Context Essay

Decades Project 

How Music was shaped in the 1980's

Many people think the 1980's was a revolutionary decade for music due to the political issues at the time , it was the decade that two key artists died, John Lennon and Bob Marley, both recognised for their different talents within music.

The 1980's holds the name for being quite a problematic decade due to the political issues such as , riots, unemployment and the miners strike which involved Margeret Thatcher. It is said since the 1980's was such a tough decade a lot of artists used music as escapism from the world, although this can be said about todays world too. 

In the early 80's (1981) MTV released the first music video, "Video Killed The Radio Star" by the Buggles, from this point on the music industry started to almost rely on music videos to make sales and air music. In addition the early 1980's brought the CD in which made music a lot more accessible and portable, this also meant that people would listen to it much more in their day. Since the release of the CD it has sold 200 billion CD's up to 2007 proving that they would play an important role in the music industry. 

Furthermore the Live Aid in 1985 was said to the most popular event of the decade for music, due to it showing poverty struck Ethiopia and artists with a range of different genres playing there such as Status Quo, Elvis Costello, U2, The Beach Boys, David Bowie and Queen. MTV recorded the must see event, the event was followed by The Band aid single 'Do They Know It's Christmas Time', this was top of the charts in 1984 Christmas time.

This was the decade Michael Jackson decided to become a solo artist rather than stick with the Jackson 5, he released Thriller which was also one of the first few music videos on MTV and became the best selling track of all time, which gave him the title King of Pop.

When Michael Jackson released the album Thriller, that came to a shock to everyone that the boy who was apart of the Jackson 5 had grown up and released a ground breaking selling album, also the track Thriller was one of the early music videos released with the first music video being released only 2 years before. Since Thriller was such a hit, that caused a huge decrease in racism at the time, however this also caused issues with supremacists against listening to 'black music' which led to protests. During this decade MTV were known for mainly playing white artists so the release of Thriller helped suppress this objection since they were playing a lot more Michael Jackson. Thriller sold an astonishing 40 million copies in its initial chart run.

N.W.A released Straight Outta Compton in the late 80's, it wasn't the only rap album of its time but it definitely made rap noticed all over the world, and it caused a turning point for rap. This album does almost the exact opposite of what Michael Jacksons album did for racism, as this just exaggerated violence, drugs and alcohol to the extreme. However it told the story of their everyday life and how hard it could be where they lived. The album was very low budget yet it still had a great success to say rap wasn't a very popular genre at the time. The album sold 3 quarters of a million copies before they went on tour.

Since in the 1970's music heavily relied on orchestra's the transition to the more synth sounding 80's was pleasant to most. In addition Michael Jackson heavily supported the efforts of the United Negro College Fund which specialised in helping young black people at a disadvantage go to college/university. Furthermore Michael Jackson also played a big role in the composition of "We Are the World" which sold over 20 million copies which made a profit of around 63 million dollars to go towards aid in Africa.

A lot of big artists today say Michael Jackson had a big influence on their upbringing and their style of music. This is mainly because Michael Jackson played a big role in changing peoples opinions on black people. He was one of the first black people to be on MTV and this opened a lot of peoples eyes to listen to music made by black people.

N.W.A are also a very inspiring group to many artists from their time to our time today, this is because they were one of the first groups in their time to speak to the unapologetic truth with no remorse, regrets or repentance. This influenced a lot of artists to come through talking about the hard lives they live and what they've done to survive, to a lot of people who live a life opposite to this, it's either interesting or a horror.

Sources Used

http://www.impactnottingham.com/2010/03/decade-profile-the-1980s/
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-web-thrillertrivia12feb12-story.html
http://www.allmusic.com/album/thriller-mw0000056882
http://www.allmusic.com/album/straight-outta-compton-mw0000653426
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/5645274/nwa-straight-outta-compton-at-25-classic-track-by-track-review
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/n-w-a/biography

Decades Project - Album Analysis - An Article written now for a music magazine

Decades Project - Album Analysis

After 30 years of the completion of Hounds Of Love it still has a hold over its audience that prevents you from even thinking about turning it off, even after she took a break from the music scene. Kate Bush has definitely influenced a lot of female’s artist to date. 

Cannon sounding drums and the reverb over the album "Hounds Of Love" makes it an album that todays generation of kids will grow to learn about, in 1985 she made a revelation to music resulting in a change of classical music today, many artists including and like Ellie Golding have been influenced by Kate Bush and we can see this by their similarity of style to Kate Bush. 

