Primus - Suck on This

I would like to preface this blog by first stating that this band is one of the most noisy bands I’ve listened to in a while. When I was listening to their music, I was a little tired and sleepy because it was early in the morning. When the notes of their first song blared across the stereo, I was instantly shocked into submission. It was a jolt of pure energy that ricocheted throughout my entire body. Primus has taken the influence from all sorts of noisy genres, including metal and punk, but they have distinctly carved out their own sound. I don’t necessarily enjoy all of their sounds, but they made it their own in a time where this was widely successful and economically viable. They also laid the groundwork for other alternative metal bands to spawn later on in musical history.

Primus also only has THREE players! When I learned this fact, I was truly astounded because this band is able to fill up so much space with their individual songs. While some may classify this as simply noise, they each take on a huge responsibility in driving their songs forward. This is heavily dependent on each players’ instrumental ability, which none of these three superstars are lacking in. Like I said before, their songs are not my favorite and I would probably not listen to more than three of their songs at one time, but there is no arguing that they are very strong instrumentalists. This band simply murders my eardrums and stings them. I tended to get used to it and appreciate their playing but I feel that it would be hard to acknowledge this if I was listening to it by myself because it is not easy listening type of music.

The vocals in this album are nothing to speak of. They are rather flat and lack diversity. Although this is probably because the bassist is also the singer, I would have appreciated a stronger vocalist. Luckily for Primus, their music heavily relies on the countermelodies and instrumental portions of the songs. Their type of loud music is the kind that people don’t listen to for its lyrics. Every moment of this live album blares incessantly but with deeper listening, it can be broken down and greatly appreciated. The main point of astonishment (for me at least) was that the bassist was so strong AND was able to carry on at least a decent vocalist part. Les Claypool is probably one of the stronger bassists that I’ve listened to thus far. He carries countermelodies and a bass line that are literally insane. I don’t even know how his fingers can move with such ease over the strings that carry on the heart of their songs. Not only can he maintain an interesting strum on the bass, but he also can sing a melody that is to a completely different time (at least it seems). Overlaid on this strong bass sound is a wild and crazed guitar slays along with sick beats. The craziness of the pure rock sounds emitted by Primus makes it appealing if you want your brains exploded.

While our current music culture is not dominated by substance either, for some reason the music of Primus seems so foreign to me because it seems to have lack of organization. This is fresh and different than other music preceding it and following it that is dominated by catchy choruses and tunes but for some reason I can’t bring myself to truly appreciate the art in its original form. I keep trying to make myself like this music, but it seems impossible. In brief periods of time, I can stomach the loudness of it all in order to be totally rocked away by a wild guitar slay here and there, but overall, it is very hard to listen to. See what you think, though, and check out some of their hits off of this album.  Unless you’re a bassist or guitarist for your occupation, you’ll probably agree with my proposition that this is rather noisy and just plain loud. Their music videos are also rather strange.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik – Red Hot Chili Pepers

It took the Chili Peppers a while to rise to the mass stardom that they achieved later on in their career. Blood Sugar Sex Magik was actually their fifth released album which makes sense because their production quality seems rather polished. The countermelodies throughout a variety of their songs mesh well with the intriguing vocals. I feel that the sounds that the Chili Peppers release is an acquired taste. I feel that if I had listened to more of their previous material, I would be able to appreciate this album more. While there are peaks in the album (like any), I think when I first began listening to their songs, it kind of hit me with surprise. The uniqueness of their sounds stood out to me as different than anything else I had heard. They sound like a mix between funk sounds of the 70s and country countermelodies. There are also elements of punk that makes this music seem very versatile and intriguing.

Lyrically, I feel, the Chili Peppers are a good stepping stone between the lyrically sufficient past and the lyrically deficient present music society. While lyrics began to deteriorate once the 80s hit (I’m thinking the intense rap of NWA and others) popular music/rock didn’t really see the drastic change in lyric deficiency until modern times in this century. The Chili Peppers, who straddled these two time periods, illustrate the transition to a music realm dominated by profanity and rather meaningless lyrics. For example, in “Suck My Kiss”, the Chili Peppers use rebellious terminology like “Most motherfuckers
Don't give a damn”. This phraseology is not needed but grabs the attention of the audience. Because lyrics like this add intensity and act as a slap to the listener’s face, they are utilized expertly by the Chili Peppers in order to make their rock wilder.

