This Is Rock/Math!

A short post with some videos, about 10 minutes all together, that makes/alludes to the connection between math and music. "Math has long been at the foundation of music. In fact, in ancient Greece, 'music' referred to the study of numerical ratios, and around the time of Plato, 'harmony' originally emerged as a branch of physics." (The video is under the June 30 entry.)

And check out this video starting at minute 12 Also check out this video about string theory. There is a connection between math and music. What makes a collection of sound noise or music? Is modern rock music considered noise or real music? The videos are interesting.

This Is Rock: The Post Melkor Should Have Written

Melkor was home last Christmas and mentioned a band he thought was really great called Muse. About a month ago, Decoy left a CD of the album The Resistance laying around. I listened to it and understood what Melkor was raving about:

Combining overambitious rock/classical/operatic styles like glam bands Roxy Music & Queen did in their prime with a modern rock attitude, and just as importantly, modern technology, Muse may just be the best band to come around in a couple of generations. Yes, this reviewer is totally bowled over and is wondering if just maybe the rock opera album, The Resistance, is one of the top 5 albums of all time. And they excelled in a genre (the rock opera) that no one except The Who with Tommy and Quadrophenia ever successfully pulled off.

The band is able to pull off rip-roaring rockers (Stockholm Syndrome) as well as classical symphonies (Exogenesis). And the thing is, that symphony isn't a joke. That sounds as legit as anything you'd hear on a classical music station, but with rock drums and guitars mixed in, accentuating it rather than ruining it. Masterful.

Matthew Bellamy seems to be the driving force in the band, being the singer, guitarist, and keyboard player. He is clearly an accomplished classical pianist. I think the one mild criticism is that his voice seems a little weak, but he makes up for it by dripping sincerity and not shying from vocal challenges.

I thought, there's no way they can repeat this stuff live, but I thought wrong. Check out this live performance of Stockholm Syndrome: ass kickin'!

The Beatles, Totalitarianism, & The Great Depression: Part 1 - This Is Rock - The Beatles!

This Is Rock is going to be Part 1 of my 2 or 3 part series 'The Beatles, Totalitarianism, & The Great Depression'. Anyway, as Ed Sullivan would say, "On with the Shooo"

Who is/was the best band ever? No question, The Beatles! Why so? Many reasons.

One reason: John & Paul were the best songwriting team ever, cranking out hit after hit that have stood the test of time, through changes in musical taste during their own time, and leading the way into these new musical tastes during the tumultuous '60's. No musician or group before or after has been so influential.

Another reason: John, Paul, & George were great singers. Pop music, regardless of the genre, requires a good singer, and they all were great. This maybe is the least important of the reasons, but it sure helped.

Third reason: They changed rock forever by making it 'Beat' music (hence their name). This may sound trivial but it's not: they took the shuffle beat that rock originally had (the fast swing of black American music in the early '50's) and forced it into a straight driving beat. Compare Elvis' 'Don't Be Cruel' or 'Hound Dog' with The Beatles 'Twist & Shout' or 'Paperback Writer'. This was crucial in making Rock, I guess, White Music as opposed to just an imitation of Black Music, which it had been previously. This opened the flood gates for the 'British invasion': Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who, and inumerable lesser bands who all followed immediately after the Beatles first success in '63 & '64.

The photo above is their first appearance in America on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964. I remember it! Everyone watched Ed Sullivan at that time (point to make note of). Here is their show at Shay Stadium in NYC, in 1965, in their second tour of America. Look at how crazed the people were. Even though they could probably barely hear themselves with the cheezy monitors of the time and the deafening shreaks of the girls, the vocals are still solid.

The British Invasion basically was bringing the new driving Beat to America, the Beat that was the sound of The Mods (more on Mods whenever I do a post on The Who).

