Survey

Ok guys, this isn't for points, but Dr. McKeen and I would really appreciate it if you wrote this out and brought it to class on Monday. Please put your name on it.

1. Did you read the UF rock class blog before today?

2. Have you found the blog helpful, entertaining, or otherwise?

3. Do you have any recommendations on how to make the blog better?

4. If you could see a free concert from any artist alive or dead, who would it be?

Oh, Those Guys! The Rock Giants

Today I am going to do a running blog while class is going on, just to shake things up a bit. We are starting with the Chuckster, Chuck Berry, probably the best embodiment of rock n' roll that we have. Hey is a key player because he is the first creative force in rock n' roll aside from probably Buddy Holly. He was the first real singer songwriter. Chuck is famous for what Dr. McKeen calls verbal economy, or conveying lots of emotion and narrative in little space.

I see that lots of you are bringing computers now, hopefully this phenomenon doesn't make my blog obsolete.

Johnnie Johnson was Chuck Berry's piano player, and he deserves some of the credit for Chuck's music. Lots of his riffs were adapted to guitar by Chuck, but conceived by Johnson. Chuck set out on a quest for Chess records, sent by Muddy Waters, needless to say Muddy had some clout. After meeting Leonard Chess, he was instructed to "goose" up an old Bob Wills song Ida Red. He returned with Maybellene, which is one of rock n' roll's standards today. If you listen to it closely you can hear the country influence in the narrative lyrics, and the vocal delivery of old mountain songs like "Cumberland Gap," or Hank Williams' "Move it on Over," which you'll notice is the foundation for "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Hailey and his Comets.

Just listen to Maybellene, it fucking jumps. With some distortion it could even be a punk song, like an Elvis Costello Jam. Chuck disguised his social commentary with upbeat tempos and rhythmic, not abrasive guitar licks. Hard to believe he was trying to say so much through rock n' roll, that was a job for the pretentious folkie types. There is nothing cheesy or trite about the poetry of "Memphis"

Video...How sweaty is Chuck? Jesus Christ. It is impossible to see Bo Diddley's eyes. Chuck is a ladies man, gettin' action from the flight attendants. Bruce Springsteen is giddy when he talks about Chuck. That will give you an idea of the kind of figure he is.

The Three Founding Fathers...

Here's Little Richard! Had very sexual lyircs, there was not a lot of mystery to Little Richards songs. He recorded for Specialty Records which was lead by Art Rupe, who was also responsible for recording Sam Cooke in his early career with the Soul Stirrers, a Chicago-based gospel quartet. Rupe also saw Cooke into his pop career. Little Richard's music has the power of gospel and the ferocity of rock n' roll. When Little Richard stopped recording, I don't think we heard that gospel foundation until probably Otis Redding or Sam and Dave, but I could be wrong. Remember the struggle between the sacred and the profane with Little Richard.

"Long Tall Sally" gets me every time. Have you ever heard such a unique style? CCR pretty much stole the exact music and delivery for their song "Travelin' Band" John Fogerty pulls it off decently. Little Richard probably made the "stop" a staple in rock n roll with hits like "Ready Teddy." Now you hear it in all the time alt-rock and especially punk. Hard to believe Little Richard could influence punk but I'm sure it's true. Pat Boone sucks, that is all I have to say about him.

"Shout Bamalama" is a pretty evident copy by Otis of LR, but as we all know Otis developed his own style and became the embodiment of southern soul and maybe the best soul singer to ever live, at least his ballads were certainly the best.

