Metal music - still in the thought stage

[Ken White]

...Ken's about American Pie would be specific pieces (okay, I can definitely see Ride of the Valkyries, but American Pie?!).

the chorus resonates if you substitute 'you' for 'I.'

So bye-bye, miss american pie.
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin� whiskey and rye
Singin�, "this�ll be the day that I die.
"this�ll be the day that I die."

As an aside, Ride of the Valkyries worked in a movie, it would not in reality for the troops -- though the two sons who are Cops have been known to play it or the theme from Jaws, whichever is most appropriate, on the PA speakers of their Cruisers as they answer calls.

[marct]

the chorus resonates if you substitute 'you' for 'I.'

LOLOL - okay, I can see that ! Some of the other lyrics probably fit with general perceptions as well

Helter skelter in a summer swelter.
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter,
Eight miles high and falling fast.

and

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune.
We all got up to dance,
Oh, but we never got the chance!
`cause the players tried to take the field;
The marching band refused to yield.
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?

I've got to ask - does an M-60 keep the rhythm during the song?

[Ken White]

...I've got to ask - does an M-60 keep the rhythm during the song?

so does an M 134 Minigun fired in bursts.

[marct]

so does an M 134 Minigun fired in bursts.

I can see the video now ! To bad YouTube wasn't around...

[Stan]

I've got to ask - does an M-60 keep the rhythm during the song?

Good question, and interestingly enough, there's a song reminiscent of gunfire (sorry, they weren't weapon specific in the early 70s).

Machine Gun (Commodores album)

The lead song features Milan Williams on clavinet, which led Motown executive Berry Gordy to the song "Machine Gun" as the clavinet work reminded him of gunfire.

[marct]

Good question, and interestingly enough, there's a song reminiscent of gunfire (sorry, they weren't weapon specific in the early 70s).

Machine Gun (Commodores album)

Interesting. The 70's and 80's seems somehat devoid of particular songs, except for a few classics that didn't get much mainstream play (I'm sutre and Tom remember this one!).

[Stan]

Interesting. The 70's and 80's seems somehat devoid of particular songs, except for a few classics that didn't get much mainstream play (I'm sutre and Tom remember this one!).

Fantastic blast from the past, Marc ! I listened to that several times at the Belgian military attache's house (despite the fact he had never seen a real Thompson (Zaire was mysteriously equipped with M3 greaseguns ).

BTW, Tom was our team's Warren Zevon fanatic

I'll assume you recall this famous song as well:

Machine Gun (Jimi Hendrix song) which debuted in 69 as a protest song to the Vietnam War

Machine gun
Tearin' my body all apart
Evil man make me kill you
Evil man make you kill me
Even though we're only families apart.
Well, I pick up my axe and fight like a farmer,
You know what I mean?
Hey, and your bullets keep knockin' me down..."

Hence the Geneva convention against using .50 cal on humans (forget that one).

[marct]

Fantastic blast from the past, Marc ! I listened to that several times at the Belgian military attache's house (despite the fact he had never seen a real Thompson (Zaire was mysteriously equipped with M3 greaseguns ).

BTW, Tom was our team's Warren Zevon fanatic

I can believe that -it's so "in character" !

I'll assume you recall this famous song as well:

Machine Gun (Jimi Hendrix song) which debuted in 69 as a protest song to the Vietnam War

Yup. Growing up in the '60's in Toronto (with a radical feminist for a mother) exposed me to a lot of the anti-war songs. By the time I was 12, I had Hair memorized .

One thing that has been floating around in my back brain is that therejust don't seem to be any major civilian songs about the current wars either pro or con. Okay, a few Dixie Chicks ones, but nothing like the 60's anti-war songs or the WW II songs (hey, unlike Ken, I do like Vera Lynn). I find that somehat indicative of a social disconnect, but I'm not sure what to make of it.

[Stan]

I can believe that -it's so "in character" !

Hmmm, don't tell Tom just yet !

Yup. Growing up in the '60's in Toronto (with a radical feminist for a mother) exposed me to a lot of the anti-war songs. By the time I was 12, I had Hair memorized .