While some of the early songs in the album didn’t really appeal to me very much, I rather enjoyed the versatility and diversity that the Chili Peppers show throughout this album. Although some of their transitions between songs are not necessarily the strongest (and at times I feel like they pushed me off a cliff of music intensity), I like the mixture that they incorporate. They seemed to build in intensity throughout their first five tracks, climaxing at “Suck My Kiss” but by the sixth track, they release a much more mellow sound. “I Could Have Lied” is probably one of my favorite tracks on this album because it starts out pretty slow with mild vocals and gradually escalates into something more. I can really cherish the vocals throughout this track because the countermelody is soft and mild enough for the calm vocals to shine through. This track also seems like a brief intermission in the middle of the album because immediately after, the seventh track sounds like a tidal wave of blaring sound in the introduction.

It is very hard for me to distinctly classify the countermelody and vocals in the album as a whole, because there seems to be little similarities between them. Some songs are chock full of powerful and forceful electric guitar strums that unleash pure rebellion upon the listener. Others take on a softer vibe dominated by light percussion. A major similarity between all of their songs is that they seem to have short intense introductions before they delve into their main melody. Then, their songs build up until they climax very near the end of the songs in a wild guitar solo. This part of their songs is very exciting. They repeat a minor escalation of intensity and seem to cut off the songs at a rather climactic point without much denouement to leave the listener elated. Then they jump right into the next track! This style is interesting but it MAGIKally works (I apologize for that sad sad attempt at a joke in advance).

On a last note, the Chili Peppers’ album is rather misogynistic throughout a variety of their songs yet they possess a level of youth that makes it seem more innocent lyrically at least(if that makes any sense at all). When listening to their actual tracks, I think the exact opposite.

Anyway, check out some of their tracks below. I’d like you to compare the fifth track with the sixth track in particular because they contrast so much.

Song Parodies

I would like to take a slightly different path for this music blog this week. Amongst the onslaught of serious rock and roll that we’ve been analyzing in the 90s, I would like to have a more lighthearted analysis. Throughout music history, artists and bands become popular not just from their pure music. Popular artists rose in recognition due to their actual tune, the message behind their songs, as well as their personalities. Beyond the actual tune, the message that a song brings to the table is very important to many different audiences. If a song portrays a unique idea or concept, the artist will be revered greater. Additionally, popular artists and bands must possess traits of fun and relatable personalities. Past merely music, people desire entertainment overall. If audiences can feel connected with the artists, the musicians will become more appealing. The reason why many of the documentaries of musicians/bands are so interesting is the fact that it exposes the artists’ personalities.

Thus, when an artist is capable of actively exposing their personalities to the masses, they can potentially become widely popular. Song parodies are a fun and entertaining way that artists are able to expose their fun personalities because, in their essence, parodies make fun of other existing songs. I feel that many artists take their music way too seriously and when outside artists can highlight this fact and create a catchy parody, I enjoy the laughter that follows. Parodies use the melody and rhythm of previously made “serious” songs and change the lyrics to push a different (and often times humorous) message. This gives a much more light hearted tone to songs that gives the audience a feeling of elation.

What makes parodies so successful to the general consumer is the fact that they are creative in their own right. While parodies may simply take the melodies and sounds of existing songs, a lot of parodies greatly alter the lyrics of the song in order to tell a completely different story and message. I feel that the value of the artistic qualities of parodies is similar to that of artists that sample sounds. I would like to draw up this connection because it merges my opinions that both songs that sample music and parodies are real music and songs in their own right. The action of sampling previously recorded instrumental sounds and merging them together in a unique and fresh song should be considered a NEW piece of art because it took a level of artistic skill and creativity to create. Similarly, I believe that parodying songs is also an act of creative art-making because the parody artists are crafting new lyrics to an existing tune.

I am amazed that parody artists are able to so accurately match the rhyme scheme and timing of existing songs to the point that the music is still easily recognizable yet the lyrics are drastically different. This is fun because you can hum along and tap your foot to the catchy rhythms and beats, yet you can laugh as the lyrics become even more outrageous and humorous. One of my favorite parody artists is Weird Al Yankovic. He has developed a great musical career for himself heavily based on parodying songs and creating outrageously funny parodies. I am amazed at every one of his new creations. Some of my favorites of his songs include “Eat It” to the tune of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and “White and Nerdy” to the tune of “Ridin’ Dirty” by Chamillionaire. “White and Nerdy” is so funny because it is the complete opposite of the original song’s intention. The great contrast of these songs, accompanied by hilarious music videos, allows for a fun, entertaining, and engaging listening experience. I feel that parodies in general also make the reader WANT to listen intently on the lyrics because of their strong dependence on lyrics to convey a different message to the song. Many people don’t highly value lyrics in their everyday listening, but parodies re-emphasize the importance of lyrics and a song’s message to the overall listening experience.

