The melodic-harmonic ‘divorce’ in rock

Popular Music ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID TEMPERLEY
Keyword(s):  
Rock Music ◽  
Harmonic Structure ◽  
The Past ◽  
Common Situation

AbstractSeveral authors have observed that rock music sometimes features a kind of independence or ‘divorce’ between melody and harmony. In this article, I examine this phenomenon more systematically than has been done in the past. A good indicator of melodic-harmonic divorce is cases where non-chord-tones in the melody do not resolve by step. I argue that this does occur frequently in rock – often with respect to the local harmony, and sometimes with respect to the underlying tonic harmony as well. This melodic-harmonic ‘divorce’ tends to occur in rather specific circumstances: usually in pentatonically based melodies, and in verses rather than choruses. Such situations could be said to reflect a ‘stratified’ pitch organisation. A particularly common situation is where the verse of a song features stratified organisation, followed by a chorus which shifts to a ‘unified’ organisation in which both melody and accompaniment are regulated by the harmonic structure.

scholarly journals Rock critics as 'Mouldy Modernists'

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Becky Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Rock Music ◽  
The Past ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

Contemporary rock criticism appears to be firmly tied to the past. The specialist music press valorise rock music of the 1960s and 1970s, and new emerging artists are championed for their ‘retro’ sounding music by journalists who compare the sound of these new artists with those included in the established ‘canon’ of rock music. This article examines the narrative tropes of authenticity and nostalgia that frame the retrospective focus of this contemporary rock writing, and most significantly, the maintenance of the rock canon within contemporary popular culture. The article concludes by suggesting that while contemporary rock criticism is predominately characterised by nostalgia, this nostalgia is not simply a passive romanticism of the past. Rather, this nostalgia fuels a process of active recontextualisation within contemporary popular culture.

‘Living in the Past’?: value discourses in progressive rock fanzines

Popular Music ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRIS ATTON
Keyword(s):  
Rock Music ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Symphonic Poem ◽  
Passion Play ◽  
The Past ◽  
Progressive Rock ◽  
Classical Models ◽  
Rock N Roll ◽  
The Uk

At the height of its success in the first half of the 1970s, progressive rock was perhaps a surprisingly popular genre; surprising since its exponents strove to fuse classical models of composition and arrangement with electric instruments and extend the form of rock music from the single song to the symphonic poem, even the multimovement suite. Album and concert sales were extremely high; even albums that were greeted with less than critical approval (itself a rare occurrence) such as Jethro Tull's A Passion Play and Yes's Tales from Topographic Oceans (both 1973) sold well (the latter reached number one in the UK Top 10 album charts upon its release). Today, the dominant critical characterisation of progressive rock is of overblown, pretentious musicians in ridiculous garb surrounded by banks of keyboards playing bombastic, overlong compositions in time signatures that you couldn't dance to: a music as far removed from ‘real’ rock ‘n’ roll as could be imagined; a music that failed both as rock music but also as classical music. (All these negative characteristics are to be found, for instance, in David Thomas's (1998) coverage of Yes's latest UK tour.) This characterisation is only partly unfair. It arose in the wake of punk, which sought to sweep away what its proponents saw as the empty virtuosity of rock dinosaurs. Punk sought to reclaim rock music for `ordinary' people to be played in intimate venues - not stadia - by people who didn't need to be conservatoire trained.

scholarly journals The dictator – A specific figure of modern Latin American novels

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. First
Author(s):  
Le Ngoc Phuong
Keyword(s):  
American Literature ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Latin American Literature ◽  
Latin American Politics ◽  
Military Dictatorship ◽  
The Past ◽  
American Novels ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Colonization Time ◽  
Common Situation

heroic pages of her own. Latin America is an area encompassing countries historically ruled by the Spanish and the Portuguese under their colonization time throughout the centuries.After hard struggles to gain independence, the region continued to face many new challenges and difficulties in which violence and military dictatorship were the most common situation dominating Latin American politics in the 19th and 20th centuries. Since then, the topic of dictatorship has been written in novels in that region. Márquez has stated in an interview that, the fact that brutality ran from one end of the continent to the other made the history shaped by brutality. Writing about this topic, modern Latin American writers have "entered" the deepest into the reality of their continent, wherever they are, no matter what narrative method they use. This helps modern Latin American literature express its own literary themes, not being mixed with other literatures. In Vietnam, over the past 50 years, a lot of Latin American novels have been translated and well received by Vietnamese academic and popular readers. Such authors as A. Asturias, L. Borges, Carpentier of the Latin American Vanguardia, Márquez, Llosa of the Latin American Boom have become familiar names to Vietnamese readers. Understanding the image of the dictator – an important image of the tradition and identity of Latin American literature will give a better understanding about this literature.

scholarly journals Some reflections on the past, present and future of space rock music

2021 ◽  
pp. 63-83
Author(s):  
Oleg Vladimirovich Synieokyi
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Rock Music ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Special Contribution ◽  
Empirical Basis ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Communication Lines ◽  
Private Collections

The topic of space music requires a new scientific perspective. The goal of this article lies in examination of the historical and social peculiarities of the origin and development of space rock. The article presents futuristic interpretation of musicality of the celestial Universe. The article provides information about selected performers of this direction. Contextually, the article encompasses the stories of JULIAN'S TREATMENT and HAWKWIND. In reconstruction of the chronology for new interpretation, the author avoids repetitions and long descriptions of commonly known facts; aligns the key episodes of narration with the communication lines through the prism of social history; as well as gives assessment to the current situation and forecasts for the future. The recordings of space rock music stored in the audio archives, private collections, museums of music, and other sound libraries comprise the empirical basis for this publication. This article is first to offer periodization of the development of space music. The author’s special contribution of consists in clarification of the chronology of a range of recordings, as well as in familiarization of the audience with other aspects that are combined into a single concept. The provided material is intended for scholars in culture studies, musicologists, historians, archivists, as well as everyone interested in rock music.

