Friday, 9 May 2014

Pop Music in the 80's

For this post I picked one of the genres of 80's - Pop. I am not a fan of this type of music, because this days there is not much of good pop music. This style music in 80's was so popular and artist were amazingly talented. Even now you can hear old song on the radio in your car like: Michael Jackson, Madonna or Whitney Houston.

I picked Madonna, because she is the inspiration for old young ladies. In her late 50's she looks gorgeous and she probably would not leave the stage until her 90's Birthday! 
Madonna Louise Ciccone was born 16 August,1958. She is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. One of the most prominent cultural idols for over three decades, she has achieved an unprecedented level of power and control for a woman in the entertainment industry. She attained immense popularity by pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV. Many music critics have praised her because they know she works and create without any break. I personally would say, that she is the Queen of Pop Music.Throughout her long career, she has written and produced most of her songs and this songs everyone know by heart, including "Like a virgin", "Into the Groove", "Papa Don''t Preach", "Like a Prayer", "Vogue", "Frozen", "Music", "Hung Up", and "4 Minutes".
At the bottom you will see her song "Like a Virgin",

Madonna made a hard way to deserve what she has now and that is why people love her! Madonna's music has been the subject of much analysis and scrutiny. Robert M. Grant, author of Contemporary Strategy Analysis, commented that what has brought Madonna success is "certainly not outstanding natural talent. As a vocalist, musician, dancer, songwriter, or actress, Madonna's talents seem modest." Madonna's approach was far from the music industry wisdom of "Find a winning formula and stick to it." Her musical career has been a continuous experimentation with new musical ideas and new images and a constant quest for new heights of fame and acclaim. I don't know much about Madonna's career, so that is why I had to use Internet resourse to find this interesting information.
Madonna's early songwriting skill was developed during her time with the Breakfast Club in 1979. According to author Carol Gnojewski, her first attempts at songwriting are perceived as an important self-revelation, as Madonna said: "I don't know where the songs came from. It was like magic. I'd write a song every day. I said 'Wow, I was meant to do this'." Mark Kamins was her first producer. He believed that Madonna is "a much underrated musician and lyricist." Rolling Stone has named her "an exemplary songwriter with a gift for hooks and indelible lyrics." Madonna's songwriting are often autobiographical over the years, dealing with various themes from love and relationships to self-respect and female empowerment. Madonna sings in mezzo-sopranovocal range and she has always been self-conscious about her voice. Madonna used a bright, girlish vocal timbre in her early albums which became passé in her later works. The change was deliberate since she was constantly reminded of how the critics had once labelled her as "Minnie Mouse on helium". 

Cultural moment of the 60's

This post I would like to dedicate to one of the cultural moment in 60's - Second-wave feminism.

Second-wave feminism is a period of feminist activity that first began in the early 1960's in the United States, and eventually spread throughout the Western world. In the United States the movement lasted through the early 1980s. The second wave of feminism in North America came as a late reaction against the new domesticity of women after World War II: the late 1940's post-war boom, which was the time characterized by an unexampled economic growth, then a baby boom and the ideal of companionate marriages.  I found one video on YouTube, which is breathly explaining what was this movement about: 
At this time, women really wanted to be in in depended, free and work where they like. They didn't want to stay at home and take care of everything there. Some women, like Janis Joplin, made female part be very jealous, because some of them wanted to sing or become an actress. 

Janis Joplin was born in January 1943 in Port Arthur, Texas, U.S.She was an American singer-writer who first rose to fame in the late 1960s as the lead singer of the psicodelic-acid rock band Big Brother and later as a solo artist with her own backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band. She was one of the more popular acts at the  Monterey Pop Festival. Joplin charted five singles and this one of the single: 

Friday, 17 January 2014

1950's Music

Hi everybody!

I have decided to make a post about one of music styles, which has been first discovered in 1950's and the name of this genre of music is Blues.
I've never payed attention on this genre of music, but I did some research and I picket two songs I liked. The first one is Muddy Waters and his song "Got My Mojo Workin'"and the second song I liked is "Rockin' The Blues" by Wynonie Harris.

I've never payed attantion on this genre of music, but I did some research and I picket two songs I liked. The first one is Muddy Waters and his song "Got My Mojo Workin'"and the second song I liked is "Rockin' The Blues" by Wynonie Harris.

The blues genre is based on the blues form, but include some other characteristics such as bass lines, instruments and lyrics. The Internet research says: "The blues takes many forms... It is variously a feeling, a mood, a nameless threat, a person, a lover, a boss man, a mob, and, of course, the Devil himself. It is often experienced as both cause and effect, action and reaction, and it can be used as both hex and counterhex, poison and antidote, pain and relief. Most importantly, the blues is both the cause of song, and song itself..." 
So...Blues was born in XIX century in Delta (that's where the style "Delta blues" coming from). Blues isn't a romantic genre of music, as many people would think. It is a kind of sad style of songs, because if you listen to lyrics in first songs, you would here a lot of complains to life and loneliness. Actually something about blues poetics, so you don't have the impression that the blues - some art spoiled, vicious and narrow-minded people, it should be noted is that people, whatever their life did't always hope. They are always waiting for love, suffer without it. Their destiny - loneliness and search for other people, another heart. Blues about it. 
Like jazz, rock and roll, heavy metal, hip-hop, reggae, country and pop music, blues has been accused that this genre is a "devil music".

The most common instruments in blues are guitar and harmonica, as well as saxophone and trumpet. Muddy Waters used piano, guitars, harmonica, contrabass and vocals. Wynonie Harris to make his song "Rockin' The Blues" used vocals, contrabass, piano, saxophone and clapping people :)

Friday, 10 January 2014

First post! :)

Hi, my name is Sonya and this is my blog on Music History.



This song calls "Me or You" by Russian raper Basta and Tati. At the moment this is one of my favourite song.
 The genre of this song is rap mixed with female vocals