Check out the following songs. I posted the original songs as well as the Weird Al’s parody versions. Enjoy:

Wilco Documentary

Before I delve into the actual content of the documentary and this phenomenal band’s music, I’d like to discuss the large amount of politics regarding this band in their musical career and discography. I found it very interesting and astounding at the way that this band was capable of playing record companies and labels in order to turn out on top. I was very intrigued by the story in which Wilco’s label company told the band that they were not going to publish their next album and Wilco slowly released their music online for donations in order to subvert this standard industrialized process. While many credit Radiohead with being revolutionary in music, I feel that Wilco began this trend of publicly releasing music. While many current artists have rid themselves from label companies and have reverted to direct funding/donations from their fans (such as Hoodie Allen or Macklemore), I found it interesting to see its origins in this band. It is interesting to see how technology has deeply influenced the sales of music and the way that music is distributed to the masses. Before technology had developed greatly in order to diffuse band’s music, there would’ve been absolutely no way for bands without a record label to succeed in the highly competitive world of music.

Another last not about the politics surrounding this band is the fact that they have cycled through a variety of different band members throughout their musical career. Only a couple of the band members remained constant all the way from 1994 to present day. I feel that this hasn’t happened much in music history up until this point. Bands such as the Beatles never changed their band members. This might have been a disadvantage, however, because those bands (unlike Wilco) could not adapt to the changing music scene in order to maintain appeal to the masses.

Additionally, throughout the album, I got a great vibe for the working environment of this band. While I gained a sense of their personalities and saw how relaxed they were while recording, I enjoyed being able to see how dedicated they were to their music. They were seemingly working nonstop and put so much into creating their music. I also liked being able to see the interactions between the various band members as well. I feel that too often, you don’t get to see the other side of bands because they are very superficial and hide behind their music. This documentary allowed me to observe Wilco’s personalities be fleshed out and it made them overall more personable.

Anyway, let’s dive into the actual music because now that I’ve been listening to them, I feel that I have a general idea about the type of music they are creating. While they are officially classified as alternative country, I think this band is a great fusion a variety of sounds that merge together in an overall great vibe. In the documentary, the band members say that at the time they were completely engineering and composing the album/music by themselves without any outside influence. They were able to basically create their own perfect recording environment with increased sonic in order to perfect the songs that they were creating. They put so much effort into recording these songs that it’s truly hard NOT to love their songs.

The genre coined as alternative rock has really grown on me as I continue to expose myself to different types of music. I feel that Wilco had a very large influence and impact on a lot of popular folk/alternative rock bands of today because I hear a variety of aspects in this popularize modern music that was at the heart of Wilco’s sound. The way that they were able to mix the acoustic sound of the guitar with the soft voice of Tweedy is truly impressive. The experimentation process really paid off on the creation of their 2002 album and I feel that this allowed the band to thrive as well later on in their musical career. While I was only able to hear bits and pieces of their songs/album, from what I’ve heard of their music I am relatively happy with. The documentary better illustrates their dedication to their work rather than the actual music, but I still feel that the little diddies that they perform throughout the video are polished and sound very down to earth. This particular vibe is very appealing to me. They have fresh and unique melodies mixed with a variety of wild percussion/auxiliary instruments that pepper and flavor their music.

If you want to hear some of Wilco’s songs from the time of this documentary, check them out below:

Nirvana - Nevermind

Before listening to this album, I believed that I had never heard any of Nirvana’s songs before. The name seemed rather familiar to me, but I had no idea from where. I tend to be rather bad at remembering the artist and band names of the songs that I’ve heard, though. When the first song kicked into the main chorus with the drum entrance, I recognized the song instantaneously.  The catchy and very familiar melody had stuck with me from somewhere and I felt reenergized with the sick drum beats and fierce countermelodies. Many of the songs I remembered hearing before after listening to them a second time. Every song that I recognize, I simply love because it’s so exciting to remember these very talent filled pieces of art.

If I were to classify any particular band as rock and roll so far, Nirvana would meet the quintessential stereotype of hard rock. With every drum beat and every strum of the guitar, they release an epic stream of rebellion that fuels a wild attitude and tone to their music. Listening to their music combines an energizing feeling, but their music is rather easy to listen to. I may just believe that it is easy to listen to, though, because I really cherish smooth electric guitar strums that so dominate their songs. I love the way Nirvana is able to mix together steady and constant beats, insane guitar/bass chords, and vocal prowess. While some may argue that this type of music is simply noise and lacks the fluidity of calmer music, I could not disagree more. Although Nirvana does push a much louder and more intense sound through this entire album, there is actually strict organization. If you strip away the loud countermelody for a second, you can see that Nirvana’s songs progress from a quick introduction into a harsh drum break. This entering of the percussion provides a great lead into the main chorus and heavy countermelody. Every one of their songs follows a similar pattern and this consistency pulls the entire album together into one unifying piece of art.

