Mmmm, music

[cosmolinguist]

Today was rock music day in my intro to music class.

I started writing things down, because they were all so fun.

"Also, there was Elvis Presley, who some people say..." I'm waiting for her to say "the best rock-'n'-roll singer ever," or something, but no. "...has left the building. But some people think he's still alive. They're crazy."

She did a James Brown yell and it made me jump. (Little did I know she'd be yelling a lot today.)

I was the only person who said that Bill Haley and the Comets did "Rock Around the Clock."

She told us Mick Jagger is 175 years old, has big lips, is ugly, and is sexy. I think she got most of it right.

I wonder why she's talking about Bob Dylan in the past tense.

She's so excited, yelling about soul and Motown. It's hilarious.

Anyone who uses "modicum" in a sentence is cool.

She called him John Revolta. Excellent.

Yes, I know Dolly Parton did "I Will Always Love You" before Whitney Houston.

Yeah, I love Sting, too. But that's why I don't love the Police; that stuff's not as good. And really, of all things, why mention "Don't Stand So Close to Me"?

"If it seems like I'm hopped up on drugs," she said, "I'm not. I haven't taken a single amphetamine for years!" I laughed. So did the guy next to me. I have no idea if she was kidding or not, but I do understand how music can make somebody at least as excited as any drug.

About grunge, she said, "I tend to like melodies, probably because I'm a singer. And when I can't find them, I tend to get upset."

For Friday, she told us to bring in our favorite rock song ("rock" in this sense covering pretty much all popular music from the last 50 years; that's what we talked about today: punk, disco, folk, country, rap, reggae, metal, everything). I don't even know where to begin!

Comments

[orgash.livejournal.com]

Me? I'd begin with just about anything from Bob "yes, I'm still alive and kicking--thanks for asking" Dylan. He's arguably the greatest living singer/sonwriter. His work with The Band, as solo-folkie, as a solo-rocker was amazing. His lastest stuff is great. and covers of his songs have been done by everyone--check the stuff in the movie/cd, Masked & Anonymous for proof on how diverse the people are who worship Dylan.

And let's not forget he's given us, Jakob Dylan (well, okay, everyone's entitled to a mistake...)

[kwakhed.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I love Sting, too. But that's why I don't love the Police; that stuff's not as good."

having done karaoke in ian and stewart copeland's bar, i have to disagree -- even though sting was the first performer i chose to go see in concert. i like most of sting's solo work a great deal -- but when he works with other musicians solo, they're hired musicians. for the most part, they have to bend to his ideas about the music. when he was in the police, stewart and andy were writing with and battling against him for whose idea and whose sound should go into each song. it was much more dynamic and created some incredible diversity for just 3 musicians (as opposed to the large sessions sting uses). it was also this egotism (on the part of all 3) that caused the band to break up.

sting's solo stuff is just too smooth for me, most of the time. there's an energy from the palpable tension in most of what the police did that will give it a higher ranking on what i'll listen to.

of course, this is just my opinion.

[cosmolinguist]

If it makes you feel any better, you're the second person (and the second far more musical person than me) to tell me this since I posted it--the other one just wasn't in an LJ comment. :-) And you two make a good case; I may have to reconsider. :-) I used to like the Police more than I do now, I think it's just that I've been listening to Sting more in the past few years.

[toastedtuna.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a kick butt class! Wow. It's fab that you were able to write so many cool thoughts about everything. Normally, my classtime note-taking is nothing more than South Park haiku.

[cosmolinguist]

I think South Park haikus would be cooler, myself. I only wrote these things down because I've gotten in the habit of writing random things I think about to keep me from falling asleep in class or something. Also, it makes me look like i'm taking notes, which is good because it makes me look (a) studious and (b) like everybody else. Neither of which is true, of course.

This class isn't always this fun--I've enjoyed the classical part of music history more than most of the students, probably, but it got boring at times when I really did know most of what she was talking about already, since I acutally listen to such music for fun! But I listen to all this music for fun, too, and she was far more animated today than usual, and she's usually pretty energetic anyway.

[cosmolinguist]

Also, if you want to see some cool notes from class, I've always been a big fan of this entry. :-)

[kratkrat.livejournal.com]

I like what the rock history prof at Penn State said of Elvis: "Elvis was a truck driver who made a record for his mama, sold a bunch of copies, took dope, got fat, and died. Any questions"?

[cosmolinguist]

It's important to keep these things in perspective. :-)