A warm welcome to the 4 new attendees who joined 8 of us in a full meeting Tuesday 9 June.
We used Spotify to play most of the music.
Our meeting organiser gave us an introduction to the genres of music covered by our range of teen years, starting with pop (“popular”) music, which came after the era when entertainment was provided in the home by piano and singing, and then later jazz.
50s and 60s was rock ’n’ roll (derived from jazz ’n’ blues) – something about dominant 7th chords! (e.g. Beatles, Animals, Kinks, Led Zeppelin)
60s portable radios came in – and particular style of drumming.
70s and 80s introduced funk, disco and stadium rock (e.g. Earth, Wind & Fire, James Brown), pop rock (e.g. Elton John and Queen) and glam rock.
90s-200s brought hip-hop.
60s top 50 groups list is topped with Beatles, Elvis, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Cliff Richard, Ray Charles, Herb Alpert…….
Then we talked about one or 2 choices each , shared what they meant to us and played snippets of them.
- “Heard it on the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye 1967 – Motown
“You’ve lost that Loving Feeling” by the Righteous Brothers”1964 – Wall of Sound.
Marvin Gaye was killed by his father at age 44, when defending his mother.
2. “Concrete and Clay” by Unit 4 + 2 1965 – Latin American. (Aided O-Level revision)
The group’s name name derives from the 4th segment of Pick of the Pops on the radio when the Top 10 was played. The video was filmed on the building site of the Barbican.
“San Francisco (be sure to wear flowers in your hair)” by Scott McKenzie 1967 – Flower Power. This was the unofficial album of counterculture movement of 60s including Hippie, Anti-Vietnam War, Flower Power. It was written in 20 minutes by John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas. It was the defining song of the 1967 Summer of Love, alongside the Beatles’ “All you need is Love”. It was written to try and smooth things over when Monterey Pop Festival seemed to threaten San Francisco – it was responsible for a mass influx to San Francisco!
(Backing track to a first summer romance!)
3. 50s skiffle was the start of teenagers making music with stuff they had to hand, e.g. washboards. Solo artists became groups. Artists started writing their own songs.
“Cumberland Gap’ by Lonnie Donegan – (a first crush!). Music to dance jive to. Double bass.
“That’ll be the Day” by Buddy Holly – bass guitar
When the Beatles came along they couldn’t figure out how the Crickets got the heavy drum beat; when they did realise it was down/down/down strokes rather than the usual down/up/down they used it themselves.
4. George Moustaki, successful song writer in 60s and 70s. Egytian-French singer who wrote songs for Edith Piaf and had a relationship with her that was not entirely professional!
French artists were solo artists, told stories and used poetry.
5. “Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel
“River Deep, Mountain High” by (Ike and) Tina Turner, written by Phil Spector
6. “Tin Soldier” by the Small Faces – with an amusing story of missing their concert and learning a lot about men on a first date when Liverpool football was on the telly….
The Beatles – named similarly out of admiration for Buddy Holly’s Crickets. So many accolades, best-selling music act of all time. They introduced the concept album (not just a collection of songs). They started in mono, later stereo. In 1964 they stopped performing live because they couldn’t hear themselves for the screaming – no earpieces in those days. They made the earliest music video.
7. “Ruby, don’t take your love to town’ by Kenny Rogers 1968 – Country & Western. This refers to the Korean War (not Vietnam). Was playing in 70s uni coffee bar all the time.
8. “Everybody wants to rule the World” by Tears for Fears 1985 – New Wave and synth-pop. (Backdrop as an angst-ridden teenager – nuclear annihilation? Reminds off Chernobyl, end of USSR, Berlin Wall.)
“Material Girl” by Madonna 1985 – Synth arrangement with strong backbeat. Provocative and ironic. (Brings back memories of shopping in all our old familiar, long-gone high-street shops.)
9. “Such a Night” by Elvis Presley
10. “Thriller” by Michael Jackson
11. “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles – an unanswered A-level question – “Who are all the Lonely People?”
12. “Build me up Buttercup” by the Foundations
Well, that was a full evening and a very enjoyable one.