Another thing that I like as this album (AS A WHOLE) is the fact that there is also a decent amount of diversity. While many of the songs heavily utilize electric guitar and bass to drive the songs, there are also many singles throughout the album that rely more on the vocals and use a softer countermelody to accentuate the vocal capacity of the band. “Polly” utilizes decent amount of bass and guitar, but it is softer and muted compared to the dominant vocals. Even the vocals maintain a softer tone that changes the entire song. In the very next track, “Territorial Pissings”, however, Nirvana reverts right back to their “hard rocker” type of music. These tracks I classify because of their loud and intense countermelodies and scream-like vocals. Additionally, Nirvana’s music also thrives in just singles along with the entire album. Each song on the album can be separated and stand independently of one another.  While some are more wild than others and some are more personally appealing to me, they all stand strong to analysis by themselves. This is what I think has enabled Nirvana to stay popular: Because its music is strong as just singles, it enables this band to adapt to the changing structure of the way music is listening (on a strongly single basis). I love being able to digest this album as a whole, but for the main consumer, albums need to be easily dividable into strong singles.

Lastly, I feel that Nirvana has effectively mixed together aspects of a variety of genres into their music. They are a great example of the convergence of various music styles into rock. While on the surface Nirvana may seem like they are simply one dimensional and are focused on “classic rock”, they also mix together elements of country and sometimes the soft tone of ballads. This ability is quite astounding and quite respectable in fact. I feel that they used this in order to accentuate the complete album arc. They maintained a relatively intense sound throughout most of the album, but descend towards the end of the album with country and softer tones. The 11^th track on the album, “On a Plain”, oozes country vibes and the album concludes with “Something in the Way” which leaves the listener in a place of tranquility and ultimately desiring more.

Oh, and whatever you do, don’t listen to the bonus track; it utterly stinks.

Check out the following songs, though:

Paul's Boutique - Beastie Boys

I had never before listened to a single Beastie Boys song before but this album makes me wish I had discovered them sooner. While the record company initially didn’t want to publicize Paul’s Boutique, it was received very well with a vast variety of audiences. The Beastie Boys seem to merge together great aspects of music across a variety of genres and blend them into one amazing work of music. This album incorporates a great mix of diversity, sick beats and bass line.

Paul’s Boutique also brings up interesting topics of discussion regarding sampling of music. A lot of the controversy regarding this album was the fact that it took a lot of bits of beats, rhythms and melodies from previously made music. While some people in the corporate area of music feel that this is stealing from the artists who initially created these beats, I believe that the way that the beats were manipulated in this album as a whole makes it alright. The Beastie Boys were able to mold these sounds into completely different songs and incorporate their own harmonies and melodies in with these beats. For this reason, I feel that, although they used samplings, they were able to create their own unique fabric of music that shines through in its own way.

Moving past the mere sampling aspect of this album, this album is overall strong and versatile. While the Beastie Boys tend to lean towards a more ‘rap’ sound in their songs, they are able to interlay various sounds that make the melodies very distinct from another. Additionally, the production quality of this album as a whole is very impressive. The fact that they are able to mix together so many varying beats and countermelodies are astounding. In addition, they have FLAWLESS transitions from each song. These strong and fluid transitions between songs make the album flow very easily. This also enables album listening more comfortable and appealing because it makes the album more digestible in its complete form. While some albums seem like a hodge-podge of random songs with immediate stops and starts, Paul’s Boutique connects each song together which makes the music arc throughout the entire album.

On the other hand, within some of the songs, there is such a diverse conglomeration of various sounds that the songs sound random at times. For example, in the middle of the album they bust out a short tune called “5-Piece Chicken Dinner” which is just them screaming like hillbillies. Another example, “The Sounds of Science” mixes together sounds from the Beatles to gangster rap. This blend of music I think led to the dawn of a new decade in music. This album’s revolutionary sounds I feel led to an ultimate change in the music scene. While this might seem like a bold hypothesis, I think it pushed so many boundaries at the time that it probably had a major influence on later music. I even hear bits of early style of music such as house and other electronically developed music.

