2024-03-13

Wednesday, March 13th, 2024

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.

— Michelangelo

MUS106 Lecture: Outro - Getting Under the Hood

Creative project showcase Friday during lecture

Two scantrons needed for final

• Bob Marley (ca. 1945-1981)
  • personal background
    • born into abject poverty in Jamaica
    • family moved to Kingston
  • formed The Wailers
• The Wailers
  • members: Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer
  • genre: Raggae
    • lyrics also reflect time/place (like hip-hop): Jamaica, 1970s — tumultuous times
      • political / gang violence
      • one decade after gaining independence from Britain; government is still figuring out how to handle things
      • Marley is member of the Rastafarian religion (members tend to be disenfranchised members of society); lyrics has a focus on social justice
  • signed by Island Records (1972)
    • label started in Jamaica and moved to UK, which gave them better distribution & exposure to an international stage
  • April (1973)
    • great songs with nuanced lyrics, e.g., “Concrete Jungle”
  • Burnin’ (1973)
    • famous song & very nuanced lyrics: “I Shot The Sheriff"
      • "Kil lthem before they grow” – is it referring to the seeds, or people?
        • diplomatic situation
          • on the forefront: US president invites Jamaican president to encourage a more democratic government
          • on the background: CIA funds and arms the Labor Party to attempt to overthrow the existing Democratic Socialist party. Falied to assassinate the Jamaican president twice.
          • The Wailers were also targeted by CIA. Somehow CIA still failed to assassinate them.
      • The cover by Eric Clapton (1974) is what people usually recognize. Eric Clapton’s cover is his (Clapton’s) only billboard #1 song. Clapton’s version has been induced into the Grammy Hall of Fame. He claims that it increased Bob Marley’s commercial success.
      • Eric Clapton spewed a white nationalist spiel against Jamaicans & Black people. How do we treat artists who did problematic things?
  • ”Roots, Rock, Reggae” (1976)
    • peaks at billboard #51
    • whitewashing & cultural appropriation: Eric Clapton really didn’t boost Bob Marley’s popularity; this still happens in 1970s (and even today, e.g., on social media)! The better way to borrow influence from other culture is pluralism
• pluralism
  • rock = impurity (a mix-mash of a ton of other genres & cultures)
  • “energetic engagement” in other cultures, rather than just directly buying
  • ”We Are the World” (1985)
    • fundraiser for famine relief
    • music industry’s self-administered hi-five