Although she was focusing on raising her child after the release of Hounds Of Love she came back with a bang performing gigs, tours and shows non stop. Kate Bush will always be on the music scene and remembered but some might say a lot of her audience aren't up to date with technology to be able to support her as much as they used to.

Her most recent album 50 words for snow isn't quite getting the recognition as it might have in the 1980's due to a wide variety of music taste in this generation, whilst a lot of people will still listen and buy her music, many people don't realise what a big part to play she had in music.

Decades Project - Album Analysis - A review from 1985

Decades Project - Album Analysis

A Review From 1985

In May 1981 Kate Bush started recording her fourth album, The dreaming, in London's Townhouse studios, it feels like just yesterday she released that. Being Britain's most popular female artist we could never forget about her first album in 1978 "The Kick Inside" which sold over 1 million copies with help from her single "Wuthering Heights" and Kate Bushes Never For Ever helped her soar through the charts, and yet that wasn't all from Bush.

Once Kate had finished "The Dreaming" she was happy to produce her music with the help of some sound engineers and we are all aware now of Kate's uniques producing style she mic'ed up 12-foot long strips of corrugated iron to evoke the sound of cannons. She also added large compression onto her drums to also make the sound of cannons.

If you think some of the crazy sounds on Kate's album could be well a bit annoying then imagine how the producers felt, one of the producers responsible for the sounds said "I couldn't bear it after a bit actually," However another producer who was in on the album Nick Launay who was only 20 whilst Kate was 22 really enjoyed the weird and ambient sounds in her album.

I'm sure if you know anything about music then you know without a doubt Hounds of Love will turn out to be a historical document, she will definitely have some sort of influence in future artists to come. Hounds Of Love only came out this year yet it's such a brilliant success, I wouldn't be surprised if she isn't recording a follow up at this instant. 

Decades Project Remix/Arranging

Decades Project Remix/Arranging

Critical Writing on Articles/Reviews

Critical Writing on Articles/Reviews

Stevie Wonder – Rolling Stone

The article about Stevie Wonders album I completely agree with, due to it touching on how romantic the love songs in the album are and how mellow the album its self is “yet there’s never a lack of energy”. Most people’s views on the album when the article first came out compared to today have barely changed, most people to date, still enjoy the mellowness of Stevie Wonders album. In addition most of the points made on this article were positive, so it was most likely made from fans.

Stevie Wonder – Popmatters

This article is more like two people having a conversation about the album, although this can be quite confusing I agree with what is said at the beginning of the album “Talking Book marks the beginning of Wonders incredible run from 1972 to 1976’s”. Although this article was made during Stevie Wonders ‘prime’ I still think today Stevie Wonder is recognized for his magnificent musical talent. This article also writes the review as if we are on a trip through Stevie Wonders timeline of songs.

               

Stevie Wonder – New States Man

 This article focuses more on the instrument that made Stevie Wonder who he is, and they even call it the instrument of the century which is the clavinet. In addition in one of his tracks in his album, Stevie Wonder says, “You know your baby loves you more than I love my clavinet” and to anyone who knows anything about Stevie Wonder this means a lot.

Stevie Wonder - Austin Article
This article focuses a lot about what was happening around the time of the release of Stevie Wonders Music of My Mind, the writer also compliments the producing of the song and the song writer, the writer definitely likes the album as its nothing but positivity in the article.

Gig Review 12/11/15

Gig Review 12/11/15

1st song Explanation

The first song performed was called Explanation, this group was very synchronised in vocals and instruments, the backup dancers harmonised well and the lead singer engaged with the audience by bringing the audience to a clap and looking amongst the crowd. There were not many exaggerated movements which was most suitable to the song as the song was very mellow and calming thanks to the bass line.

2nd Song Take Me Home  

The second song was called Take Me Home, performed by the same band as the first, the lead singer wasn't as confident as confident in her vocals as she should have been because she sang well, she didn't really engage with the crowd. The back up dancers were swaying back and forth with the rhythm.

3rd Song Fallen Slow

The lead singers vocals were a bit overpowered by the instruments but sang very well, one of the back up singers looked disinterested and as if she didn't want to be there. The drum beat was very strong and you could feel it within.

4th Song Attention

Both vocals and the instruments started off very powerful, the back up singers harmonised well with each other. Not too much to criticise about this performance as overall it was performed very well.

Band: Neglected - Sometimes  

All three vocalists harmonised well, rather than back up dancers they all took turns singing which was different to the other groups and interesting, all three vocalists looked confident and gave the odd smile to the crowd. 

Neglected - Fantasy

Artists on the instruments looked like they were enjoying the song and they were playing well, vocals were very strong, and were just the right volume in contrast to the instruments. Overall i enjoyed the performance.