Fats Domino, was another HUGE influence for the Beatles, at least John and Paul. They worship the ground he walks on. Fats was more of a low key presence, but he was an incredibly consistent artist. He is cajun drawl is certainly identifiable on his records, and much like Bo Diddley would do with guitar, he was a master of two-chord rhythms on piano. Many of his songs also followed the standard I-IV-V chord structure. I especially like "Fat Man" and his cover of "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)"

"I walked 47 miles on barded wire...I use a cobra snake for a necktie"...Bo Diddley is one of the fore fathers of rock n' roll guitar. He is most noted for his style. EVERYONE! I'm talking EVERYONE has ripped off Bo Diddley. It is called the Bo Diddley beat, but it is mostly a two-chord, ba...buh-ba-ba...buh-ba-ba. That is the best way I can describe it phonetically. Also this is probably the original starting point for slap bass. There is a bit of slapping in the Bo-Diddley beat. All of your favorite bass players owe him respect. Being a guitarist and bassist myself I know I do. My favorite Diddley tune is "Before You Accuse Me." You may have heard Clapton's cover of this song on Unplugged.

Back to Sun Records...just as a reminder we will probably always come back to Sun Records in this class. Elvis released 10 songs on Sun Records until Col. Tom Parker, or as Dr. McKeen calls him, Satan, stole Elvis away and made him into a huge pop figure, but definitely had Elvis by the balls artistically. Elvis was the first major rock act to go to a major label, RCA. Sam Phillips is kind of like the foster parent of rock n' roll. He took care of many important artists until they left to other, more permanent homes.

The Million Dollar Quartet...Elvis, Jerry Lee, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash...not as great as it may sound. This would be the blueprint for many disappointing supergroups to follow...Blind Faith, The Traveling Wilburys, and the mother of them all, Velvet Revolver (I just puked).

Carl Perkins is the first person to have a number one record on the R&B charts, Country charts, and Pop charts. This of course, was "Blue Suede Shoes." Carl, like Diddley is often overlooked and under appreciated by the majority of rock n' roll listeners.

Of course most people say they hate country music, but they love johnny Cash! This is what happens when people make movies. Johnny Cash...well I am sure you guys have all seen "Walk The Line" so I needn't say more. Haha. Just know he became famous at Sun Records, he did lots of concept albums, and he once gave Bob Dylan his guitar which is an old country tradition. He loved Dylan.

Jerry Lee Lewis-king of white trash. Furious piano player. Played until his fingers bled. Great rock n' roller. Read the story about him in the book. Also got his start at Sun. I kind of think of him as the white version of Little Richard. His traditional country material is pretty fantastic also, if you are interested "What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Fool Out Of Me)" and "She Still Comes Around (To Love What's Left of Me)" and "To Make Love Sweeter For You" should get you started.

Roy Orbison is "The Voice." Bob Dylan said in "Chronicles" that hearing Roy Orbison on the radio on a lazy day in NYC changed his life, and made him re-think about what music was supposed to be. Roy was never as much of a rockabilly force as his Sun cousins, he was popular as a ballad singer. His voice was soft, yet operatic. I think that was his true calling anyway because he is one of the saddest motherfuckers alive. Him and Ian Curtis are in a battle for most troubled and depressing artists of all time. Maybe you can throw in Elliott Smith or Robert Smith too. He is probably most famous for "Pretty Woman" but his highlight songs are "Crying," "Only The Lonely," "Dream Baby" and "Blue Bayou." He had a resurgence in the late 80's when for a brief moment, there was a commercial want for rockabilly throwbacks. "You Got It" I believe was a #1 hit. He also was a member of The Traveling Wilburys.

Alright, this post is horribly long. I will post the survey and my listening recommendations for this week later tonight. Please, I hope you all are reading this, and if not the survey will help me decide if I need to keep devoting time to this thing. But I am doing it for you guys and because I naively believe you guys give a shit about what I have to say about music. If you want to listen to my band, I am going to post the links to some youtube videos of our show a couple weeks back. Missing is a song we wrote about the Jena 6 called "White Tree" and a cover of Albert King's "Born Under A Bad Sign," but what is there should give you an idea of what we do.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zMYhX6xbQXE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0t-6pUeVdY8&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NsEQxyGq9hA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QnnkJcGbD84
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NgwSTBWz-OY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zMYhX6xbQXE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QSVilAOVXkU

Also, here is a video from a gig I did at this coffee house in Orlando, it's a song by Ray Lamontagne called "Jolene."
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iuJVOFfvdNE&watch_response

Rock n' roll is here to stay!