I spent a few years in NE D.C. as a kid in the 60s.... only seems fair

One thing that has been floating around in my back brain is that therejust don't seem to be any major civilian songs about the current wars either pro or con. Okay, a few Dixie Chicks ones, but nothing like the 60's anti-war songs or the WW II songs (hey, unlike Ken, I do like Vera Lynn). I find that somehat indicative of a social disconnect, but I'm not sure what to make of it.

There's a few sites like this one Updates Anti-War Songs (ahem) Most Recent Major New Material. By no means hitting the Top 40's (whatsoever). Seems our Actors however are spending far too much time 'acting' and taking advantage of the current situation.

Top 10 Anti-War Movies

I guess -- by default -- the song writer could be considered a war monger or protester

[Rank amateur]

Jimi is always worth a look. He looks high as a kite, but he doesn't look like he'd be dead in three weeks.

Marc, don't forget Green Day. Here's a potential cause for the difference: no draft.

[wm]

Interesting. The 70's and 80's seems somehat devoid of particular songs, except for a few classics that didn't get much mainstream play (I'm sutre and Tom remember this one!).

MarcT,
I think your point here needs a lot of support. I could probably list many metal hits from the 70's and early 80's--let's just start with Machine Gun, Hendrix, '70; Iron Man, Black Sabbath, '71 Smoke on the Water, Deep Purple '72, Edgar Winter, Frankenstein, 1973; Golden Earring, Radar Love (not head-banging metal I admit), '74;Walk this Way, Aerosmith, '75(another iffy metal call, but metal in the 70's was not the same as metal in the 90's or the new millenium).

I was OCONUS 77-80 and forced to listen mostly to what AFRTS jammed into my ears or AAFES had in the PX as music so I am a little short off the top of my head for cutting edge metal for that time period.

[marct]

Hi WM,

I think your point here needs a lot of support. I could probably list many metal hits from the 70's and early 80's--let's just start with Machine Gun, Hendrix, '70; Iron Man, Black Sabbath, '71 Smoke on the Water, Deep Purple '72, Edgar Winter, Frankenstein, 1973; Golden Earring, Radar Love (not head-banging metal I admit), '74;Walk this Way, Aerosmith, '75(another iffy metal call, but metal in the 70's was not the same as metal in the 90's or the new millenium).

Sorry, I should have made that comment clearer - it was meant in the context of popular pro/anti-war songs. I'll certainly grant you Hendrix and Black Sabbath, although I'd query Smoke on the Water. Definitely agree with you on the differences in metal - I may not listen to it, but one of my students is a freakin' expert and I have to read his papers (and he plays it for me too, especially Burzum).

[wierdbeard]

As a big time audio-phile i was the goto guy for music in theatre, I had two major playlists for everyone, one was lots of heavy industrial, punk, and metal most guys would listen to that prior to heading out and the other was chillout electronica and trance that most listened to when they came back to settle the nerves a bit. I usually ran an Ipod through a FM transmitter to listen to stuff in my NTV, and did have a few very intense short playlists that we utilized during pre-dawn raids, played extremely loud through the PSYOPS guys speakers on their gun truck. If your interested i can email you these playlists.

[Surferbeetle]

Drowning Pool's song 'Bodies' can pretty much say it all at times...Tool's song Jambi is a pretty good jam as well...

Usually however, I tried to listen to some songs to help smooth things out when I got back to the hooch...

[selil]

I just finished a paper that looked at technology, music, and protest. Social networks and mining play lists was part of the lit review. I think they are likely related.. Some resources.

Malcolm, S., & William, W. (2006). Measuring playlist diversity for recommendation systems. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 1st ACM workshop on Audio and music computing multimedia.

Cheng, Y. (2003). Peer-to-peer architecture for content-based music retrieval on acoustic data. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 12th international conference on World Wide Web, Budapest, Hungary.

Ahn, Y.-Y., Han, S., Kwak, H., Moon, S., & Jeong, H. (2007). Analysis of topological characteristics of huge online social networking services. Paper presented at the The 16th international conference on World Wide Web, Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Bockstedt, J. C., Kauffman, R. J., & Riggins, F. J. (2006). The Move to Artist-Led On-Line Music Distribution: A Theory-Based Assessment and Prospects for Structural Changes in the Digital Music Market. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 10(3), 7-38.

[marct]

I just finished a paper that looked at technology, music, and protest. Social networks and mining play lists was part of the lit review. I think they are likely related.. Some resources.

