaii TV special from the70's both of which my family  had to have, which were absolutely wonderful. But knowing the magnitude of pressure that was on Elvis in 68' makes re watching that specific special truly magical. Knowing how utterly controlling Col Tom Parker was and his iron clad grip on Elvis's career makes knowing how difficult it was for Elvis and television producer Steve Binder to say "no" and steer the show away from a hackneyed Christmas special. Marcus outlines how much truly was at stake for Elvis at this time in his life, The ten year absence from performing live, the  endless parade of maudlin films, and how with this one show he was "putting everything on the line, risking his comforts, and trying to start over." Elvis himself realized that he had become a parody of himself, a bad joke, and that if this show failed, it would be the end of his career. The very notion of so much hanging on one show, is something that will never happen for any performer again. Not in the age of infinite media outlets, cable, Internet, etc. No single performer could ever rise above it all and single handily resurrect their career in such a spectacular fashion. It will never happen again. What Marcus so eloquently points out is how that special humanized Elvis. Siting in the round with his band mates, playing stripped down raw versions of  of his songs, Elvis was able to talk joke, and let years worth of "resentments pour out." Poignant is Elvis's recollection of how in 1955, in Florida he was forced to sing without moving, so as not to rile up the teenagers. So he sang moving only  his little finger, and even though he joked about it, you could see in his eyes the pain and sorrow it caused him. Never before have I seen anything on TV or otherwise that comes close to presenting a celebrity in such an honest, unpretentious manner.

Another high point in the article is Marcus acknowledging the one Christmas song Elvis did sing which wasn't a standard by any convention which was Blue Christmas. "Elvis sings low and throaty, snapping the strings on his guitar, until one of his pals cries out "Play it Dirty,." Playing it dirty on a Christmas song. Only Elvis could do that and get away with it.

    By the end of the special Elvis comes out wearing white, and he begins to sing If I Can Dream. For myself I interrupted this as Elvis essentially being reborn. Wearing black leather Elvis took the viewer on a rough and tumble journey of his past, only to come out purged of his past, embracing the realities of the future and acknowledging the most tumultuous year in Americas history as well. And through the course of him singing you feel that he was coming to terms with himself and his own legend, in a perfect moment in time where whatever happened in the past or whatever would happen in the future didn't matter. And by the end you realize that you were witness to something perfect in sense.

The Rise of the Top 40

John Morthlands The Rise of The Top Forty is a fascinating chronicle of the birth of Rock and Roll Radio and the advent of its master of ceremonies: the DJ. I had always assumed that the birth of Television was the death knell for radio, but it only signified the beginning of the end of radio serials,  dramatic soaps, and action shows which shifted to television. The empty space was then filled by Disc Jockeys, who became the outlet for those  interested in the "Music" above all else.  The idea of independent radio stations using disc jockeys to "explore what music their local audiences liked" and letting them freely expose their listeners to it, makes radio that much more personal. And that's the idea that resonates with myself, the personal aspect of radio, listening to it in the confines of your private room, not in the communal living room where the TV resides, and your parents but in your own space. Its no wonder to me that the personal aspect of radio thus created a personality suitable to expose it. I understand now especially after seeing the documentary on Allen Freed, why he became so popular. I liken it to having a friend whose speaking directly to you and  who secretly knows what you are felling and wanting, regardless of the color of the skin of the person whose singing the songs you want to hear. How progressive were the teenagers in the fifties who accepted the racial equality of music unlike many of their parents or gatekeepers of their time.  For the advent of Rock and Roll radio to have not just one but many different disc jockeys speaking directly to you and exposing you to new and wonderful sounds must have been a magical experience.
  I loved reading about Wolfman Jack, who my parents grew up listening to on the radio. I was only exposed to him through the film American Graffiti and the soundtrack which kept his interludes on it which was great. Reading about Wolfman Jack and how he "worked for a pirate radio station across the Mexican border from Del Rio Texas" created the perfect image for me of him howling through the midnight hour blasting music through the suburban void of America, on the fringes of society unafraid to express himself. That's what is so disheartening for me is then learning about the corporatization of radio. The introduction of chain radio stations operating from a specific business model, where music is now ordered, and packaged. How sad that the dick jokey essentially had his power stripped away. Eye opening for me is how "heavily researched popularity charts" now determined what songs where to be played and how often. So my question is, whoever is researching the popularity charts to determine and decide what gets played? And how is that notion any less transparent and honest than payola? Is it more ethical for large music companies to determine the market than mere individuals? And on top of that how sad that the disc jokey was then relegated to endeavor embarrassing theatrics of show, like broadcasting atop a flag pole, or going down a river, when their profession centered around them not being seen.
  For me growing up I loved listening to the radio, stations like KOOL 105 back when they played actual Rock and Roll from the 50 and 60's, and every Sunday night they would play Doo-Wop which was nostalgic fun. And they still had DJ's on the air who I felt remembered a time before they just introduced the play list, and maybe it wasn't like it used to be for them but it was still nice hearing a live human voice on the radio.