Sounds of the City cont....

Ok, so last time we left off with the holy trinity of the electric blues. We'll start talking about Muddy Waters. He was born in Rolling Fork, MS in 1915 and died in Chicago in 1983. Muddy is known as really the first blues superstar, from a playing standpoint and a recording standpoint. He could really play, and he earned the respect of players around the country including Chuck Berry, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards, who all pretty much worshiped the man. He put Chess records, one of blues' premier labels, on the map. One of his last performances is documented in the film, "The Last Waltz."

Next is a voice that is now synonomous with Chicago, Howlin' Wolf. In my opinion, he is the best that ever did it. He has the most recognizable and powerful voice in blues music, and if it wasn't for Howlin' Wolf, I probably would have never started playing blues. But aside from that, he and Muddy competed as Chess's prized possessions. Wolf's music was raw, unadultered, and extremely vulgar. He never enjoyed the commercial success that Muddy did, and this bothered Wolf. But in the musical realm he was always respected. It is important to remember that Howlin' Wolf was more a vocal force than a musical force, although he was an accomplished harmonica player. In the 50's he almost exclusively played Willie Dixon songs, which was probably the best move of his career, and in 1953 the legendary Hubert Sumlin began playing lead guitar on all his records. Howlin' Wolf was great because of his voice and his band.

Next is John Lee Hooker, the closest thing we had to a blues superstar in this generation. Late in his career he gained lots of exposure and praise for his lifetime of work. Like Muddy and Wolf, John Lee was born in Mississippi and moved to Chicago as the blues boom started there, namely because of Chess records ran by the Chess brothers Leonard and Phil. Hooker's blues was almost always fast paced and even dancable. He played a very rhythmic style as opposed to Wolf's sharp, angular style. You might have heard his song "Boom, Boom"

The mastermind behind Chess records and the Chicago sound was Willie Dixon. He was a session bass player and a phenomenal songwriter. Pretty much every important blues song ever recorded in Chicago is a Willie Dixon song. Artists in all sorts of genres have covered his songs, and he was smart enough to claim them legally. It made him a very rich man.

Chess records was Chicago's flagship recording studio, and they sported the likes of Wolf, Hooker, Waters, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and many others. Like Sam Phillips in Memphis, they were successful because they weren't afraid to take chances on artists.

My listening recommendations for New Orleans and Chicago are as follows...Fats Domino-The Fats Domino Jukebox, Howlin' Wolf-Moanin in the Moonlight Two for One, Muddy Waters-The Anthology, John Lee Hooker-Real Folk Blues, anything by Little Richard, and Time Is On My Side: The Best of Irma Thomas.

I'll get to Memphis and Elvis tomorrow. There is a lot to post about so I am trying to break this up. Also, if you guys have any questions about any of these artists in greater detail, please feel free to e-mail or facebook. And if you want any of this music and don't want to pay for it, I'll be happy to burn you a cd.

I'm going to post a link I got from another blogger on a Chicago blues documentary, if you guys are interested at all in Chicago blues (which I hope you are) please, check it out. http://www.youtube.com/maxwellstreetdoc (for clips) www.electrifiedblues.com (blues blog, may be helpful for class).

Rock n' Roll is here to stay! Read your book!

Sounds of the City

Hey guys, it's me. I'm really sorry that this post is coming late but last week was very hectic for me with my band preparing for the show and work. If any of you came to the show I'd like to thank you because it was a great success. Anyway, down to business...

In last week's lecture we discussed some of the more important rock n' roll cities and the figures that embodied their sound and put them on the map. The three cities are New Orleans, Chicago, and Memphis. These cities all have distinct musical cultures and even subcultures, but the main things you should associate with each are as follows: New Orleans-Jazz, Chicago-Blues, Memphis-Rock n' Roll and Country. Of course each city is not as musically limited as I may be implying, but I am just trying to give you a way to remember each.

