20th Century American Music

Go to this address and you'll find "The 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century" --> http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/vote/list100.html#F. I listened to a couple and here are my responses to them:

“Ain’t That a Shame” by Fats Domino

The historic interplay between white popular music and the more soulful jazz and blues music of African Americans is interesting to behold. From past knowledge, I already knew that copyright issues were a huge problem when African Americans came up with songs that had promising futures but were then thefted by white recording labels and then became popular with audiences giving merit to the copyrighters. These problems were re-established in the commentary that I listened to, but I was amazed to find that Fats overcame the deterring copyright hurdle with his song “Ain’t That a Shame!” A white Pop singer remade this song but Fats’ version and voice overshadowed it. Why? Listening audiences must have realized that there are irreplaceable qualities that Fats possessed in his version that were more appealing. His French Creole accent gives him an almost indiscernible edge that cannot be easily copied. I had heard this song before, but never realized that there indeed is a slight accent in his voice.

Though it was his originalities that sustained him, Fats did make slight efforts to conform to popular music standards that would appeal to audiences other than his own culture. The commentary said that for “Ain’t That a Shame” Fats sped it up to make him seem more youthful and less bluesy and also to make it harder to copy. This was the first song that Fats recorded in Hollywood instead of New Orleans—a move that led to large success. African American musicians needed white American companies to spread and publish their musical efforts just as much as the white music community needed the soulful music of African American singers to enliven and further their own musical styles; though there were clashes at times, they worked nicely hand-in-hand. Fats was a great example of this in that he pandered in ways to what white audiences would like to hear and he (along with other New Orleans blues musicians) helped found the basis of Rock ‘n roll and other genres in white society.

“Good Vibrations” by Brian Wilson

Much to my amazement, the way that “Good Vibrations” was talked about made it sound like it was such a groundbreaking, different, revolutionary song that my formed thoughts of it being a perfect example of a classic oldies song was smashed. Growing up, I remember well the uncomfortable staging of dad in the driver’s seat, me in the passenger’s, as he would look and point at me while singing high harmonies to his oldies on the radio—he sang as if I were the one the song was written for and he the one who wrote it. I, being his daughter, blushed several times when love songs would come on. “Good Vibrations” was among this repertoire. My four older brothers took turns in having a Beach Boys phase and now my younger brother has revitalized the fad: his favorite album being the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. Without the context of time, it is easy to look at a piece of artistic creativity and think it unrevelutionary. Knowing the preceding history and are eye-opening and help me to appreciate why it as such a good piece of work apart from it being merely a good song or painting. Originality, though it may be the only merit of a work, deserves applause.

I thought “Good Vibrations” was a classic song that was very traditional in its time, but hearing the explanation of what went behind the scenes and how it came to be, I now appreciate this song in a new way. Wilson got sounds from three different studios and then pieced together slices from different recordings and versions. Wilson had these studios use different instruments in their recordings that were not normally played together: cello, harmonica, keys, organ, and other more common instruments. The slices are really interesting to note and are something that I’ll be listening for to make the traditional sing-a-long in the car more appreciated experience.