...if you REALLY wish to put "the rock and roll era" into proper perspective simply obtain copies of Joel Whitburn's TOP 100 (pop) HITS and write down every title and recording artist (including as many "bubble unders" as you can) ...preferably the years 1954 through 1989
...then find a copy of each and every song on the list
...and, somehow, make a recorded collection of ALL of them---doesn't matter what format you put the series in...be it cassette tapes, CD-Rs, or MP3 format
...and, upon completion of said collective audio series, let this be your only source of listening pleasure.
As far as I'm concerned the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME reeks too much of mediatory politics coupled with popular current-day stereotypical musical demographic imagerisms.
Add to that the fact that the term "Rock and Roll" is too much of a "brand name"
---what should matter is the music itself, not the labels given to it.
Seriously, "rock and roll" came about by accident anyway
...the term itself was one frequently used in the black subculture of the 1940s and 1950s to mean either "party 'till you can't go on anymore"---as well as to "go all the way" when making out with your lover. It was an expression comprising a double-entendre.
...AND one often used as a catch-phrase by those considered "hip" and "with it" at the time.
Hence, it makes sense that a popular radio disc jockey trying to "win over" a young audience would use an expression of this nature to "get in good" with his listeners.
And what was being promoted as "the latest sound" at the time was a hybrid type of music comprising elements of every other popular music style both past and present to create an idiosyncratic "mix" sound/style of it's own.
That the casual use of a popular vernacular as a catchphrase would end up going on to become the "official term" of a derivative-based style of pop music was one of those unexplainable happenstances that seem to "just happen" from time-to-time.
That's why the idea of "rock-and-roll" as both a "brand name" as well as an official musical category seems like such a misgiven
...because "rock-and-roll" is to popular music what the English language is to languages in general:
Just as the English language invented itself by way of stealing words from all the other then-existing European and Mediterranean languages
...so too did "rock and roll" come about by stealing and using elements from all then-existing forms of popular music
...themselves derivative of everything from Stephen Foster to Mozart to Celtic music to gospel to ragtime to folk---and so on...and so on...
...then find a copy of each and every song on the list
...and, somehow, make a recorded collection of ALL of them---doesn't matter what format you put the series in...be it cassette tapes, CD-Rs, or MP3 format
...and, upon completion of said collective audio series, let this be your only source of listening pleasure.
As far as I'm concerned the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME reeks too much of mediatory politics coupled with popular current-day stereotypical musical demographic imagerisms.
Add to that the fact that the term "Rock and Roll" is too much of a "brand name"
---what should matter is the music itself, not the labels given to it.
Seriously, "rock and roll" came about by accident anyway
...the term itself was one frequently used in the black subculture of the 1940s and 1950s to mean either "party 'till you can't go on anymore"---as well as to "go all the way" when making out with your lover. It was an expression comprising a double-entendre.
...AND one often used as a catch-phrase by those considered "hip" and "with it" at the time.
Hence, it makes sense that a popular radio disc jockey trying to "win over" a young audience would use an expression of this nature to "get in good" with his listeners.
And what was being promoted as "the latest sound" at the time was a hybrid type of music comprising elements of every other popular music style both past and present to create an idiosyncratic "mix" sound/style of it's own.
That the casual use of a popular vernacular as a catchphrase would end up going on to become the "official term" of a derivative-based style of pop music was one of those unexplainable happenstances that seem to "just happen" from time-to-time.
That's why the idea of "rock-and-roll" as both a "brand name" as well as an official musical category seems like such a misgiven
...because "rock-and-roll" is to popular music what the English language is to languages in general:
Just as the English language invented itself by way of stealing words from all the other then-existing European and Mediterranean languages
...so too did "rock and roll" come about by stealing and using elements from all then-existing forms of popular music
...themselves derivative of everything from Stephen Foster to Mozart to Celtic music to gospel to ragtime to folk---and so on...and so on...
No comments:
Post a Comment