Music 101

[wyld-stallyn.livejournal.com]

Hey dudes and girl-type dudes!

Welcome to Music 101. I brought food!

*Ted passes around a few buckets filled with Twinkies, candy, cans of soda, chips and whatever other junk food you can think of. Whoever has these kids for class next are gonna hate him for the sugar high they'll get every week.*


Today we're gonna learn about where rock music came from. Some people think it only showed up in the '50s.. uh, that's Earth's 1950s, but that's most definitely not true. People were playing rock music back in the middle ages! Only they didn't have electricity, so not so many people heard it. They played in forests and caves and stuff where the acoustics were most excellent.

*gets Really Short Dude to switch on the slide show and turn off the lights*

This is a photo from 900 AD in England. As you can see, that dude over there has a very early version of a guitar. And this dude has drums. They couldn't get a keyboard out there, because they're really heavy and too hard to carry without a trailer, but they used a xylophone instead. A xylophone is one of those doink doink things that makes different noises depending which key you hit with a hammer thing. So this is proof of a very early rock band. Is it not excellent?

Rock music has been deemed evil and non-triumphant by lots of governments throughout time. That's why it got ditched until the 1950s, when people realized that it was most rockin' and fun for the whole family, dudes!

This Week's Class Task: So this week we're gonna talk about how you think rock survived in the underground through the ages. You can make stuff up, I don't mind. And maybe one day we'll go on a field trip and find out who was right! So, uh, get into groups and start talking dudes!

Homework: Uh, for next week I want you to grab one of the tapes out of the basket near the door and listen to it. Then for class next week come in with what you thought about it. Any thoughts will do!


[OOC: Your character can either listen to the tape or have problems finding some kind of backwards technology that actually still plays audio cassettes! If you do want to listen, just pick any rock type song from the 1970s or 1980s]

[OOC 2: The group thing is just to make the comments more manageable. Jump into a group and just start talking.]

Comments

Group 1

[wyld-stallyn.livejournal.com]

Comment here to join in on Group 1's discussion

Re: Group 1

[likeguidelines.livejournal.com]

This music be not at all similar a bit like what me and me fellows used to be playin' on board when the wind be gone and the ship be goin' nowhere. Someone even gave me a version of "Whiskey in the Jar" by a group called Metallica that I be thinkin' our instructor would say be "most triumphant."

Re: Group 1

[lauraholt.livejournal.com]

Rock suvived because every generation/era needs a way to rebel. Depending on the time/place/culture, some found it easier to express (because of leinency of the times etc) whilst others were ruled harshly and oppressed. The culture of 20th century changed dramatically against all others; technology, end of slavery in western civilisation and many things that weren't accepted, became common practice. The end of 3 major wars was also a determining factor, and when Vietnam happened, music became darker and angrier (but still fantastic) and more rebellious. If there's a cause to be had, rock is there.

Re: Group 1

[lane-drums.livejournal.com]

Absolutely!

Re: Group 1

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

Rock survived because it had to. Rock and rebellion go hand in hand in most generations. In the US, we are not short on things to rebel on. It's a theme song almost, marching orders, and it's a tangible thing to hold on to during times of oppression, repression, or depression.

Where there is rebellion, there will be rock music. Those musicians will be figureheads, almost for that decade. Whether underground or in the public places.

Re: Group 1

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

Exactly. ::is very confused by Ted's lecture::

Uhhh, Crichton has it right. Figureheads. Rebellion. Marching order-thingies.

Re: Group 1

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

Rock survived being deemed "evil and non-triumphant" by governments because it was deemed "evil and non-triumphant" by governments. There's nothing that'll make some rebellious teen with a chip on their shoulder flock to something faster than an authority decrying it. They feel like they're sticking it to The Man, and being all dangerous and naughty.

Re: Group 1

[alchemy-4-arson.livejournal.com]

Roy takes a soda, two candybars of Rolos (he's become strangely addicted to this world's junk food, these little carmelly things cups in particular), and fishes a cassette out of the basket. The song label reads "Cheeseburger In Paradise".

He sits down with group 1.

"Rock music," he begins, having no actual idea of what rock music is yet, "was obviously born from the discontent of the middle classes and their anger at their totalitarian government, which compelled them to make elaborate compositions by, um, banging rocks together. Clearly a percussion-based genre of music."

Re: Group 1

[alchemy-4-arson.livejournal.com]

"Oh, wait, that's not the question. Okay. Um... rock music survived the discontent of governments through the ages by being so... uh...wonderful to the ear that They (with a capital T) simply couldn't ever erase it totally from people's minds and hearts."