Final quote context Flashcards
“The thing is they were traditional lyrics and they went back far before a lot of the people that one related them to. The riffs we did were totally different, also, from the ones that had come before […]. The thing with ‘Bring It on Home’, Christ, there’s only a tiny bit of that taken from Sonny Boy Williamson’s version and we threw that in as a tribute to him. People say, “Oh, ‘Bring It on Home’ is stolen.” Well, there’s only a little bit in the song that relates to anything that had gone before it, just the end.”
Led Zeppelin about their plagiarism controversy - defending themselves.
“The distinction may be set in the terms given by Arnold Shaw, between ‘covers’ and ‘reworkings,’ where the former is a cheap imitation but the latter is a recomposition into a new self-contained stylistic and musical world, one which does not rely musically on the original but can stand on its own. The transformation must be so complete that the reworking and original can stand side by side and both be accepted completely on their own terms, with an appreciation for the elements that bind and separate the two.”
About Led Zeppelin and their plagiarism controversy
“In England witchcraft was already sacred. There was widespread interest in Satanism and magic. The time was right for a rock and roll band which personified all the cults and rituals of the day.”
About Black Sabbath and the success of their use of occult/religious imagery as a heavy metal band.
What are the major musical features of Black Sabbath?
Riff-based songs, use of distortion, use of tritone, drums and bass often highlighted, frequently songs with nihilistic or political undertones.
“I honestly don’t know where the real David Jones is. It’s like playing the shell game. Except I’ve got so many shells I’ve forgotten what the pea looks like. I wouldn’t know it if I found it.”
David Bowie about his many stage personas.
“She no more becomes a man (or some very near equivalent to a man) by wearing leather and rocking out than David Bowie became a woman by wearing a dress and mincing around the stage”
About Suzie Quatro and her playing into masculine gender roles and fashion.
Indeed, the soul of […] is built in large part around a strict political dedication. Many […] songs, for instance, reflect aggressive Third World aspirations and/or hostilities. Often using Biblical allegories in the lyrics, much of the music speaks
out against racial, economic, political injustices in both Jamaica
and elsewhere.”
About the political nature of Reggae music.
“We took the rock sound into a psychotic world and narrowed it down into a straight line of energy. In an era of progressive rock, with its complexities and counterpoints, we had a perspective of non-musicality and intelligence that took over from musicianship.”
Drummer from The Ramones discussing their musical style, which was meant to relfect the attitude of punk and the move away from pseudointelligent, virtuosic rock
“I had bought my first guitar just prior to starting […]. It was all very new; we put records on, but we couldn’t figure out how to play the songs, so we decided to start writing songs that were within our capabilities”
The guitarist of The Ramones discussing their musical style, which was meant to reflect the attitude of punk and the move away from pseudointelligent, virtuosic rock.
“By the summer of 1977, punk had become a parody of itself. Many of the movement’s original participants felt that something open-ended and full of possibilities had degenerated into a commercial formula. Worse, it had proved a rejuvenating shot in the arm to the established record industry that punks had hoped to overthrow.
About post-punk, which emerged in response to what was seen as the commercialization of punk.
Through a scrupulous compilation of kitsch, […] reconstruct the sounds and attitudes of post-Sputnik, pre-Vietnam pop America within a New Wave context.”
About the B-52s and their postmodern take on post-punk.
Did not so much create a new style as it successfully synthesized aspects of existing ones”
About Michael Jackson’s success with the thriller album.
“Contemporary feminism cut itself off from history and bankrupted itself when it spun its puerile, paranoid fantasy of male oppressors and female sex-object victims. Woman is the dominant sex. Woman’s sexual glamour has bewitched and destroyed men since Delilah and Helen of Troy. […], role model to millions of girls worldwide, has cured the ills of feminism by reasserting woman’s command of the sexual realm.”
Criticism against Madonna for supposedly being un-feminist in how she portrayed herself.
“I may be dressing like the typical bimbo, but I’m in charge. You know, I’m in charge of my fantasies. I put myself in these situations with men, you know, and everybody knows, in terms of my image in the public, people don’t think of me as a person who’s not in charge of my career or my life, okay? And isn’t what feminism is all about, you know, equality for men and women? And aren’t I in charge of my life, doing the things I want to do? Making my own decisions?”
Madonna’s response to the criticism against her for being unfeminist.
“To be authentic and sound authentic is in the rock context the same thing. Music can not be true or false, it can only refer to conventions of truth and falsity”
About Bruce Springsteen and whether he is authentic, as this was subject to debate.
“He stands for the core values of rock and roll even as those values become harder and harder to sustain”
Bruce Springsteen and authenticity
“the most successful pop commodity… stands for the principle that music should not be a commodity… It is his very disdain for success that makes him so successful”
Bruce springsteen and authenticity
“You get narrow-minded critics reviewing the shows, and all they
think about […] is that it is just total ear-splitting, blood-curdling noise without any definition or point… This is a very, very professional style of music. It means a great deal to many millions of people. We treat heavy metal music with respect.”
The singer of Judas Priest about Heavy Metal and how it was frequently assumed to be just noise but was actually a craft.
“This might sound like a bizarre statement… but I don’t think playing heavy metal is that far removed from classical music. To
do either, you have to spend many years developing your style
and your art, whether you’re a violinist or a guitarist, it still takes
the same belief in your form of music to achieve and create. It is
very much a matter of dedication.”
The singer of Judas Priest about Heavy Metal and how it was frequently assumed to be just noise when it was actually a craft.
“stripped away the gothic excess of the former and expanded the short-form song structures of the latter to produce five- to eight-minute mini-epics of ear-shattering volume and mind- boggling speed”
About Metallica and their style of heavy metal, which combined the new wave of British metal with the Californian hardcore scene.
