Friday, March 8th, 2024
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
— Thomas Paine
MUS106 Lecture: Pop Will Eat Itself
- Jackson 5
- signed by Motown
- Motown controls everything: clothes, dance, style
- Funk-oriented dance music
- ”bubblegum soul”
- appeals to very young demographic
- lead vocal: young Michael Jackson
- 1970: 1st four single hit #1
- 1975: Michael Jackson signs solo with Epic
- signed by Motown
- 1980s is the decade of mega pop stars
- Michael Jackson (1958-2009)
- “King of Pop”
- polished, profesional
- combines brand image with musical talent
- producer: Quincy Jones
- 1982: Thriller
- two #1 singles: “Billie Jeans”, “Beat It”
- record sale: 100 million
- appeals to diverse demographic
- wins 8 Grammy Awards
- ”The Girl is Mine” duet with Paul McCartney from The Beatles
- designed to appeal to older female demographic (old Beatles fans)
- “Beat It”
- feat. Eddie Van Halen (an epic guitarist)
- even appeals to Van Halen fans
- 1983: performs “Billie Jean” at Motown 25th anniversary
- introduces the Moonwalk
- 1993: Superbowl XXVII
- Superbowl half-time show: evolution from just marching band performance to mega show
- now pop stars are evaluated in whether or not they’ve done a Superbowl show
- stood immobile on stage for 1 minute 30 seconds without moving—builds tension (crowd cheers for the whole duration): $4.5 million for the time spent for just tension building
- music videos
- 1981: MTV launches
- 1983: “Billie Jean”
- music video as an artistic product
- 1983: “Thriller”
- most influential music video ever?
- releases the music video one year after the initial release to boost slightly declining sales—success
- MTV initially didn’t wanted to feature Michael Jackson (racial prejudice), but eventually premiered “Thriller”
- Saturday Night Fever: film
- box office: $237 million
- soundtrack by Bee Gee
- features MJ’s dance moves
- disco: dance music
- dancing
- fashion
- sex
- drugs (mainly cocaine)
- DJ Kool Herc
- Back to School party
- beginning of Hip Hop
- Jamaican roots
- DJs known for competitive sound systems
- DJs known for “toasting” (improvised rhymes on top of the music)
- invites friend Coke La Rock (known for good toasting)—“MC” is born, who does rapping
- has an expansive collection of records
- even moistened and pulled the labels off so no one knows what exact record each one is
- repeats a 20s percussion break (on two turntables on the console) indefinitely to induce a liminal state in dancers
- Back to School party
- Afrika Bambaataa
- reformed gang member
- community organizer
- 1948: Cross Bronx Expressway
- freeway crossing the middle of Manhanttan
- terrible idea
- local businesses lose revenue due to fewer commuters driving through town (and now drive over the freeway instead)
- artificially divides the town into half
- ”Red-lining”
- African Americans living in the Bronx weren’t able to get loans due to discriminatory policies
- white flight: white people flee to suburbs, away from the city center (Bronx)
- “Benign Neglect”
- the freeway caused property values to decline
- city government decides to let the Bronx neighborhood fall apart by defunding basic services
- when fire breaks out, city won’t even send firefighters
- 250k people displaced due to lack of basic services & disaster control (30k fires)
- Zulu Nation
- Hip-hop is born
- hip-hop is music/dance/art/culture
- reflective of time/place: South Bronx, 1970s
- Grandmaster Flash
- musicisian on top of DJ
- forms the Furious Five with four other DJs
- start getting hired in disco clubs in Manhattan
- not recorded until much later
- holy trinity in Hip Hop
- DJ Kool herc
- Afrika Bambaataa
- Grandmaster Flash
- Sugar Hill Records
- puts together Sugarhill Gang
- ”Rapper’s Delight” (1979)
- Samples Chic
- Billboard #36 (hip hop hits mainstream)
- puts together Sugarhill Gang
- other non-hip hop musicians become influenced by hip hop
- Blondie: “Rapture” (1980)
- white female singer engages in rapping
- hits #1 on billboard
- Blondie: “Rapture” (1980)
- Beat Street: film
- released in 1984
- many well-known hip hop artists
- breakdancing hits international stage
- Ronald Reagan reelection campaign invites breakdancer for some reason
- passes the Anti-Drug Act (1986)
- minimum sentencing guidelines for drug possession
- to get 5 year of sentence, you need either
- 5g crack cocaine (crack is targeted at impoverished / disenfranchised families), or
- 500g powder cocaine (powder is much more potent and expensive)
- This rule is 100x harsher on disenfranchised families—regressive
- outrage
- passes the Anti-Drug Act (1986)
- Public Enemy
- NYC hip-hop group
- speaks out against Ronald Reagan’s policies through music
- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
- highly political/protest focused
- A pattern: mainstream culture waters down and subsumes subcultures (e.g. hip hop), but what’s the difference between adoption vs appropriation?