Thanks, Sam, much appreciated. I'll see if I can track them down. If you have URLs for them, 'twould be appreciated.

[selil]

Thanks, Sam, much appreciated. I'll see if I can track them down. If you have URLs for them, 'twould be appreciated.

Email enroute.

[marct]

Hi SB,

Drowning Pool's song 'Bodies' can pretty much say it all at times...Tool's song Jambi is a pretty good jam as well...

Okay, I just listened to Bodies on YouTube - definitely not Bach ! What about it says it all?

Usually however, I tried to listen to some songs to help smooth things out when I got back to the hooch...

So what do you listen to when you get back?

[Surferbeetle]

Hi SB,

Okay, I just listened to Bodies on YouTube - definitely not Bach ! What about it says it all?

So what do you listen to when you get back?

Marc,

Music is an interesting method of human expression. I participated in music programs in elementary, jr. high, and high school. Coming through rotc we were often inundated with country songs while eating. In central america, well away from the cities I have stumbled across disco's that make the jungle shake. As i mentioned previously iraq has an interesting fusion of (for want of better description) classical mideastern melodies and pop although I enjoyed the call to prayer as well. Commercial german music was for the longest time pretty bad, italian, and spanish on the other was quite good. In short I am all over the board when it comes to music; mozart, coldplay, country, world, and of course rock. Like most it just depends upon my mood and geographical location.

Are you working on a paper referencing music? The US music industry shift from cd to mp3/4 (I started out with transistors and 45's) has been fairly dramatic. A reflection of the Nomad lifestyle?

Urban nomads have started appearing only in the past few years. Like their antecedents in the desert, they are defined not by what they carry but by what they leave behind, knowing that the environment will provide it. Thus, Bedouins do not carry their own water, because they know where the oases are. Modern nomads carry almost no paper because they access their documents on their laptop computers, mobile phones or online. Increasingly, they don't even bring laptops. Many engineers at Google, the leading internet company and a magnet for nomads, travel with only a BlackBerry, iPhone or other “smart phone”. If ever the need arises for a large keyboard and some earnest typing, they sit down in front of the nearest available computer anywhere in the world, open its web browser and access all their documents online.

Steve

[marct]

Hi Steve,

Music is an interesting method of human expression. I participated in music programs in elementary, jr. high, and high school.

Pretty much the same for me, although I started doing semi-pro classical singing when I was 9 (hey, weddings paid much better than paper routes !).

Coming through rotc we were often inundated with country songs while eating. In central america, well away from the cities I have stumbled across disco's that make the jungle shake. As i mentioned previously iraq has an interesting fusion of (for want of better description) classical mideastern melodies and pop although I enjoyed the call to prayer as well. Commercial german music was for the longest time pretty bad, italian, and spanish on the other was quite good. In short I am all over the board when it comes to music; mozart, coldplay, country, world, and of course rock. Like most it just depends upon my mood and geographical location.

Sounds like you've definitely heard a lot . That fusion in Iraq sounds interesting - pop and classical ME? Are we talking about the quarter tone scale ME stuff? I'm definitely going to have to try and track some of that down!

Are you working on a paper referencing music? I have noted that the US music industry has shifted from cd to mpeg (I started out with transistors and 45's). A reflection of the Nomad lifestyle?

It's still in the thought / concept stage. I'm putting the last touches on a paper tying singing Bach and taking a pilgrimage to the Thomaskirche in Leipzig looking at the interplay of performance, place, emotion and ritual (I've sung there twice now and we've been invited back for next year - it's a mind blowing experience!).

The Nomad lifestyle is an interesting one and, when it's combined with pervasive networks, it can produce some really interesting forms of music. Last month, I reviewed a book called Cybersounds for RCCS that looked at a lot of the changes happening in the music scene. One of the things that I thought, but didn't toss in the review, was that there is a real difference between a live performance, a recorded performance that is used as "background mood music" and a recording that is, for want of a better term, used as "mood shifting" music (I don't like that term, but I haven't come across a better one - suggestions welcome !).

I think there's a major difference, at the neurological and emotional levels, if we "sing" (perform even if it's in the car or shower) vs. just "listening". I think I need to take a trip up to Montreal and see if I can buy Dan Levitin a couple of beers and pick his brains .