The Digital Past

For our digital scavenger hunt, we had to find the earliest reference to a genre of music prior to 1990. I chose to do “rock and roll,” mainly because it’s a genre I listen to a lot so I’m curious. The first spike in the appearance of the term “rock and roll,” according to Google Ngram Viewer, began around 1953 and from there has been steadily rising until now. Searching on the ProQuest website, nothing with the words “rock and roll” prior to 1950 were related to anything with music, rather it would be recipes or about working out. The biggest thing I realized while looking for an article was that it was “rock n’ roll,” not “rock and roll.” One of the earliest articles I found on there was called “Rock N’Roll Means Big Business These Days” by Charles Herndon, and it was published on November 19th, 1955. In the article, he speaks that “it’s too loud and the beat’s too heavy” but that a lot of teenagers and young adults listen to it. He goes on to talk how well the genre is doing financially and describes a few artists. Another article I found was “‘Rock N’ Roll’ Stage Show Frantic, Noisy,” published on November 4th, 1955. I found this one funny and interesting because the first paragraph states that “it’s a violent, harsh type of music” and that a lot of parents think it “incites teenagers to do all sorts of crazy things.” That’s still kind of the view today for rock music. So many people think that kids who listen to rock music now are emo, which means they do bad things and are weird. For example, I loved rock music, dyed my hair pink, and went to concerts all the time, so people thought I was emo and would do crazy things. I think that maybe some people do crazy things listening to certain music, but it’s not the music itself that makes them do it. The people in these two articles call it noisy and harsh, which it is. I don’t find rock and roll itself harsh, unless maybe it’s screamo, but it is noisy. So I see where some of the description from back then is coming from, and they probably haven’t had much music like this before, but I don’t necessarily agree. It’s interesting looking at the way things were described in a different time period, especially because I don’t view it that way at all. Not to mention, Elvis Presley was considered Rock and Roll, an icon, and I find his music to be fun. I don’t think it’s harsh or violent, like my rock music would be considered. My rock music,maybe alternative, now is Panic! At the Disco, Sleeping With Sirens, etc. Even bands like Metallica are “louder” than Elvis Presley. It kind of makes me want to know how the people who wrote those articles back then would write one on these bands. Very interesting thing to learn and think about!

This was an incredibly interesting article, which related to what we had been talking about in class perfectly. It linked to the blues, country/folklore, and minstrel songs that we had talked about in class. He talks about how music was segregated, like how southern music got split into the genres of blues, which was primarily African American, and country, which was primarily white. He then goes on to explain how folklore studies, as well as the music industry, created a segregated “musical colour line,” also known as the Jim Crow South. This creates this divide where people are more judged by the music they listen to, as opposed to who they are. That’s an interesting statement, because it is so true about today. Around here, many kids listen to rap or hip-hop. I listen to rock, country, and pop. Every time, people are like  “you listen to country? I wouldn’t have guessed.” So it was interesting to hear it be compared to that kind of music and time period as well, although I’m not sure why I found it surprising. Anyways, it was a great article to go along with the context of the class! I enjoyed it!

This week, we talked about music again! Although I will say, sometimes I feel incredibly lost in this class. I do enjoy the class a lot, as it expands the knowledge I have on music, but sometimes it doesn’t really flow. Anyways, we started out talking about beats again, like how rock music often has an ahead of the beat feel, so I was like “yes my kind of music!” Then he switched to bluegrass and country, which again I still like. I never really pay too much attention to the beat pattern, as I just kind of enjoy music and don’t read too much into it. Unless it’s the lyrics, I love reading into those. We listened to the music of Jimmie Rogers, the Benny Goodman band, and Buck Owens to focus on country music, and I honestly enjoyed them. I never thought I would like old country, like I thought Toby Keith was as far as I could go, but it was interesting as we listened and analyzed the music. It was incredibly interesting learning about how different cultures affect the music and genres too, which brings in that American music is shared through forms and songs. At the end we brought in Elvis Presley, who I love, but I will say hearing how segregated it was back then hurts, but I’m sadly not surprised either. So far really enjoying the music!

Music is the displacement of people according to Professor O’Malley, and I am finally starting to agree. I love music, but I listen to a lot of fairly modern music, where I feel the displacement isn’t apparent unless you have studied previous music. Like I love country music, and I never would have thought before that it was like minstrel show music, until I took this course. So I do now agree that music is the displacement of people and a lot of things, as music is meshed and copied in different ways. The most interesting thing we learned today though was how the European Tradition emphasizes “1” and “3”, while the Afro-New World tradition emphasizes “2” and “4.” Like he said, once you hear it, you can’t unhear it. All night I’ve been listening to music while doing homework, except now as I’m watching the Caps game, but all I can pay attention for is the beat. I also have been to a ton of concerts and thinking about it, the clapping is almost always off beat. Although I haven’t seen Justin Bieber live yet, and no other artist has actually pointed it out.. so never knew! I’ve listened to music my whole life, and I’ve loved it. But after the things I’ve learned in this class, I will definitely be listening to music in a different way, probably with an even greater appreciation too.

On Monday, we talked about minstrel shows, which are popular shows performed by white actors in blackface. My initial reaction was confusion, and honestly the posters we saw were terrifying. As we talked about it more and learned the name of characters, like Jim Crow, things again started clicking. Jim Crow was a popular character, later used for segregation laws. There was also the comparison of Mickey Mouse to a minstrel, which sadly I can see and it was shocking, I never would have thought about it that way. Personally, I feel like the minstrel shows were meant to be racist, as they kinda looked like creepy clowns and were meant to be funny. The most fascinating comparison of minstrel shows that really shocked my mind was the movie “Get Out,” and it makes perfect sense. The white people in the movie are inserting themselves into the bodies of black people for their physical strength and such, just like how white actors put on a black mask. I personally am shocked about minstrel shows and how they are still kinda present today, like Yodel Boy singing how the minstrels would sing, even though he probably doesn’t even realize. My only question is why? Why whites in black face? Why can’t the white actors just perform? Why is something like this possibly present is Disney? I wish I knew!