|
Posted on 01.27.08 by hardrockchick @ 7:57 pm
I was thinking the other day about music festivals, and how they don’t really appeal to me anymore. I thought about the festivals of the past, and how they sounded so much cooler than what we have going on now. I’m currently reading Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto July 1965: Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI This yearly festival was headlined in 1965 by folk icon Bob Dylan, who was famously booed by the crowds for going electric for his set. It was his first ever electric performance, and it is suspected that the crowd felt that he was abandoning his roots. He was, however, planting roots for many to come after him. This happened at a point in time where rock ‘n’ roll was still regarded as fringe, and folk music was safe…and blurring those lines helped advance rock music. July 1967, Monterey International Pop Music Festival, Monterey, CA, 200,000 people. $6.50 for seats and $1.00 for field entry. As the first real rock festival, Monterey is often outshined by Woodstock. The Monterey Festival marked not only the beginning of the hippie movement, and with it, the spread of LSD, but it was also the introduction of the generation’s most important musicians: Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. It was also The Who’s first American performance. The festival is considered to be the tentpole for the Summer of Love, the pinnacle of the hippie movement whose epicenter was Haight Ashbury. The performances by several world artists marked the infusion of Eastern culture into Western culture that occurred during the hippie movement. This was spearheaded by Brian Jones, who introduced Hendrix to the stage, but neither he nor The Stones played the festival. Bookmark to:
         Filed under: Rock History Comments: None |
, and he made a statement about how nowadays, counterculture is the mainstream. Perhaps this is why music festivals in the ’60s and ’70s…even the ’80s…seemed much more appealing to me. They were statements of counterculture, showing the mainstream culture their size and scope by congregating all in one festival. Now, festivals are attended by the mainstream, as it’s become a more accepted form of entertainment. Beyond this assumption, it’s possible to tell a story when you look at these now legendary festivals; you can follow the evolution of culture. Or, devolution, depending on how you look at it.|
Posted on 09.16.07 by hardrockchick @ 10:00 pm
She’s Lost Control Blitzkrieg Bop Vesti la Giubba Bookmark to:
Filed under: Rock History Comments: None |
|
Posted on 07.07.07 by hardrockchick @ 9:11 am
The CD longbox is a piece of almost forgotten music nostalgia. When I got my first CD player, A 6 disc cartridge Pioneer, my first trip to Blockbuster Music for CDs introduced me to these longboxes. CDs were packaged like this so that stores could utilize the bins that had held 45s. While the weren’t environmentally friendly, it was another layer of artwork for the music experience. I would tear off the front and hang them on my walls, eventually creating a wall full of them. An eBay search reveals that many of these are very valuable nowadays. I guess I should have saved mine…
Bookmark to:
Filed under: Rock History Comments: None |
|
Posted on 06.26.07 by hardrockchick @ 9:01 pm
In 1984, to compete with MTV, Disney created a series of cartoon videos to popular songs. I absolutely loved them. At the same time, it freaks me out the Disney’s crazy way of dealing with MTV introduced me to such great songs as ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’ and ‘We Are Family’. These were quite possibly the original mash up video. The intro might jar your memory: And here are some examples, though not of the ones I remember. Boy, Lady and the Tramp was a bit scandalous… Bookmark to:
Filed under: Rock History Comments: None |
|
Posted on 05.31.07 by hardrockchick @ 2:31 pm
We are at war. And that means that the USO goes into full swing to entertain our troops. While I always read about famous USO tours during WWII and Vietnam, it seems to be pretty low key nowadays. So, HRC did a little digging…and didn’t come up with much. 2006 entertainers to Iraq included: Oh, there’s plenty going on in other places…like Italy and Germany, Texas, Hawaii, and even Africa. Perhaps Iraq is too dangerous for the USO, and some acts refuse to participate because they don’t want to support the war. Here’s a vid from recent Iraq USO event. Chuck Norris was there! Bookmark to:
Filed under: Rock History Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.11.07 by admin @ 8:16 am
Having just turned 27 last Friday, I decided that it would be fitting to write about the infamous 27 club. The 27 club is not something that anyone wants to be a part of. Its members include some of the best musicians to ever grace our ears, who tragically died at age 27, while they were wildly popular. What is it about 27? It’s that time when 30 really starts to loom, where youthfulness gives way to adulthood. It’s when the experimentation ends and addiction begins. It’s enough time to get famous and get really uncomfortable with it. So let’s light some candles and make a playlist for these artists whose lives were cut short. Think of all of the great tunes they could have created. Jimi Hendrix: 1970, asphyxiation on vomit after an sleeping pill overdose. He lit his guitar on fire. And he played left-handed. Not only did he write some great music, but he made Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower and the Star Spangled Banner his own. A biopic on his life has been in the works for years, rumored to star Andre Benjamin of Outkast, but apparently they can’t get the rights to the music. Janis Joplin: 1970, heroin overdose. Janis, from Port Arthur, Texas. So much emotion in that music. With trademark Southern Comfort in hand, I see her barefoot in that dress stomping around not so ladylike, pouring her soul into the microphone. Take Another Little Piece of My Heart. Mercedes Benz. Brilliant. Jim Morrison: 1971, heart failure, drug related. Jim Morrison oozed sexuality in the way that only a beat poet rock star could. Intelligent, philosophical, drug-addled prose set to minimalist, almost elevator music was the signature combination that was The Doors. I’ve been to his grave in Paris, and left him a little gift. Hopefully he’s trekking around the desert with the Indian, knowing the meaning of life on an eternal peyote trip. Kurt Cobain: 1994, “self inflicted” gunshot after a heroin overdose. This one is personal. I credit Nirvana with being one of the bands that really changed me. When Kurt died, I fasted for 3 days. I was too young to ever get to see them live, and it kills me to this day. I go and see the Foo Fighters and just imagine what it might have been like. For me, listening to Nirvana had that great effect on me- I feel depressed, I pop in a Nirvana tape (yeah, I said tape), and immediately feel in the company of kindred spirits, and feel better. I won’t even try to touch on the controversial death of Kurt, just go and watch Kurt and Courtney yourself. It’s interesting to note that several musicians missed the 27 club by a month in either direction: So, watch out rockers who are 27 (Aaron North, Conor Oberst, and Pete Wentz). Take it easy with the vices, stay away from airplanes, and hire a driver. We want you to stick around and make more beautiful music. Bookmark to:
Filed under: Rock History Comments: None |