scholarly journals Like a Prophet - On Christian Interpretations of a Madonna Video

1996 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 151-174
Author(s):  
Andreas Häger
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Rock Music ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Positive Message ◽  
History Of ◽  
Christian Discourse ◽  
A Current

Throughout the history of Christianity, its relationship to art has been a complicated one, concerning the use of art in worship as well as the views on "secular" art. This article deals with a current example of the latter. More specifically, the article examines some examples of Christian views on popular music. The best-known reactions to pop and rock music' by Christians are likely to be negative ones, probably because these are usually the most loudly declared. But there is also another aspect to the Christian discourse on popular music. Some Christians try to emphasise what is perceived as a positive message in "secular" rock music. This part of the debate is the main concern in this paper.The examples used deal with one of the most controversial pop artists, Madonna, and one of her most discussed works, the video `Like a Prayer'. Madonna Louise Ciccone, born 1958, has been one of the most successful, most imitated and certainly most talked about popular artists of the past decade. She has — at least to a certain degree quite consciously — stirred up controversy with several of her videos. Raised a Catholic, her use of religious themes and images is one aspect that has caught special attention.

scholarly journals Distortion and Rock Guitar Harmony

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Peter Herbst
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Information Retrieval ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Rock Music ◽  
Music Information Retrieval ◽  
Harmonic Structure ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Electric Guitar ◽  
Listening Test ◽  
Music Information

Research on rock harmony accords with common practice in guitar playing in that power chords (fifth interval) with an indeterminate chord quality as well as major chords are preferred to more complex chords when played with a distorted tone. This study explored the interrelated effects of distortion and harmonic structure on acoustic features and perceived pleasantness of electric guitar chords. Extracting psychoacoustic parameters from guitar tones with Music Information Retrieval technology revealed that the level of distortion and the complexity of interval relations affects sensorial pleasantness. A listening test demonstrated power and major chords being perceived as significantly more pleasant than minor and altered dominant chords when being played with an overdriven or distorted guitar tone. This result accords with musical practice within rock genres. Rather clean rock styles such as blues or classic rock use major chords frequently, whereas subgenres with more distorted guitars such as heavy metal largely prefer power chords. Considering individual differences, electric guitar players rated overdriven and distorted chords as significantly more pleasant. Results were ambiguous in terms of gender but indicated that women perceive distorted guitar tones as less pleasant than men. Rock music listeners were more tolerant of sensorial unpleasant sounds.

Yaogun Yinyue: rethinking mainland Chinese rock ‘n’ roll

Popular Music ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
HAO HUANG
Keyword(s):  
Rock Music ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Life Choices ◽  
Mainland Chinese ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Past ◽  
Limited Life ◽  
International Discourse ◽  
Rock Musicians ◽  
Rock N Roll

International discourse on Yaogun Yinyue (mainland Chinese rock music) has been coloured by the early identification of Chinese rock ‘n’ roll with the aborted student democracy movement of the late 1980s. This has led to a simplistic valourisation of Western representations of rock rebellion by the global mass media, characterised by a lack of awareness of changing social circumstances within the People's Republic of China over the past decade. Originally, Yaogun Yinyue did indeed share a generational root with student radicals who expressed frustration with the severely limited life choices in a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controlled state. However, in response to the periodic political crackdowns during the post-Tiananmen massacre era, most current mainland rock musicians have consciously avoided rhetoric which might lead to unhealthy repercussions for their careers. ‘Empathetic’ Western rock critics may be disillusioned to learn that recently many Chinese rock musicians not only reject popular reifications of rock ‘n’ roll but also express vehemently anti-foreign sentiments (Barme 1996, p. 202). Historical Sino-Western antagonisms have combined with individual resentments of foreign record companies' exploitative practices to create genuine suspicion about the West as a cultural and economic hegemon. This article offers a social and historical analysis in an attempt to reframe the meanings of Chinese rock as cultural product.

The state of rock: a history of Finland’s cultural policy and music export

Popular Music ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne Mäkelä
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Rock Music ◽  
Music Industry ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Basis ◽  
High Level

AbstractThe Finnish government has historically been active in regulating the practices of popular music. At the same time, the music industry, rock media and musicians have traditionally insisted on markets free from state intervention. This article focuses on the history of the interrelationship between cultural policy and popular music, especially rock exports, in Finland. It argues that the high level of organised forms of culture and the lure of internationalism form the historical basis for the nation-state–popular music relationship in Finland. Following the demands for ‘competitive society’ in the 1990s and the international breakthroughs of Finnish pop and rock music performers after 2000, this relationship has intensified. Contemporary policy is in many ways healthier than in the past, yet it also raises crucial questions about hierarchies and identity relationships in popular music and society.

The fourth audience

Popular Music ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 123-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Hamm
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
Rock Music ◽  
Rock And Roll ◽  
New Wave ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Instrumental Accompaniment

Billy Joel's song ‘It's Still Rock and Roll to Me’, which rose to the top of Billboard magazine's ‘Hot 100’ chart in July of 1980, was intended as entertainment, not criticism. But it makes a more accurate statement about the present state of rock music in the USA than have the writings of certain journalists and critics over the past decade. Against a stripped-down instrumental accompaniment, parodying the ‘minimalism’ of much new wave music, Joel sings,Everybody's talking about the new sound; funny, But it's still rock and roll to me.

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