They Are Rock Stars After All...

What is it about rock stars, film stars, socialites and IT people that give them such a status that they are exempt from any social and cultural persecution? These people have been elevated to such a level that they are above the law. In the case of the typical, rock musician or rock star, taking drugs, abusing women, spending time in jail and having a severe illicit drug dependency seems to add to their success, as fans worship them regardless of their extracurricular activities. Tommy Lee, Anthony Keidis, Scott Weiland, Steven Tyler, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Slash and Paul McCartney are all big names within rock and roll, and have all been involved with a number of criminal offences.

One answer a to why the rebellious, law breaking rock star is accepted into our hearts time and time again after partaking in an act that would have us ringing 000 if we were involved, is the concept that their music, songs and personalities have created an ulterior meaning to the devoted fan, cancelling out any wrong doing in the audiences head.

Richard Dyer comments about this is in the article mapping the rebel image in that “the move star and rock star, as a publicly fictionalized subject whose cultural meanings are embedded in and yet cut across a wide variety of texts (songs films television appearances, magazine stories, album covers, videos and biographies), creating ideological subject positions,” (Dyer, 1992, p. 5).

I am guilty of this too. I worship the afore mentioned names with no regard to their rebellious desires to take drugs and treat women like crap. Even the subject matter of rock music is far from tasteful, yet with the right beat, melody, wrapped up in a big marketing ribbon, I accept and even enjoy the music. The power that these rock personalities have to evade cultural norms is amazing. The culture that rock and roll music evolved from and now breeds is commented on by Leerom Modovoi in a recent study by Martin and Segrave.

“With its black roots, its earthy, sexual or rebellious lyrics, and its exuberant acceptance by youth, rock and roll has long been under attack by the establishment world of adults. No other form of culture, and its artists, has met with such extensive hostility. The music has been damned as a corrupter of morals, and as an instigator of juvenile delinquency and violence. Denounced as a communist plot, perceived as a symbol of Western decadence, it has been fulminated against by the left, the right, the center, the establishment, rock musicians them-selves, doctors, clergy, journalists, politicians, and "good" musicians.... Rock has been blasted for promoting drugs and sex; for destroying hearing; and, by insidiously adding back-ward messages to records, pimping for Satan. And that's just the beginning. (Martin and Segrave 1)
Yet it one of the most popular and enduring music genres.

It is mind boggling that the fans, media and society in general has their guard down when it comes to the rock star, as if that is an excuse for them to behave like a criminal.

Nickelback’s song ‘Rockstar’ pokes fun at this unique relationship between the rock star and their fan. Have a listen…

I'm through with standin in line

To clubs I'll never get in

It's like the bottom of the nineth

And I'm never gonna win

This life just hasn't turned out

Quite the way I want it to be

(tell me what you want)

I want a brand new house

On an episode of cribs

And a bathroom I can play baseball in

And a king size tub

Big enough for ten plus me

(so what ya need)

I need a a credit card thats got no limit

And a big black jet with a bedroom in it

Gonna join the mile high club

At thirty-seven thousand feet

(been there done that)

I want a new tour bus full of old guitars

My own star on Hollywood Boulevard

Somewhere between Cher and James Dean is fine with me

(so how ya gonna do it)

I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame

I'd even cut my hair and change my name

Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars

Livin in top houses

Drivin fifteen cars

The girls come easy

And the drugs come cheap

We'll all stay skinny Cuz we just won't eat

References:
Modovoi L, 1992, ‘Mapping the Rebel Image’, Cultural Critique, no. 20, pp. 153-158, JSTOR.
Accessed via Internet Explorer 1st June, 2009.
URL: http://0-www.jstor.org.library.newcastle.edu.au/stable/pdfplus/1354226.pdf

Nickelback, Rockstar Lyrics. Accessed via Internet Explorer, 1st June, 2009.
URL: http://www.lyrics007.com/Nickelback%20Lyrics/Rockstar%20Lyrics.html

Top driving song of all time (Top Gear)

For many people the TV show Top Gear is not only the greatest TV show on TV at the moment but possibly of all time ( Not that i'm being bias or anything :P)


In one of Top Gears recent TV Season they did a segment on the top driving song of all time and requested that the audience voted on what they thought the best driving song of all time was and after season long effort to find the answer to this question the results were as follows.

1. Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
2. Golden Earring - Radar Love
3. Meat Loaf - Bat out of Hell
4. Steppenwolf - Born to Be Wild
5. Deep Purple - Highway Star
6. Motorhead - Ace of spades
7. Kenny Loggins - Danger Zong
8. Led Zeppeling - Immigrant Song
9. AC/DC - Highway to Hell
10. Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

Some of these songs probably more obvious as driving songs than others. I mean who hasn't heard at least 1 of these songs while driving to and from work/school or university. Personally I was voting for Radar Love to win (damn). Interestingly with this list is that most if not all these songs can be considered to be of the genre rock. Perhaps a study should be done as to a correlation between better driving and rock music :).

Source = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_(2002_TV_series)#Soundtrack

Rock and Roll...You Devil You

Lately I have come across several articles pointing out the ‘evil’ in rock and roll. Most of these seemed to refer to songs in heavy metal as a subgroup of rock. For example, this quote was taken from a church supported website: “Today, at almost any "heavy-metal'' rock concert one can hear the audience being exhorted to rape and murder in the name of Satan” (Phau). The article goes on to back up this statement with the following lyrics from the song “Demons” by Rigor Mortis:

"We come bursting through your bodies
Rape your helpless soul
Transform you into a creature
Merciless and cold
We force you to kill your brother
Eat his blood and brain
Shredding flesh and sucking bone
Till everyone's insane
We are pestilent and contaminate
The world Demonic legions prevail"

This is one of the most extreme examples that I encountered, however it sums up the possible magnitude of evil messages in rock music that todays generations are listening to.

