2024-02-12

Monday, February 12th, 2024

MUS106 Lecture: Influence of Folk Music - Folk Rock?

Quiz #2 on Wednesday (modules 3-5); 7 questions

• crazy timeline
  • 1963: March on Washington
  • 1964: Civil Rights Act
  • 1968: Voting Rights Act
  • 1968: Assassination of Dr. MLK
  • 1968: Sharp escalation in US involvement in the Vietnam War
• folk music responded to the unreasonableness of US participation in Vietnam War
  • e.g. “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival
• ”Fortunate Son” (1969) by Creedence Clearwater Revival
  • Fogerty who was drafted in 1966 (served until 1968) wrote this as a protest song
  • protested how the privileged people (rich or powerful) could escape the draft
  • draft deferments benefited the rich, well-connected
• What’s Going On (1971) by Marvin Gaye
  • pitched this “unbanded” concept album to the Motown president
    • unbanded record: one song goes directly to the next
  • specifically about the Bloody Thursday protest that happened in Berkeley, CA
  • Gaye’s brother serves in Vietnam
  • socially-conscious music, and Motown president was reluctant to publish it, but eventually decided to still put it on the main Motown record label instead of a Motown imprint
• a lot of protest folk music albums were made
• Bob Dylan when asked about why he became popular: “It happened, like anthing else happens”
• Bob Dylan goes electric (cont’d)
  • Manchester, England (1966)
    • someone shouts “Judas” to him on stage (as an insult)
    • Dylan says “play it fucking loud”
  • 1966: severe motorcycle incident → seclusion
• Bob Dylan’s growing legacy
  • 40 studio albums across many genres
    • Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020)
  • 16 live albums
  • 31 compilation albums
  • 21 tribute albums (solely Dylan songs)
  • 1st rock lyrics to be considered literature
  • awarded Nobel Prize for Literature (2016)
• Rock adopts Folk
  • The Byrds
    • were called “American Beatles”
    • first single “Mr. Tambourine Man” (1965)
      • pop #1
      • cover of Bob Dylan song
    • many consider this song to be the 1st folk rock song
• Folk also adopts Rock
  • Simon & Garfunkel (signed by Columbia, 1963)
    • Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (1964)
      • commercial flop
    • Garfunkel quits the band to go for art school after the band got signed by Columbia
    • ”The Sound of Silence”
      • producer Tom Wilson from Columbia Records grabbed The Byrds to record a new folk rock backing track to the original vocals, without the consent of Simon or Garfunkel
      • new version was featured in the film The Graduate (1967), which propelled Simon & Garfunkel to reunion
• ”The House of the Rising Sun”
  • Alan Lomax recorded the original version by Georgia Turner in Kentucky for Folklife
  • This song got picked up and covered by many folk singers including Joan Baez (1960) — introduced her own harmony/chords
  • Bob Dylan hears Dave Van Ronk’s version and recorded it for his first album (failure)
  • The Animals hear Dylan’s version and cover it in 1964 (reached Billboard #1) — rock version
  • … ad infinitum (e.g. Five Finger Death Punch)
  • Bob Dylan was pissed that people thought his recording was a cover of The Animals, and Dave Van Rock was pissed that Bob Dylan covered his version without his consent.
  • inherent conflict within folk rock: folk music is communal, but rock music is commercial
  • Winter Olympics figure skating pair used Heavy Young Heathen’s new version
    • Heavy Young Heathen sued every possible organization for copyright infringement, but copyright laws don’t apply to live performance in the same way.
    • Folk songs (with a certain age) are not protected by copyright (public domain) — covers of old folk songs shouldn’t be liable. But Heavy Young Heathen’s version is an arragement, which is protected even when the original version is in public domain.
    • So does Heavy Young Heathen own the song?
• Bob Dylan
  • ”Scarborough Fair” → “The Girl from North Country”; very similar song material, but expected / OK in the folk tradition
• Ice Ice Baby
  • Robert Van Winkle (a.k.a. “Vanilla Ice”)
  • first “hip-hop” song to reach #1
  • samples bass from David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” (1981)
  • had to settle lawsuit out of court
  • Van Winkle claims he now owns “Under Pressure” (bought the rights to the song)
  • The new bass line only a one minor note difference
  • Where is the line between “stealing” and innovation?
• ”Thinking Out Loud” (2014) by Ed Sheeran
  • sued by Marvin Gaye/Ed Townsend for supposed similarity to “Let’s Get It On” (1973)
  • Ed Sheeran wins lawsuit; defended by saying that pop songs are all very similar