We will start in New Orleans. One of the more prominent figures of New Orleans jazz is the legendary cornet player Louis Armstrong, who is responsible for brining jazz to a mass audience in the 20's and 30's. He was the ambassador of jazz and his remarkable gritty, deep voice made him easily recognizable to even casual jazz fans. His song "Potato Head Blues" is a standard.

Moving from brass to piano we find Jelly Roll Morton, a man who claimed he invented jazz, which seems to be a ridiculous statement considering that jazz is a largely improvisational form of music, it could have come from many different sources. Nonetheless, Morton is important because he pioneered New Orleans' long list of piano men. His real name is Ferdinand La Menthe and he, like many other New Orleans piano players, grew up playing in bawdy houses. He was interviewed by the great Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress before his death.

Lomax was a folklorist who is responisble for preserving some of the most important American roots music known today. Without him, much of the history of American roots music would have died with the artists.

Professor Longhair might be the quintessential NO piano man. Known as the "Bach of Rock" he was a successful recording artist before he became reclusive and gave up music to take a job as a janitor. Paul McCartney resurrected his career in the 70's.

In any great music city, the recording industry is fueled by its phenomenal session players. Hal Blaine and Glen Campbell and "The Wrecking Crew" in L.A., Willie Dixon in Chicago, Earl Palmer in New Orleans, Jay Dee Maness in Nashville, are just some of the more famous session players. New Orleans is no different. Remember...Bumps Blackwell, Allen Touissant, Cosimo Mutassa, and Naomi Neville.

Fats Domino is one of rock n' roll's most influential and successful figures. His slow boogie-woogie style and warm cajun drawl made him consistent, yet still original. Only Elvis sold more records than Fats in the 50's.

Last for New Orleans is one of my favorite artists of all time, Little Richard. Often imitated, never duplicated, Richard played and sang with a fury unheard to that point in rock n' roll. His recording career in the 50's was cut short because he joined the ministry, but his showmanship and often primal approach to vocal delivery would later inspire the likes of James Brown and The Beatles. "Long Tall Sally" is often my choice for the greatest rock n' roll record ever.

Now we move to my favorite rock n' roll city, Chicago, probably because I worship the blues that was made there. Chicago blues represents the divide between rural and urban blues, and urban blues is very closely associated with the electrification of the guitar. Before the electric guitar, rural blues was extremely rhythmic but often less structured than electric blues which almost always follows the 12-bar format. Alternate tunings and finger-picking also played a large part in rural blues, especially Piedmont blues. Also, thematically the music changed, there was less talk about God, about field labor, about the lonliness of rurality, and was more focused on heartbreak, and tough, city living. Some topics remained the same, like drinking, gambling and womanizing.

Elmore James is one of the pioneers of electric blues and he sang in a higher more melodic tone than his forefathers. Think of Buddy Guy for a vocal match. James Brown would take the refrain from his song "Shake Your Money Maker" and make it a famous line in the hit "Sex Machine."

The Holy Trinity of the electric is Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield), Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett), and John Lee Hooker. And unfortunately I have a lot to say about these guys but this post is getting long and I have to eat lunch and go to class. More to come later...

Labor Pains + Ghosts of Mississippi

Hello everyone, I hope that you enjoyed Dr. McKeen's first lecture. If you seem overwhelmed by the volume of information, or simply because a lot of this material seems foreign, relax. We aren't expecting you to be familiar with a lot of these artists and the early history, and if you were then lecture was probably pretty boring. In case you missed it here is what we covered:

We talked about the characteristics of rock n' roll, and how they apply to the way we studying it's history. Dr. McKeen described rock n' roll in his own words as any form of music aimed at a youthful audience. By this definition we will not be limiting rock n' roll to simply guitar, bass, and drums, and the range of artists we will incorporate into the realm of rock n' roll will be large. Also, he discussed the technologies and categories that both limited and expanded rock n' roll in it's inception. The technologies included recording tech, radio tech, and instrument tech. And the categories pertained to charts which also tied in with the recording industry, these were race records, hillbilly records, and mainstream records. An important thing to remember is that while records and charts were segregated, radio was not. Cultures that were divided geographically and socially were able to listen to the same music over the radio and immerse themselves in different genres. Examples that translate to rock are Chuck Berry listening to country and western radio, and Elvis listening to African American radio.