So is it just heavy metal that conveys these types of messages? Not according to my research. I came across this quote from rock star, David Bowie in taken from Rolling Stone magazine:

"Rock has always been THE DEVIL'S MUSIC . . . I believe rock and roll is dangerous . . . I feel we're only heralding SOMETHING EVEN DARKER THAN OURSELVES." (Rolling Stone, Feb. 12, 1976 quoted in Watkins 1995).

So even rock artists themselves, admit to the genre having an evil side to it. Perhaps no one does this more than, Marilyn Manson, who is widely known for his anti-christ views. But we will save this for another discussion.

There is no question that the rock genre seems to bring out the naughty or ‘dark side’ of artists and listeners alike. The genre has produced one of the most well known cliches: “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll.” But does all rock have this underlying evil? I don’t think all rock artists and music is this however we certainly see through listening and watching, that rock has a tendancy to lean toward the ‘dark side’.

So how is this affecting rock music listeners? Well rock is on T.V. in music videos, on radio stations and of course has it’s own fashion sense, so we as consumers would be hard pressed to avoid it. So what do we do? The same thing we do when deciding how to eat...that is, think critically about how it will affect us. If we allow ourselves to eat unhealthy food for long periods of time, gradually we become fat, similarly if we allow ourselves to listen to satanic music and be sent evil messages through it, gradually it may start to affect us.

In the end, the decision is ours. Do we let bad messages rot our brain like candy rots our teeth?

References:

Phau, D. 2000, The Satanic Roots of Rock, Dial-the-Truth Ministries, viewed 1 June 2009, http://www.av1611.org/othpubls/roots.html.

Watkins, T. 1995, Rock Music: Devil’s Advocat, Dial-the-Truth Ministries, viewed 1 June 2009, http://www.av1611.org/rock.html.

The ways of a Rock ‘n’ Roller

When thought of, rock ‘n’ roll produces the idea and is popularly associated with sex and drugs. Many of rock and roll's early stars were known as hard-drinking, hard-living, rebellious people. During the 1960s the complex and crazy, glamorous and envied lifestyles of many stars became publicly known. They were fed by the growth of the underground rock press, which documented the extreme ways of the rockers, often exploiting them in the process. Musicians were famous for attracting the opposite sex attention, and having groupies spend time with the bands, doing sexual favors for the members. It was a common, fast paced lifestyle. Some rock artists and groups seemed to steer clear of this attention, while other artists and groups did little trying to stay away from it, and actually encouraged it. Some sexual escapades became part of the rock music scene during this time of the rock era. As these “ways of the rocker” started to dwindle in this sense, rock lost a lot of this specific connection. Rock groups and artists then became more of sex symbols.

Drug use became popular in the 1960s as well. Recreational drug use by musicians may have influenced the use of drugs and the perception of acceptability of drug use among the youth of the period. When the Beatles, once marketed as clean-cut youths, started publicly acknowledging the use of certain drugs, journalist Al Aronowitz wrote "...whatever the Beatles did was acceptable, especially for young people. Pretty soon everybody was smoking it, and it seemed to be all right.” The connection between rock music and the rejection of conventional, social norms became associated with drug use, including the use of marijuana, leading to the use of harder drugs. This drug use flowed many different ways, and by the end of the 1960s, drugs and rock music were part of a general youth scene.

References:
http://www.rocksbackpages.com/writer/html?WriterID=aronowitz

http://www.scribd.com/doc/124458/Rock-Music

An Unhappy Ending

Sociologists may argue there is a positive correlation between Rock & Roll music and the demise of our younger generation. After watching rock idols abuse drugs and in some cases, choose suicide as a means of solving problems, it’s no wonder why many young fans follow down this same path of destruction.

Society, and parents especially, haven’t always been relaxed on rock lyrics and the shocking statements and actions of rock artists. Such seems to be normal in today’s standards. However, dating back to Elvis Presley’s first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956, adults were so offended by the way he shook his hips that the cameras only showed him from the waist up. Following this was the outrage that many adults felt about the vulgar lifestyle of rock & roll artists such as the Rolling Stones.  And, today, many artists and bands admit to the use of drugs – which is apparent by the large numbers of deaths and suicides resulting from drug abuse.

Given the history and alternative lifestyle of rock and roll artists, do fans and followers repeat the mistakes of their idols? And, are all rock stars doomed for this fate? The following is a short list of people who have lost their life because of drug abuse and suicide.

• ·      Jimi Hendrix – age 27 – asphyxiation on vomit as a result from alcohol and drugs
  
• ·      Keth Moon (The Who) – age 32 – drug overdose
  
• ·      Kurt Cobain – age 27 – suicide
  
• ·      Paul Williams (The Temptations) – age 34 – suicide
  
• ·      Brian Jones (The Rolling Stones) – age 27 – drowning thought to be suicide 

Why is it that many prominent figures that have died from drug overdoses and suicides are rock musicians? Does the lifestyle of a rock & roll artist ultimately take you down this path of destruction? Or is it avoidable?

Unfortunately, this fate is becoming common for rock & roll artists. Many sociologists differ on whether or not the music and the lifestyle is the cause for their unhappy ending. It’s a chicken and egg situation. Is their violent and sadistic behavior a result of the rock industry or are they rock artists because they are innately vulgar and unstable?

It’s something to think about.

Schoolboy Rockers and the Band Aesthetic-A Grassroots Examination

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