Neglected - My First Love

The vocals to this song started off quiet but adjusted to the instruments after a few seconds, all performers looked professional, drummer involved audience by clapping and seemed a lot more lively than the one before.

Neglected I Know

This song started off fairly slow but the tempo of the song gradually rose making it an exhilarating performance. The drum beat alone had the audience at the very least nodding their heads. The lead singers were obviously enjoying the song and weren't afraid to show it.

Band : Untitled

This song which unfortunately I was unable to get the songs name, started off with very calming mellow vocals, the lead singers vocals were generally very good due to these points the audience either stood in awe or made no attempt to hide their joy.

Untitled - Guilty

The vocals throughout with powerful and loud, all the vocals harmonised well, so well the audience was almost captivated by the vocals.

Untitled - Crazy
Instruments started off very powerful but the vocals due to a technical issue weren't constant or as loud but this was sorted swiftly, the performers energy rubbed on the audience proving the audience enjoyed the song, two vocalist sung very well and powerful, the guitar playing throughout was good.

Untitled - Butterflies

All three vocals sung well and powerful harmonising well, momentarily vocals weren't coming through the mics but this was sorted quickly, the audience enjoyed the final song from this band.

Vodun

This band in particular was very loud due to their genre of music, there music was not to my taste however i gather some of the crowd were enjoying this band playing due to the various head nods i witnessed, in addition this band attempted to engage with the audience by handing out percussion to the audience and asking them to play to the beat, some of the audience backed away whilst others came forward to the challenge.

Decades Project Evaluation

Decades Project Evaluation

Time Management
I did not complete the work on time, this is due to me not being as focused as I should have been from the beginning and my mac at home not being able to upload it to sound cloud, I did spend the majority of my time on one of the songs and all these mistakes will be a learning curve and in the future I will make use of all the time given to us to work on assignments given to us.

Technical Skills

Logic Skills

My Logic skills are fairly good, in the project I make use of the fading tools throughout the song where I thought was appropriate. Although I think if I could get my ideas down quicker it would help me throughout the project and allow me to have more time to work on the project. This has affected my project negatively as my project isn't on time.

Compositional Skills

My Compositional skills have a big room for improvement I have set targets to help my compositional skills and ultimately I believe if I improved my compositional skills I would have less issues getting my ideas down and lead to more sounds on my tracks. However keeping I have no issues with keeping in rhythm and sorting the arrangement.

Research

My main key artist would be Bob Marley and I tried to incorporate the bass he uses in his song One Love also I have Erykah Badu’s vocals on my first track. I spent a fair amount of time researching Bob Marley and I tried to integrate his scratchy style into my first track but I don’t believe it sounds that way, given another chance I would research more of his albums which use the scratchy style in different years rather than just the year we researched.  In the future I would spend more of the time we are given in college to work on assignments as something may go wrong when trying to bring work home.

How I Will Improve
I will improve by making use of the access time we are given, uploading my work earlier in case of technical issues at home, researching more about the albums we were given for inspiration, researching more chords so I can have more sounds on my track and writing how I created the track as I create the track so I'm not trying to remember at the end. I will also make sure I book more rooms so I'm not just limited to access time on Fridays and lesson times on Mondays and Fridays. 

Smart Target

By January I plan to be able to read music fluently and play keyboard better. I will do this by learning to play the minor and major chords. hopefully that would increase my skills on the keyboard, as that target seems almost easy, if I finish early I plan to go gym a lot more as I signed up for the gym.  

Gig Review

Performances on the 14^th of October 2015

The dance and acting performance we witnessed at 2 pm started off very confusingly with dancers, dancing all around the stage, but was brought to order by simple clicking, which led to groups in turn, ‘strutting their stuff’ which was quite interesting and ultimately left the crowd speechless. What followed next was acting, the theme was ancient Greece and whilst it was repetitive (which I think was part of the act), I think others will agree it was an exhilarating performance. Another exciting piece from the gig would have to be the act at the end with the acting and rapping which almost all the audience thoroughly enjoyed, mostly as it came as a surprise, but it also made the performance that much more interesting.

Performances on the 15 October 2015

The dance, acting and musical performances we saw starting once again at 2pm started with acting and the audience seemed to be on a emotional ‘roller coaster’ with the skill of the actors, due to the touching act of soldiers leaving their wife’s and fiancées for war and only one returning out of the two. I have to say the performances on this day were very much more engaged with the audience, as when many of songs were being performed the lead vocalist would often invite the audience to clap along to the song. In addition I’m sure the audience would agree that the almost all the songs performed were invigorating and all the performances in general on this day were amazing.