Keep in mind cultural mixing when we talk about our first subject of Labor Pains, Bob Wills. He was a country performer who was very into African sounds. In his music he combined traditional country instruments like banjo, fiddle, and guitar with woodwinds and brass instruments creating a widly subversive sound for the 1930's.

Hank Williams Sr., who is known today as the quintessential figure of country music, was reviled in his day. He was a drinker with marital problems and did not fit the classic country mold. He also played with an upswing beat uncharacteristic of classic country which focuses on the back beat. This gave a bluesy feel to his music. He also had a quick vocal delivery on many songs that weren't ballads.

Les Paul, is known by Dr. McKeen as the tinkerer. He is famous for the creation of one the greatest rock guitars that bears his name. He is also famous for discovering the technique of overdubbing while attempting to mix channels on a recording of he and his wife Mary Ford, who were a pop duo in the 50's. Les Paul was a pioneer of recording and sound.

Dr. McKeen points out that in rock n' roll, the risk takers often stumble upon the great music and fame. Such is the case with Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Studios in Memphis, who is responsible for recording "Rocket 88" by Jackie Breston and His Delta Cats with a broken amplifier. This produced a distorted sound we have grown accustomed to in rock, but in 1953 was unheard of. Some call this the first rock n' roll' record.

This brings us to our next point, who started rock n roll? When did rock n' roll start? Nobody knows really, but we can take guesses and form our own opinions, but without question the roots of rock n' roll are embedded deep in Mississippi, namely Clarksdale where Highway 61 and Highway 49 intersect. These are both storied rock highways referred to by the likes of Bob Dylan and Howlin' Wolf.

This intersection is where Robert Johnson is claimed to have sold his soul to the devil for supernatural guitar playing ability. Is it true? Who knows, but it makes for great rock legend. Johnson was born in 1911 and died in 1938. His recordings were done primarily in two sessions and now make up some of the most influential music to rock n' roll ever. His disciples include, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, and Jimmy Page, among countless others. Perhaps you've heard of those guys.

His predecessor was Charley Patton. Legend has it that Patton was seen at a train station in Mississippi playing slide guitar with a knife as a child. The first blues? Again, who knows. He is famous for singing about the flood of 1927 in the Delta in a song called "High Water." Memphis Minnie also sang about the flood in her song "When the Levees Break." You may have heard the Zepplin version.

It is important to understand that rock n' roll is a derivitave form of music. Patton and Johnson and WIlls and Paul may have been pioneers, but probably weren't the first. We are only trying to get a grasp of where our present rock music evolved from.

I will end the post by re-stating that rock n' roll first comes through imitation, then absorbtion, and then originality. Rarely do artists skip steps 1 and 2, and if you don't believe us then just check out the catalog of the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.

Hopefully this helped a little bit and I know I left tons of stuff out, which means if you want the juicy details, COME TO LECTURE! I'll get better at this as time goes on.

My listening recommendations for class 1 are: 32-20 Blues, Little Queen of Spades, and Malted Milk by Robert Johnson, The Mercury Hits by Hank Williams, Martin Scorcese Presents the Blues: Son House, and Eric Clapton's album Me and Mr. Johnson.

My reading recommendations for this week are, of course our text book, and Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues by Elijah Wald. Fantastic history if you are a blues buff.

See you all next class, and rock n' roll is here to stay.

Introduction

This is the first post of many for the class Rock N' Roll in American society. My name is Dante Lima and I will be posting class notes, side bars, links to helpful or interesting videos, and discussion topics for the class. If any of you have any questions about the blog, or the class, you can e-mail me at danticus@ufl.edu. Rock N' Roll is here to stay.