Changes in Music, 1973-1980

Question 1

Disco

Context

Answer 1

Discotheques popular - replaced dance halls
So Northern black music more commericialised, ‘funky’ and featured electronic sounds
Disco boom began 1974, by 1976, around 10,000 discotheques

Question 2

Disco

Examples

Answer 2

Donna Summer - ‘Love to Love You Baby’ number two in the charts in 1976
‘Saturday Night Fever’ - film with John Travolta, made male disco dancing cool, made Bee Gees international stars
Jackson 5 had great success

Question 3

Heavy Metal

Context

Answer 3

Heavily sexualised - ‘cock rock’
Lacked radio play, focused on live shows
No women artists, but men challenged gender roles + occult associations

Question 4

Heavy Metal

Examples

Answer 4

Alice Cooper (band) had 8 gold or platinum albums by 1976, including 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies
Wore spandex, high heeled boots and makeup + showy animal rituals
Performance similar to stage presence of Elvis or Hendrix

Question 5

Punk

Context

Answer 5

Emerged in 1970s, rejected pompous and pretentious elements of rock culture
Believed bands had ‘sold out’ and commericalisation had destroyed American music

Question 6

Punk

Examples

Answer 6

Ramones aimed to shock - used Nazi symbols, played songs such as ‘I Don’t Care’ and ‘Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue’
No wave band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks refused to perform songs longer than 30 seconds to reject commerciality
The Sex Pistols challenged authority - ‘God Save the Queen’, took drugs, over consumption of alcohol

Question 7

Punk

Political Message

Answer 7

Anti-establishment
Similar to anti-Vietnam songs at Woodstock in 1970s
Dead Kennedy’s song ‘Holiday in Cambodia’ criticised middle-class students in Asia for priviledge
Band’s name reflected death of American idealism