Juvenile Delinquency of the 50's.

I found it incredibly interesting reading and learning more about the juvenile delinquency problems of the 50's with the onset of Rock and Roll and Blackboard Jungle. Reading the article "Rock Around the Clock" Bill Randal is quoted as saying "Rock and Roll doesn't cause delinquency it reflects it." couple this with "sexually aggressive lyrics coated in euphemisms it becomes a total breakdown about sex." I always felt music itself is polarizing especially when the establishment is challenged. I remember asking my mom about that. She had four other sisters, so naturally they were all consumed by the new sounds coming from the subsequent  heartthrobs of their time, Bill Haley excluded. Mom would always tell me that at home Perry Como was always playing in the background while  Grandma  watched Lawrence Welk. Years later mom and I were watching Lawrence Welk on TV on PBS and she looked over at me and said "Now I'm an old lady, because I'm watching Lawrence Welk which I swore I would never do." I told her "this show was hilarious because you don't get to see people play the accordion on TV very often." Anyways I asked her if the music caused any problems at home growing up. she said, "not really." She said Blackboard Jungle came out the same year the Mickey Mouse club debut. So we listened to Rock Around the Clock, on record in our rooms then watched Annette Funicello. I asked her if the lyrics ever seemed racy, she said she was to naive to assume Great Balls of Fire meant anything than just that. She did add that being that my Grandparents were Italian growing up in Welby Colorado which was all Italians she was insulated from the problems that arose across the country, "my parents didn't mind us all listening to race records, but when my aunt Bernice dated a black guy....well then that was a different story." But I digress. Mom always told me that in high school "we dressed up to go to the movies, riots never broke out, we went to the sock hops to dance,  but since it was an all Catholic school they never played rock and roll music, they couldn't even wear patent leather shoes, cause the boys could see up the dress of the girls, but on our own and  on the radio was when we got to listen to our music, she told me. Then she pulled out an old 45 of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers from 1956, the title I'm
Not a Juvenile Delinquent.

Chuck Berry is the music of my childhood.

      Above all things I am grateful for in my life, I am most grateful for my mother who instilled in me a inherent love of all things culture related. Film, Novels, classic T.V. shows and most importantly music. I was born in 1983, which makes me older than most of the kids I go to college with, but that just makes me more culturally advanced than they are. HaHa. Anyway my mom didn't have me until she was 42. So when I was growing up, I was listening to and learning all about the music of her generation. She graduated high school in 1959, so she experienced first hand Rock and Roll music from its inception, which was great  because I loved learning about the 50's, 60's and 70's.  On top of that my mom had a great record collection that spanned all kinds of genres of music. Whenever she was cooking or it was the weekends she would always play her old vinyls for me. And I would always go through and look and them and just pick randomly from them to listen. I remember listening to Dion and the Belmont's, Runaround Sue, Teenager in Love. I can still see that cover of Alone with Dion with the girl with pink gloves reaching around him. Classic. But the one I remember  hearing first when I a kid was this two record set featuring Chuck Berry. It was bright yellow and it had Chuck doing his duck walk, guitar in hand  across the front cover.It was called the great Twenty Eight.We had these two large old speakers from the 80's and an Onkyo record player. And when I put that needle down and Maybellene came on, I was blown away. I felt that I were their live in person listening to him play. It was awesome!! Watching Hail Hail Rock and Roll the other day in class It was a nostalgic trip to my childhood even though it wasn't music of my own generation it was still apart of my childhood. I guess that's the testament to his music in that is possesses a simplistic timelessness to it that is devoid of pretension. When he talked about writing these songs to appeal to those who go to school, fall in love, and likes cars he appeals to everybody. That's why when I was a kid the first tape I ever got to play in my Walkman was the best of Chuck Berry, the second was the best of the Coasters, cause Yakety Yak was cool. But Chuck Berry will always be the father of rock and Roll, beholden to no one.