. Jazz-Rock Fusion is a wonderful marriage of elements from both idioms. Believing that there was more to be done than just coast on their laurels, innovative jazz musicians began to use electronic keyboards, amplify acoustic instruments-adding distortion and echo effects as well. The pioneer in this genre is the trailblazer himself, Miles Davis. Jazz-Rock Fusion is captured in many fine recordings by Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Weather Report, Return To Forever, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Stanley Clark.

Listen to the following examples and list the style characteristics and instruments you happen to hear:

a) Pharaoh’s Dance – Miles Davis

b) Vulcan Worlds – Return To Forever

c) Birdland – Weather Report

2. As you listen to the music of Bob Marley & the Wailers write about the following:

a) The development of Reggae music

b) Bob Marley

c) Rastafarians

d) The musical characteristics of Reggae music

Listening Selections

a) No Woman, No Cry

b) Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)

c) Rebel Music (3 o’Clock Road Block)

3. What is MTV and what was its impact on the rock/pop music industry?

4. When did CD’s first appear on the market? How did they affect profits for the recording industry?

5. According to Friedlander, what is the relationship between Punk Rock music and the advent of New Wave?

6. Components of New Wave were reggae, minimalism (the repeated use of a short melodic or rhythmic motif that becomes the basis for an entire composition), the use of speech, use of synthesizers to create “a flat instrumental sound.”

Listen and describe the characteristics, influences, instruments, and vocal styles in each of the following songs:

a) Cold War – Devo

b) Too Much Information – The Police

c) Don’t Go – Yaz

d) I Before E Except After C – Yaz

e) Radio, Radio – Elvis Costello

7. Another band to emerge from the famous CBGB and survive beyond Punk into New Wave was originally known as the Stilettoes, then, Angel and the Snakes, and finally, Blondie-featuring compositions by Deborah Harry and Chris Stein. Select one of the Blondie links below to listen and list prevalent characteristics, influences, instruments, and vocal styles.

Parallel Lines

The Best of Blondie

8. Borrow from a library, rent from a video store, or purchase a copy for your own collection, or click the link below to view Stop Making Sense by The Talking Heads. Write a response to this highly acclaimed concert movie featuring David Byrne and The Talking Heads. Be sure to identify and list all the aspects (musically and visually) of this type of art.

Stop Making Sense

9. According to Friedlander, what connections are there between Bruce Springsteen’s boyhood days and the eventual music he would compose and perform?

10. Click on the links below to view, listen and respond to performances of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing “Born To Run”. What is it that distinguishes Bruce’s approach to rock music from others? Be sure to describe and list characteristics you notice in these two performances.

Born To Run

Born To Run

11. What was the basis for the so-called mega-event concerts of the 1980’s? Name some of these and the artists who appeared.

12. About Disco: Its primary purpose was to get people up from (or off) their seats and dance! Disco, the dance music of the Seventies was disseminated not by live performances of disco bands, but by DJ’s operating turntables in clubs called discotheques. For a great look into the music, fashion, and performing artists of disco music get your hands on a copy (borrow from a library, rent from a video store) of the 1977 film, Saturday Night Fever. The film features music by several artists who were most important to this genre-KC and the Sunshine Band, Hues Corporation, Van McCoy, Kool and the Gang, Village People, Tavares, Donna Summer, and of course, the Bee Gees. Additionally, the film presents John Travolta fully clad in polyester, dancing the style quite well.

John Travolta dancing in Saturday Night Fever

Click on the following links to listen, view, and describe songs featured in Saturday Night Fever:

a) Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees

b) How Deep is Your Love – Bee Gees

c) Night Fever – Bee Gees

d) More Than A Woman – Bee Gees

e) If I Can’t Have You – Yvonne Elliman

Briefly discuss the music—lyric content and delivery style, use/application of specific instruments, and a general description of the disco style. Additionally, if you were able to watch the film, include a brief evaluation of what you witnessed and listened to. Finally, do any of the songs from this film stand up to our test for “Quality” music? If so, which one(s) and why?

13. The amazing jazz-rock, rhythm and blues sound of Tower of Power is not to be missed. Listen and describe what you hear on the following selections:

a) Down To The Nightclub

b) You’re Still A Young Man

c) What Is Hip?

d) Tower Of Power Live in 1973

Where is this band from? All of the vocalists and instrumentalists who have played in this band since its inception are accomplished musicians. Their rhythm section is to the jazz-rock style what Count Basie’s was to big band jazz. Their vocalists have always had compelling timbres and wonderfully wide ranges. Last but certainly not least is their amazing horn section, which in addition to their fine individual improvisation work has consistently laid down some of the tightest and intricate horn lines in all pop music history. As you listen to their music, what do you think is their most important musical component—their horn section (trumpets and saxophones), their rhythm section (piano, organ, bass, guitar, and drums), or their vocals? Why?

14. Click on the link below to view, listen and respond to George Clinton’s Parliament/Funkadelic performing “Give Up The Funk” in 1976, What characteristics are present in this music? How would you classify this music? How does it compare or relate to disco? What impact has George Clinton made to this vast world of music and music culture?

a) Parliament and Funkadelic – Give Up The Funk

15. Listen to the following recordings of music by Michael Jackson:

a) ABC – The Jackson Five

b) I Want You Back – The Jackson Five

c) Billie Jean – Michael Jackson

Read Friedlander’s entry on Michael Jackson. Provide an overview of his music career, list stylistic characteristics, and indicate what you believe his role is in rock/popular music history.

