So ... if you’ve lived in Australia for more than a year, and you enjoy/ love rock music then there’s probably a good chance that you have heard of the Big Day Out festival before. That is of course unless you have been living in a cave, with your eyes closed and your fingers in your ears.
The Big Day Out is a yearly even that runs on the Australia day long weekend and is probably the biggest festival in Australia if not the biggest rock even in Australia. With a different line up each year and ever growing popularity bands. The event has been running for 17 years and has shows at Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Gold coast, Adelaide and Perth.
With an average ticket price of $138 you really do get bang for your buck with 19 different bands. You are sure to have an awesome, long and eventful day. For ticket go to the main Big Day Out Website at http://www.bigdayout.com/
Ever wonder how we got from Chuck Berry to Elvis Presley? From Little Richard to The Rolling Stones? I've always marveled at how something which emerged in close alignment with Jazz and Blues and whose pioneers were diverse in background, but very noticeably featured a large swathe of African American musicians, could have so quickly become dominated by mostly Caucasian artists and audiences. Isn't Jimmy Hendrix still the greatest Rockstar of all time? Or is he just the greatest guitarist now? I wonder. Perhaps even more importantly, how did we get to Elvis Presley from the likes of popular female artists of the day, which accounted for almost a third of artists in the singles charts prior to the emergence of Rock 'n' Roll.
Nevertheless, somewhere along the line, things must have changed. Because from the early days of Rock's emergence in the cultural mainstream, the Rock format and the aesthetic of the Rock Band has shifted to reflect a very Anglicized and male dominated picture of the culture's form and purpose.
An account of grassroots trends, participation and the production of cultural forms and aesthetics in Rock Music by William T. Bielby (2004) attempts to map these transitions, looking specifically at trends in popular music consumption, gender roles and the like, hoping to give us an insight onto the subject. Whilst previous accounts frame the emergence of the first wave of anglicised male rock bands as an expression of anti-authoritarian pre-adolescent rebellion embraced by young males mimicking the aggressive, sexually charged looks, lyrics and sounds of contemporary black musical styles, this does little to explain the absence of females from Rock n Roll bands, especially considering that the study itself indicated teenage girls held greater savvy in both consumption of popular music/culture and listened to rock music as much as males of their age.
Previous explications of the subject pointed to the greater rebelliousness of boys and the more conformative emphasis on female gender roles in society. However Bielby elucidates upon School Culture and specifically the congruence between organised sport as a status culture and participation in Rock culture as holding the key to unlocking gendered participation and the appeal of rock n roll band to males. Whilst the pursuit of status and popularity with social networks of boys and girls within educational peer groups is a perk offered by both, where these two differ is that whilst school teams are often conformative with school values and hierarchies, Rock n Roll culture and circles of those participating in the culture itself formed as what the author describes as a "deviant subcultural movement" outside of the moral, political and authoritative bounds of their parents and thus their control.
This seeking out of deviant sub-cultures is part of a process of social navigation which the author asserts, allowed boys specifically to gain greater social standing and attain better occupational outcomes in later life, primarily due to their participation in the rock scene which is comparable to "college fraternity life and careers where after-work socializing is an important part of workplace culture." allowing boys to carve these connections out in a still as of yet unfilled and undominated sub-cultural movement. The author attributes the domination of this field by males specifically to the differing social attitudes towards girl's and boys involvement in activities like drinking, dating and partying, which, in association with rock sub-culture, was permissible for boys, but not for girls whom they would tolerate no such deviance from.
References
1. Bielby, W. T. (2004), 'Rock in a Hard Place: Grassroots Cultural Production in the post-Elvis era: 2003 Presidential Address', American Sociological Review, Vol. 69, No. 1, pp. 1-13
We’ve seen the transformation of rock throughout the years – from AC/DC to Nickelback. The difference is clear because we can see how rock stars have evolved and we can hear how their songs have changed. There is no perfect definition of the modern rock star, because they’re all so different in today’s standard.
I’m here to examine one type of the modern rock star specifically: the funny one. Now, you may be asking yourself, ‘how can humor possibly be mixed with rock & roll?’ To be honest, I’m not sure I could be the one to answer that for you. But, let’s take a look at Jack Black and see how he managed to combine the two.
In 1994, Black teamed up with friend Kyle Gass and created the comedy rock band, Tenacious D. They began playing at local comedy clubs and many of their hits were spoofs of 1970s and ‘80s metal bands.
The popularity of this unorthodox rock band grew and before long, they were signed with Epic Records. Comedic rock groups were relatively new at this time and Tenacious D captured many fans with its “bizarre, hilarious songs (that) could only come from a twisted mind like Jack’s” (Mitchell, 2008, p 5).
The success of Tencious D helped Black land several major movie roles, almost all as quirky as his personality. After shining on the big screen, Black returned to Tenacious D in 2006 and released the film, Tencious D in The Pick of Destiny.As part of the movie release, Black and Gass took Tencious D on tour and sang in front of audiences around the country.
Tencious D is still popular among fans and modern rockers. By adding humor, it’s stirred another element into present day rock & roll. Below is one of Tencious D’s songs, ‘Kickapoo.’ Have a listen. The humor elements are pretty obvious, as well as the element of modern rock & roll.
References
Susan K. Mitchell, 2008, “Jack Black”
YouTube, Tenacious D’s ‘Kickapoo’ song, accessed on May 26, 2009.
