post thirty.

Woodstock was the biggest music festival of all time. I thought it would be a lot of fun to attend, because everyone just seemed so chill and calm. They were all there for one reason, and that reason was to make music. (And do drugs). People came together to share one passion and it turned out to be one of the biggest events ever, and I think that's really moving and powerful at the same time.
Some people just see it as a bunch of hippies doing drugs but I think it was more than that, and I wish I could have attended Woodstock so I could be a part of the biggest music experience of all time.

Post twenty-eight.

The Beatles are kind of an ongoing theme in this class. They are consistently brought up and relate to several topics we cover. Which brings me to think: the Beatles were clearly a part of several types of rock if they come up in conversation. They have a bit of metal tones in songs like Helter Skelter, and they have some folk sound in songs like Blackbird, there is some jazz sounds in songs like You Like Me Too Much, and even some country sound in songs like iIve Just Seen A Far and Act Naturally.
They belong to nearly every group of music which is something very admirable about them, they can write and play nearly anything and it will sound good. That's the sign of a perfect band.

post twenty-nine: modern day talent.

When people say that artists aren't as talented these days, I definitely disagree. There are artists out there that are extremely talented, they sing with passion and their voices are beautiful and they're current. When someone uses Ke$ha or Justin Bieber to summarise talent for today, it bothers me, because they're only a small percentage, they're TWO ARTISTS. Look at the artists that actually do have talent, in my opinion, One Direction, they're famous and definitely talented. (Again, watch Little Things. Great video, great song, all acoustic, great voices, meaningful.) Ed Sheeran, Mumford and Sons, etc. Those are just three examples of really famous bands/artists that are fantastic, but no one notices them, they prefer to capitalise on what's bad and not notice what's good.

post twenty-seven: more current music.

I'M SO EXCITED BECAUSE I'M MEETING ED SHEERAN IN JANUARY.
Moving on from that, I'm going to talk about other bands that I'm into like I did in recent posts.
I know not a lot of people in this class like them, but One Direction just came out with their new album called Take Me Home, which is currently the fastest selling record ever. It's a fantastic album, they've really grown as a group. You can hear the maturity in their voices and through their lyrics because they're actually starting to write and not let producers do it for them.
Another thing I can't stop listening to is Keegan's "Change In My Condition". It's pretty pop-y, but again it's a guilty pleasure. Here it is below, take a listen.

Here's another band, they're not current but I love them so much, they're simple and sweet and they're called Herman's Hermits. A song I recommend is Can't You Hear My Heartbeat:

have fun listening, i hope you like them!

post twenty-six:music meaning.

I may have posted about this earlier, but I think musicians need to write with feeling instead of trying to one-up each other, like they did in the late sixties. The Doors tried to one-up Pink Floyd, who tried to beat Hendrix, who tried to beat The Beatles, who tried to one-up The Beach Boys, who also tried to one up The Beatles.
Music seems like it was more of a competition than anything, and while the business is very competitive, I don't think that you can have music without putting some kind of feeling into it. Because when you try to be better than someone else and lose the true meaning of song lyrics, it ends up being less music and more noise.

post twenty-five: across the universe.

Mr. A and I had a debate in class today about the musical Across The Universe, starring Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood. It's about a boy named Jude who moves to America in search of his father, meets his best friend (Max) and a girl (Lucy, who would later be his girlfriend), and the rest of the movie shows their struggles as the Vietnam War escalates. Max is drafted and comes back a completely different person, changed by war. Beatles songs are incorporated into the movie, helping to move the story along, and I think this is a good move. The Beatles were, after all, a band in the sixties, writing music when the Vietnam War took place. Applying their music to a movie not only adds to the plot, but also compares their music and parallels it to the cultural impact of the war.
If you don't think this musical has a plot, it does, and MOST of the covers are pretty good and placed well. It's a trippy movie, but it incorporates sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll into the plot, as well as the war, and that's what we've been learning about the whole time in this class. The sixties were sex, drugs, rock 'n roll, and later on, war. If all of that can be interwoven into the plot of a musical, it's gotta be pretty great.

post twenty-four.

Sometimes the less known songs by well known bands are the best ones. But since the popular ones are busy being hyped up, the other songs that could be just as good aren't given a chance. When someone hears Help!, they think of the song Help!, (obviously) or Ticket to Ride or Yesterday. But my favourite songs from that album aren't given enough credit. I'll post them below, they are gorgeous.

Tell Me What You See, You Like Me Too Much, and I Need you, respectively.
Another example is from the album Beatles for Sale. People will think Eight Days A Week, because that's the song everyone knows, but my favourites, again, aren't too well-known. I like Every Little Thing, I Don't Want To Spoil The Party, and Words of Love (made popular by Buddy Holly but The Beatles version isn't as popular.)

In my opinion, those songs are better than Eight Days A Week. They might be considered "throwaway" songs but I think they're better than that.
Last example is from With The Beatles; while everyone thinks of It Won't Be Long or All My Loving, my favourite songs, if I had to pick three, would be All I've Got To Do, Not A Second Time, and You Really Got A Hold On Me.

People should give every song a listen, in my opinion, and not just focus on the big ones.