Two excellent books about Rap and Hip-hop:

1) Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in America, Rose, Tricia First Edition, Hanover, N.H.: Wesleyan University Press, 1994

2) It’s Not About A Salary . . . Rap, Race and Resistance in Los Angeles, Brian Cross First Edition, London: Verso Publishers, 1993

“Rap is yet another expression (like Spirituals; Blues; Gospel; Jazz; Rhythm and Blues; and Soul) of a people that have historically been disenfranchised by the mainstream-a culture that reaches far beyond the disillusionment of the inner city.”
From the liner notes to the album, The Best of Sugarhill Gang
Shannita Williams-Alleyne, April 1996

The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll cites that although “Rap” and “Hip-hop” are used interchangeably, “hip-hop is the cut-and-paste backing music for rap. It is a street derived, avant-garde art form. Additionally, Hip-hop is used to describe rap culture, i.e., graffiti, and breakdancing.

16. Using Friedlander’s Rock Window format as a guide (or just describe from your own criteria), listen to and briefly discuss each of the two rap music selections below. Focus on the lyric content and delivery style, the use/application of specific instruments, and a general description of the rap style.

a) Rapper’s Delight – Sugarhill Gang

b) The Message – Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five featuring Melle Mel and Duke Bootee

17. Obtain a copy (purchase, or borrow from a library or a friend) of one album or use the links below to select one of the following four (A-D), Rap/Hip-hop artists:

A) Run-D.M.C. – 1981, Hollis, Queens, New York– Run (Joseph Simmons), D.M.C. (Darryl McDaniels), and Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell). Brought hip-hop to a wider audience by introducing gold chains, hats, and untied athletic shoes to the youth of America. A unique aspect of their rap is their ability to finish each other’s lines as opposed to simply trading the verses. Run’s (Simmons) older brother Russell and the Caucasian Rick Rubin co-founded the important rap recording label, Def Jam Records.

Furthering the momentum into pop culture, Run-D.M.C. hooked up with Aerosmith to do a combined version of the Aerosmith classic, Walk This Way.

Run-D.M.C. – Raising Hell

Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith – Walk This Way

B) Public Enemy – 1982, Garden City, New York
Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Terminator X, and Professor Griff. Calling themselves the “prophets of rage,” they presented a tougher, intense sound that proved to be the change of direction for the art form.

Yo! Bum Rush the Show

It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back

From It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back, “Black Steel In The Hour of Chaos”

Fear of a Black Planet

Apocalypse 91 . . . The Enemy Strikes Black

C) The Beastie Boys – 1981, New York City, New York
MCA (Adam Yauch), Mike D(Michael Diamond), and Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz). From hardcore punk to rap? Yes, that’s exactly what this band did, becoming the first white group to successfully enter the African-American genre. Their sound is very eclectic-there is funk, hardcore punk, psychedelia, and rap.

a) Rock Hard

b) Licensed to Ill

(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right To Party

c) Paul’s Boutique

d) Check Your Head

e) Ill Communication

D) N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude) – 1986, Los Angeles, CA
Ice Cube, M.C. Ren, Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, and DJ Yella. Preceded by Philadelphia rapper Schooly D’s song PSK-What Does It Mean?, N.W.A. ushered in Gangsta Rap with their album, Straight Outta Compton. The album offers the perspective of looking out from the inside-vividly depicting the brutal environment of gangs etc. in South-Central Los Angeles. The use of musique concrete is most evident as sirens and gunshot sounds are used in the musical texture.

a) Straight Outta Compton

Straight Outta Compton

b) Efil4zaggin

After obtaining the album by the group (A, B, C, or D) of your choice, briefly describe the music. List any aspects on your particular recording that Friedlander outlined in his chapter. Also, please list any other characteristics you hear that are not outlined in Friedlander.

18. Yet another dimension of Hip-hop culture (represented by bands such as Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest, Us3, Digable Planets, and Gang Starr member-Guru) is known as Jazz-Rap. Somewhat more even-tempered than their hard-core, inner-city colleagues, these groups express their culture by mixing in samples of Sonny Rollins, the Crusaders, Donald Byrd, and others. As you listen to the following examples, describe the music.

a) Jettin’ – Digable Planets (Butterfly, Ladybug, and Doodlebug)

b) Introduction – Guru

c) Loungin’ – Guru with Donald Byrd on Trumpet and Piano

d) Transit Ride – Guru with Branford Marsalis on Alto and Soprano Saxophones.

19. Always on the cutting edge of greatness fulfilled, the late Miles Davis, (1926-1991) didn’t leave us until he fused his jazz-rock approach with hip-hop. His final album appropriately called Doo-Bop, was released posthumously in 1993. Give it a listen and comment on what you are hearing. It is wonderful!

Miles Davis – Doo-Bop

20. Is a record turntable a musical instrument? Yes or No? Why?

21. What is the term “Alternative”, or “Alternative Rock” (chapter 19 in the new second edition) Provide an overview of the kind of artists included in this category. Select a recording by one of those artists to list characteristics, influences, instruments etc.

Possible choices are:

a) R.E.M.

b) Nirvana

c) Pearl Jam

d) Alice in Chains

e) Ministry

f) Nine Inch Nails

g) Red Hot Chili Peppers

h) Fishbone

i) De La Soul

j) Arrested Development

k) Soundgarden

l) Sonic Youth

m) Fugazi

n) The Pixies

o) Sublime

p) Phish

q) Radiohead

For your consideration . . .

An excellent book providing a penetrating look into the early alternative scene is:

Confusion Is Next: The Sonic Youth Story, Foege, Alec

First Edition, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994

22. Consider for a few moments all the rock/pop artists who have appeared on the music scene since 1990. Select one that you enjoy. Describe his/her/their music. List the categorical label for their music (the category or style of music that the recording industry has labeled for your artist) and provide one of your own if you don’t like the one given your artist by the recording industry, and finally tell me why you like his/her/their music?