Levels of rebellion, similar to the amount of information humans have access to, is compounded with each successive generation that leaves its own indent on history. The teenagers of the 1920's, still largely in a highly conservative and religious society where prohibition is in effect, had an extremely low bar for what was considered "wild and crazy." Teens of the time period also had a significantly lesser exposure to "corrupting influences," both the result of lower levels of communication capabilities and a noticeably smaller range of historical and cultural influences from which to derive ideas on exactly HOW to rebel.
The 1920's were a period where the most significant changes to the cultural zeitgeist was the prohibition amendment, which led to the illegality of alcohol, and the romanticism of "pop culture icons", a new idea entirely. With the shift from idolizing religious figures, parents, and politicians to athletes, musicians, and rebels without causes came a "fight against the status quo" mentality totally original to the decade which led to the systematic destruction of traditional values in a small niche counterculture. This mentality led to the consumption of alcohol and tobacco openly by teens, especially shocking when a young woman was seen drinking or smoking, and "crazy, hedonistic" dancing to "raunchy and boisterous" music.
In comparison, modern teenagers have the ability to learn from and one-up their predecessors. Drinking and smoking have become common place, even among children as young as 14 and 15. Social networking brought to life the dramatization of fighting between teens, over girls, booze, or just for fun. Music has also taken a turn for the worst, with one of the most popular genres of music, rap, eliminating entirely the subtlety and having the singers blatantly say their intentions to consume alcohol, illegal narcotics, and participate in coital relations with females in possession of neither shame nor self respect.We also have history on our side, so to speak. We, from a young age, hear of Woodstock, hippies, rockers, punks, greasers, hussies, gangsters, and criminals. We learn of all sorts of corrupting influences for a decade or so before we enter high school, both historical and fictional.
If we, on a four quadrant graph, allow "y" to be "objective levels of immorality and rebellious tendencies of the average teenager" and "x" to be "time that has gone by past 1900," the trend would of the youth counter cultures would be something like y = x^2, where x ≥ 0. And I could not possibly have made a more nerdy analogy, could I?
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Artist: Band of Skulls
Song: The Devil Takes Care of His Own
Lyrics:
If you fed the rock then you reveal an ugly scene
But the strength of 10 000 will never weaken me
Witches like a razor blade you carve me half and half
Oh I’d better wait to kill the time
Didn’t you read it in the detail
That if you’re idle in your welfare
Now you wanna know an answer
But if you’re dancing you’re a dancer
The devil takes care of his own
Do you dare to speak his name there’s evil at the root
Crueler plan it’s on your mind, go on and give the dice a roll
Never did believe in saying fortunes are foretold
Easy come and easy they will go
Didn’t you read it in the detail
That if you’re idle in your welfare
Now you wanna know an answer
But if you’re dancing you’re a dancer
Didn’t you read about it?
The devil takes care of his own
Didn’t you read it in the detail?
That if you’re idle in your welfare
Now you wanna know an answer
But if you’re dancing you’re a dancer
Didn’t you read it in the detail?
That if you’re idle in your welfare
Now you wanna know an answer
But if you’re dancing you’re a dancer
The devil takes care of his own
The saying "the devil takes care of his own" often refers to the trend of the least worthy getting the most sought after goals. "If you fed the rock then you reveal an ugly scene" may refer to those who have the least artistic integrity and lyrical depth being the most popular and successful. In addition, "Didn't you read it in the detail" can possibly signify that the trend of unoriginal and non artistic "artists" garnering fame and success is not just a trend, but a fact about the music industry that many do not see because it is in a form of fine print. "But if you're dancing you're a dancer" can, similarly, be interpreted as "if you work towards success, then you are simply a spectacle not worthy of any significant recognition." My take on the song is that it is a carefully worded metaphor for the perceived descent of the music industry into a chaos of unoriginal musicians and marketability.
I like the song because, in addition to having a good sound and a rather impressive visual metaphor for the music industry in the official video, the lyrics represent my personal opinions on the music industry. No longer, it seems, do deep and meaningful songs regarding a wide variety of topics make it to the mainstream. In stead, we see a flood of meaningless drivel about pseudo problematic existences, repetitive songs about nothing but drugs, booze, and women, and the occasional sad song about problems that everyone deals with and that everyone gets over in a month or so. Meanwhile, intelligent (although arguably objectively good) songs regarding real life situations written by actual artists get thrown to the side and are kept constricted to fringe and underground music scenes.
As far as Band of Skull's similarities to older blues artists, there is little to compare. Robert Johnson relied significantly less on other artists and instruments, and other blues artists like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters have no where near the "rock and roll" sound that is incorporated, rather impressively, by Band of Skulls. The only significant parallels would be the general range of vocals, the tempo of the instruments can at times reveal some of the history, and the patterns of syntax and diction within the lyrics, although minor, due show that Band of Skulls (whether knowingly or not) drew from the blues artists of the past.
Song: The Devil Takes Care of His Own
Lyrics:
If you fed the rock then you reveal an ugly scene
But the strength of 10 000 will never weaken me
Witches like a razor blade you carve me half and half
Oh I’d better wait to kill the time
Didn’t you read it in the detail
That if you’re idle in your welfare
Now you wanna know an answer
But if you’re dancing you’re a dancer
The devil takes care of his own
Do you dare to speak his name there’s evil at the root
Crueler plan it’s on your mind, go on and give the dice a roll
Never did believe in saying fortunes are foretold
Easy come and easy they will go
Didn’t you read it in the detail
That if you’re idle in your welfare
Now you wanna know an answer
But if you’re dancing you’re a dancer
Didn’t you read about it?
The devil takes care of his own
Didn’t you read it in the detail?
That if you’re idle in your welfare
Now you wanna know an answer
But if you’re dancing you’re a dancer
Didn’t you read it in the detail?
That if you’re idle in your welfare
Now you wanna know an answer
But if you’re dancing you’re a dancer
The devil takes care of his own
The saying "the devil takes care of his own" often refers to the trend of the least worthy getting the most sought after goals. "If you fed the rock then you reveal an ugly scene" may refer to those who have the least artistic integrity and lyrical depth being the most popular and successful. In addition, "Didn't you read it in the detail" can possibly signify that the trend of unoriginal and non artistic "artists" garnering fame and success is not just a trend, but a fact about the music industry that many do not see because it is in a form of fine print. "But if you're dancing you're a dancer" can, similarly, be interpreted as "if you work towards success, then you are simply a spectacle not worthy of any significant recognition." My take on the song is that it is a carefully worded metaphor for the perceived descent of the music industry into a chaos of unoriginal musicians and marketability.
I like the song because, in addition to having a good sound and a rather impressive visual metaphor for the music industry in the official video, the lyrics represent my personal opinions on the music industry. No longer, it seems, do deep and meaningful songs regarding a wide variety of topics make it to the mainstream. In stead, we see a flood of meaningless drivel about pseudo problematic existences, repetitive songs about nothing but drugs, booze, and women, and the occasional sad song about problems that everyone deals with and that everyone gets over in a month or so. Meanwhile, intelligent (although arguably objectively good) songs regarding real life situations written by actual artists get thrown to the side and are kept constricted to fringe and underground music scenes.
As far as Band of Skull's similarities to older blues artists, there is little to compare. Robert Johnson relied significantly less on other artists and instruments, and other blues artists like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters have no where near the "rock and roll" sound that is incorporated, rather impressively, by Band of Skulls. The only significant parallels would be the general range of vocals, the tempo of the instruments can at times reveal some of the history, and the patterns of syntax and diction within the lyrics, although minor, due show that Band of Skulls (whether knowingly or not) drew from the blues artists of the past.
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