But, the Mod scene of Britain gave way to the Summer of Love Hippies in 1967, keyed by Jefferson Airplane's 'Surrealistic Pillow' album. Would The Beatles be left in psychodelic dust by the Hippies from Frisco? Heck no! They came back with what many consider their best album ever, 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' and seized the leadership in making psychodelic and expermental music, aided greatly by brilliant producer George Martin (and selling number 1 after number 1 song doing it) back from the Hippies, and became the leading Hippies themselves. For seven years, from 1964 until they broke up in 1970, they flat out ruled the pop music and entertainment world. I remember how bummed I was in 1970 when, on page 1 of the Seattle Times, there was a report announcing that Paul McCartney had filed suit to break up The Beatles legally (it was a formality to an event that had already occurred). Just think about that: a band whose breakup makes the front page of major newspapers.

But The Beatles' innate and undeniable greatness is not the point of my story, but part of it. After they broke up and ever since, people always wonder who will be the next Beatles, or will there ever be anything like The Beatles ever again. The answer is that there probably have been greater singers or songwriters since and there will be in the future. There have certainly been many better musicians. But, there won't ever be a band or singer that can lead the world around like an eager puppy for seven years like The Beatles did (though Michael Jackson gave it a good college try in the '80's).

Why is that? Stay tuned for Part 2: Totalitarianism

This Is Rock: Billy Joe: Love Child of Joe Strummer & Leonard Graves Philips

When I first heard Green Day, the first thing I thought of was the early punk group The Dickies, because Billy Joe sounded so much like their singer, Leonard Graves Philips. We all also know that Billy Joe gets his stage presence from Joe Strummer of The Clash. Two great people to draw from! Anyway, here's the proof in the pudding: The Dickies' great cover of The Moody Blues 'Nights in White Satin' from 1979 and The Clash, at the dawn of punk, Janie Jones in 1977. Judge for yourselves!

The Janie Jones recording is pretty crude, but you get the idea of the energy The Clash brought.

This Is Rock: Songs That Rock But The Lyrics Disgust You

From Melkor & M Dick's comments in the last post. This is a problem for the Right Side of the Robinson Clan. Rockers All, how do we justify being fans of bands that we probably strongly disagree with politically? How do we headbang when we "disagree sir with what you are saying". In the comments, list songs that you love that have lyrics you hate. Tell us why they rock and why you hate the lyrics and how you deal with the dychotomy.

I'll do today's 'This Is Rock' contribution to kick it off: Black Sabbath playing War Pigs in Paris in 1970: The Power of Black Sabbath! Bill Ward's aggressive, thundering drums. Gosh, I could watch him play for hours, but not in a gay way. Ozzy's uhm, soaring, uhm vocals. Guitarist Tony Iommi doesn't solo well, but came up with the fantastic riffs that all metal evolved from. Geezer Butler writes the cool lyrics and the scary thundering music and is a fun bassist to watch. But Geezer, what's this hippy shit about Generals gathered in their masses? Well, those of us that served our country know that there are good and bad generals just like everybody, but generally, they wish good not ill for our country and the world. I get past it by thinking Ozzy's vocals are great, the words are fun comic strip movie stuff even if I disagree with them, and the music f'n RAWKS! Admittedly, this disagreement is mild stuff. Easy to get past these lyrics. I'll try to think of a tougher one to discuss in the Comments.

Notice how Ozzy changes most of the lyrics, but it still works. Watch closely for the cool Ozzy dance throughout the song.

This is Rock #2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MQqZ_0tyuo

I couldn't do the link like Bud d did. But this is definitely rock. Nofx is one of my favorite bands of all time and definitely my favorite punk band. I had to have one of their earlier videos so I didn't get their political mush mush.

This Is Rock, Post #1

I was thinking a non-political recurring post could be maybe weekly postings of videos of live music, with a brief explanation of why 'This Is Rock'. Someone else post next week. Or I will again.



An awesome riff and Michael Schenker's great leads make the song "Rock Bottom" a classic, but,..., I'm swooning over the tight pants and shirtless, slim boys in their high-heeled shoes. UFO is here showing what '70's rock was all about.