Analyzing this album as a whole, I generally enjoy listening to the songs. The style of the music on this album is very appealing to me because it mixes together hard, sharp beats with a wicked bass line, turntable manipulation, and harsh harmonies. The Beastie Boys have also perfected a strong, rap-oriented vocals. What is appealing about the Beastie Boys as compared to other rap artists around this time period is that they also tend to avoid the use of profanity throughout their songs. I was impressed that they were able to take on a tough vibe and match the intensity of groups such as NWA and simultaneously avoid the use of vulgar language and profanity that take away from the messages of the songs. While I would’ve liked it better if they had more fluctuation and diversity in their vocal capacity, I think that it generally matches the intense countermelody that they heavily utilize.

While you can’t get a feel for the amazing transitions throughout the entire album, the following videos are a few of the songs off of this talent-filled album. When listening to “Shake Your Rump”, take note of an awesomely wild mix of bass and turntable manipulation that creates an old school dubstep vibe. Check it out:

Straight Outta Compton - NWA

At first glance, I thought there was no possibility of me liking the heavy rap released by NWA. I felt so disconnected from their messages and they rely HEAVILY on profanity to fill in gaps in their musical message. Even the titles of their songs give a formidable impression: “Fuck Tha Police”, “Gangsta Gangsta”, and “Parental Discretion Iz Advised” (that ‘z’ was not a typo).

Despite profane lyrics, I began to enjoy the power and intensity of the beats and countermelodies of NWA’s music because they methodically drove the songs forward. I think the only way that these types of songs are even bearable to current audiences is the fact that we have become desensitized to vulgarity and offensiveness in art and music. This is a very intriguing topic of discussion but I’ll save that for another time. When pondering how this album was accepted AT THE TIME, however, it is no surprise that it utterly shocked the masses. I believe that the album did so well at the time because it was so drastically different and shocking that a lot of people started talking about it. This peaked interest probably allowed the notoriety of the album to skyrocket. This album resonated with suburban white kids because they had never been exposed to such concepts. These innocent kids not only were appealed to the danger of it all but they probably felt connected to the injustice of their situation. Because of this, I feel more qualified to evaluate this type of music even though I do not come from a similar background as the artists.

This album is interesting because it was the first major commercially available album that exposed gangster rap on a new hardcore level. After analyzing other music in the 80s, I could see that rap up until this point had a rather innocent vibe. Centralized in New York, this earlier rap didn’t have NEARLY the same amount of swear words or discussion of gross concepts. As rap shifted towards California, it took on a new sound. While the beats and rhythms got more intensified which is appealing, their lyrics also got WAY more dangerous. I feel that the idea that music (and rock for that matter) is an expression of rebellion is very applicable to this evolution of rap because this album utterly exposes an exaggerated, but true, view of poor neighborhoods.

I generally enjoy listening to this music. With passive listening, I am able to tap my foot to the methodical and repetitive rhythms. With in depth analysis, however, it is hard for me to take this album seriously and try to evaluate all the good qualities of it because I can’t bring myself to look past the lyrics. The lyrics are so vulgar and absurd that it’s almost laughable at how disgusting and intense they are. If you take the lyrics too seriously, it will definitely strip the song of any qualities that it has.  Despite this, the album takes on a very different and fresh method of production. As compared to earlier rap in the decade, this music has much rawer and deeper beats. Additionally, they utilize a very strong bass line in order to drive the main countermelody. These two main music aspects are the main reason that these songs are tolerable for me. I like the heavy beat so much that I can actually block out the disgusting messages that this album (IN PASSIVE LISTENING). Overall, I actually enjoyed this album because it was so different than what we have listened to so far. It’s pure attitude and blatant offensiveness makes me appreciate the guts of these artists.

When viewing the music videos accompanying several of the singles off of the album, I gained a greater sense for what NWA was actually singing about. When I simply listened to the songs I tried to focus a lot on the rhythms rather than the lyrics but the videos forced me to focus on the content of the music. They exposed a reality that seems so far removed from my life. It is hard for me to imagine such a world because of my background but this makes the music videos so interesting. In their videos, NWA shows the injustice of the police which were the main authoritative figure in the poor neighborhoods. Visually, these videos are also different than earlier rap because they told an explicit story that applied towards the actual song’s story. The artists also drastically changed the style of clothing in hip hop. They premiered dress such as baseball caps, sunglasses, and large chains that have maintained in the genre until present time. I felt more connected with NWA’s message with the music videos and it added a visual to enhance the already sick beats and countermelody. Check out the hits off of this powerful album: