Rock Criticism Difficulty

"It is difficult to be a critic; people expect you to explain things. That’s all right if you don’t know what’s going on… you can make up almost any clever-sounding explanation, and people will believe you. But if you do understand a poem, or a song, then chances are you also understand that you’re destroying it if you try to translate it into one or two prose sentences in order to tell the guy next door “what it means.” If you could say everything that Dylan says in any one of his songs in a sentence or two, then there would have been no point in writing the songs. So the sensitive critic must act as a guide, not paraphrasing the songs but trying to show people how to appreciate them.

One problem is that a lot of people don’t give a damn about the songs. What interests them is whether Joan Baez is “Queen Jane,” or whether or not Dylan dedicated “Mr. Tambourine Man” to the local dope peddler. These people, viewed objectively, are a fairly despicable lot; but the truth is that all of us act like Peeping Toms now and then. Dylan himself pointed this out in a poem on the back of Another Side. He wanders into a mob, watching a man about to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge: “I couldn’t stay to look at him / because I suddenly realized that / deep in my heart / I really wanted / to see him jump.” It is a hard thing to admit that we are potential members of the mob; but if you admit it, you can fight it; you can ignore your curiosity about Dylan’s personal life and thoughts, and appreciate his generosity in offering you as much as he has by giving you his poems, his songs. In the end you can know Bob Dylan much better than you know your next-door neighbor, because of what he shows you in his songs, and stop treating him as though he lived next door."

                                                                                                     Paul Williams, Crawdaddy,  August 1966

Books with various chapters about Rock Scenes -

Hodkinson, Paul. 2004. “Translocal Connections in the Goth Scene”. In Music Scenes: Local, Translocal, and Virtual, Edited by: Bennett, Andy and Peterson, Richard A. 13148. Print. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt UP

Kruse, Holly. 2003. Print. Site and Sound: Understanding Independent Music Scenes, New York: Peter Lang

From Love is Strange to Rapper's Delight - Sylvia R-

Performer in the mid-50s, writer, record executive in innovative new music (Hip Hop) she was the sexy voice of "Love is Strange" and the tell-it-like-it-is co-writer and record exec. for "Rapper's Delight."

Poster that Attorney General Didn't Appreciate

Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger's painting Landscape #20: Where Are We Coming From (Penis Landscape) by noted Swiss surrealist painter H.R. Giger

Rock crits of the female persuasion

Here is a link to a bit of non-fluff (okay, some fluff) about a host(ess?) of  female rock critics.

Rock Radio

Radio has been crucial to rock, at least in the last century. And some rock bands, aware of their dependence on radio, have written homages, and critiques. Here are three of my favorites, with the lyrics and music. (Listen to the songs, and see Youtube video, by clicking on the titles.) Why not add your faves here ?

Rush: Spirit of the Radio

Begin the day with a friendly voice,

A companion unobtrusive

Plays that song that's so elusive

And the magic music makes your morning mood.

Off on your way, hit the open road,

There is magic at your fingers

For the Spirit ever lingers,

Undemanding contact in your happy solitude.

Invisible airwaves crackle with life

Bright antenna bristle with the energy

Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength

Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free

All this machinery making modern music

Can still be open-hearted.

Not so coldly charted, it's really just a question

Of your honesty, yeah, your honesty.

One likes to believe in the freedom of music,

But glittering prizes and endless compromises

Shatter the illusion of integrity.

For the words of the prophets were written on the studio wall,

Concert hall

And echoes with the sounds of salesmen. Of salesmen. Of salesmen.

Ramones: "Do You Remember Rock 'N' Roll Radio?"

Rock'n, rock'n'roll radio Let's go

Rock'n, rock'n'roll radio Let's go

Rock'n, rock'n'roll radio Let's go

Rock'n, rock'n'roll radio Let's go

Do you remember Hullabaloo,

Upbeat, Shinding and Ed Sullivan too?

Do you remember rock'n'roll radio?

Do you remember rock'n'roll radio?

Do you remember Murray the K,

Alan Freed, and high energy?

It's the end, the end of the 70's

It's the end, the end of the century

Do you remember lying in bed

With your covers pulled up over your head?

Radio playin' so no one can see

We need change, we need it fast

Before rock's just part of the past

'Cause lately it all sounds the same to me

Oh oh oh oh, oh oh

Will you remember Jerry Lee,

John Lennon, T. Rex and OI Moulty?

It's the end, the end of the 70's

It's the end, the end of the century

Queen: "Radio Ga Ga"

Words and music by Roger Taylor

(Radio)

I'd sit alone and watch your light

My only friend through teenage nights

And everything I had to know

I heard it on my radio

(Radio)

You gave them all those old time stars

Through wars of worlds -- invaded by Mars

You made 'em laugh -- you made 'em cry

You made us feel like we could fly

So don't become some background noise

A backdrop for the girls and boys

Who just don't know or just don't care

And just complain when you're not there

You had your time, you had the power

You've yet to have your finest hour

(Radio)

All we hear is Radio ga ga

Radio goo goo

Radio ga ga

All we hear is Radio ga ga

Radio blah blah

Radio what's new?

Radio, someone still loves you!

We watch the shows -- we watch the stars

On videos for hours and hours

We hardly need to use our ears

How music changes through the years

Let's hope you never leave old friend

Like all good things on you we depend

So stick around cos we might miss you

When we grow tired of all this visual

You had your time, you had the power

You've yet to have your finest hour

(Radio)

All we hear is Radio ga ga

Radio goo goo

Radio GaGa

All we hear is radio ga ga

Radio goo goo

Radio GaGa

All we hear is Radio ga ga

Radio ga ga

Radio what's new?

Someone still loves you!

You had your time, you had the power

You've yet to have your finest hour

(Radio)

Visuals for 1967

Doors  “Light My Fire” Ed Sullivan’s TV show 9/17/67   

Rolling Stones, “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” on TOP OF THE POPS  1967

TV Documentary about the Grateful Dead and the growing hippie scene in San Francisco 1967

The Human Be-In at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in 1967: 

The Monterey Pop Festival  1967: part I of 9  

Jimi Hendrix “Rock Me, Baby” at the Monterey Pop Fesival in 1967 introduced by Pete Townsend

Janis Joplin “Ball and Chain” at the Monterey Pop Fesival in 1967
Pink Floyd at the UFO 1967: and here 

Video Game as Ad for Rock Album ( or vice versa?)

This is not an ad. At least not for anything I wish to sell. But it is an example of the relationship between rock music and video games.(Check it out at your own risk.)

"Level 2," the Prosthetic debut from Maine progressive metallers LAST CHANCE TO REASON, is out today! To commemorate the release, the band has posted a free downloadable demo version of a companion video game, also titled "Level 2." Go to the band's official blog site

  to get instructions and download the first stage! Developed by the band itself, the game was designed by drummer Evan Sammons and noted indie video game developer Tom Vine, who also programmed the game, and features artwork from pixel artist Francis Coulombe. "Level 2"  -------

Concept Albums

We spoke about the development of concept albums, in the mid-1960s, when the audience began to consume music in album-sized chunks, rather than singles (45s). There have been several well known concept albums, like those by the Kinks (try Muswell Hillbillies) Pink Floyd (try Animals) and Rush (2112) in the 1970s, a few metal-related ones like Queensrÿche's Operation Mindcrime in the 1980s and 1990s.  But in the current century there are many more, and more to come - not exclusively for reasons of creativity. In an era of downloading singles rather than full albums, a concept album will induce fans to go for more than the single.

cover songs

During the 1950s there were a variety of cover songs. One important type was those released nearly at the same time as the original, and there are two varieties of these nearly simultaneous covers:

1-those released by indie labels, generally by negro (now black or African American) performers which were covered by white performers on major labels, generally modifying the original with more, often a lot more, pop in the musical mix, and sometimes “cleaning up” the lyrics too.

An example was The Spaniels’ “Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight” — covered by the McGuire Sisters, who had a hit with the song. Another was Fats Domino's “Ain't That a Shame,” — covered by Pat Boone (who did many such covers, and had many hits doing just that).

2- Another type of simultaneous covers was where a song released by indie labels is only heard by, and bought by, a regional audience, and other indie label artists released the same song in another region. Most of these covers, in first half of the 1950s, were by black performers and tended to be what later became known as doowop.

In both of these types of covers, the original artists did not benefit when their record was covered. Theoretically, if one or more of the original performers also wrote the song, they would benefit financially. But theory and practice are not identical. Indie label owners somehow became the owner of the song, and it is they, not the actual songwriter, who would profit from a hit cover on a major label.