God Save The Village Green

Only a few days ago it was 44 years since The Kinks published in 1968 The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. The album, believe it or not, was not a succesful record as it did not even get to appear in the UK charts and only sold around 100,000 copies. However, there is a time and a place for everything and the audience consider now this album one of the best (if not the best) the band has ever made and have tried to “understand” its commercial failure stating that the record was out of its time.

Music and its prejudices

There are a lot of different ideas that pop out in our heads when we hear the word music. Its definition in the encyclopedia appears as follows:  music, as any artistic expression, is a cultural product. The purpose of this art is to arouse an esthetic experience in the listener and to express feelings, thoughts or ideas. If we pay attention to this definition, music will have a different impact depending on the listener.

Moreover, it does not mean that there is a right or wrong way to listen to music but that each person grasps its meaning in a disparate way. However, since the beginnings of the existence of this art, music has also served to separate people depending of the type of music they would listen to or play. For example, certain music styles are closely related to a specific culture or social status and that is something that has not changed much, especially if we take into account the variety that we can find in music nowadays.

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

-Aldous Huxley

On the other hand, in this globalized world we live in, it seems like music has sort of lost its fundamental meaning and that it has become another way of controlling the mass. Furthermore, media drives us to consume mainstream music and if you listen to something unlike, sometimes you become an easy target to be criticized.

Spain for example,  is a country clearly dominated by the media. The television is the predominant mean of communication and it incite us to buy staff we do not really need, it designs a way of live we should follow and it sells us the type of music we have to listen to inside a reduced fringe (the commercial music). In the case of the music there are certain styles that are completely left out of the commercial pattern.

In addition, in the society we live in there are a lot of preconceived ideas associated with specific artists and genres. We are naturally prejudiced against styles of music that we don’t like and are comforted by those that we do.  But, we should try to open up our minds and try to understand that music is a way of expression. If we pay attention to the lyrics of the mainstream music, they talk about love, partying or even sex. There are other types of music like Heavy Metal, Metal or Punk that besides talking about love they talk about wars, gender violence, human rights, religion… and they have a more critic view about our society.

All those topics make us think and ask ourselves a lot of question about the life we are living. Maybe that is the reason way the media is not interested on supporting such music styles because they do not want to introduce those ideas on people minds. In addition, they try to “tag” this music as something evil and reckless and also the people that listen to it.

As I have mentioned before, music is a way of expression, it is define as art no matter the style or the lyrics. I may feel more identified with a certain style of music but that does not define me as a person and certainly anybody has the right to judge or be judged just because of that.

REFERENCES:

• Wikipedia. Historia de la musica. [online] Available at: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historia_de_la_m%C3%BAsica
• Trans, 2006. Cultura y Musica. [online] Available at: http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/a160/cultura-y-musica

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain is probably one of the most charismatic singers ever. His alienation and sorrow turned his songs into anthems of the apathetic society he lived in; and those anthems made him an icon that is still remembered. In the ephemeral world of fame, few artists reach the glory, and Kurt Cobain and his band Nirvana achieved it after having released only three studio albums. What makes Kurt Cobain a timeless icon that still attracts thousands of people?

Kurt Donald Cobain was born in Aberdeen, Seattle, in 1967. Aberdeen was a small town in the state of Washington, a boring and grey town where children grew up with no dreams or big hopes. Kurt had a happy childhood, at least until his parents decided to divorce. When Kurt saw how the safety of a solid family faded away, he felt lost and guilty. That was the beginning of his road to the icon he would become later. After his parents ‘divorce Cobain started to seek safety in other things like religion (Christianity,   Jainism or Buddhism), painting (especially human anatomy) or bullied classmates (he became close friends with a gay classmate, which would lead her classmates to think Kurt himself was gay). But his true passion was music.

After some unsuccessful tries in bands –like Fecal Matter- he formed Nirvana (which means “freedom from pain, suffering and the external world”) with bassist and classmate Kris Novoselic. Many drummers would come and go, until 1990 when Dave Grohl joined the band.  They eventually managed to sign a contract with SubPop, and release their first studio album Bleach in 1989. SubPop was a very influential record label in Seattle, responsible of the fame of the “grunge” movement in the area. Kurt was never happy with the result, as he felt songs were weak and rushed and the record was constantly changed to fit the record label´s tastes. Still, album managed to receive positive reviews from music critics and sell 1,700,000 copies only in the US.

Disappointed about their own job, they decided to look for a bigger company and signed a contract with DGC records. They began to record a new album, which would eventually become a timeless masterpiece: Nevermind. The band was already popular in the Seattle music scenes, and the record label was expecting to sell at least 200,000 copies. But the lead single, Smells Like Teen Spirit, changed everything. It was released just as a promotional cut from the album, but it soon became the band´s signature tune. Suddenly a grunge song, expected to achieve moderate success in alternative radios, was being played by every TV channel and radio station all over the world. Its lyrics, which were confusing and often an apparent nonsense, soon became the anthem of the 90s. Kurt has refused to openly talk about the song´s meaning, but it has been iconized as a teen revolution song. With such a huge lead single, the album sold over 30,000,000 copies (way more than expected from the label).  Nowadays Nevermind is still regarded as one of the best albums ever released, and the responsible of making alternative music jump into the mainstream.

After such a successful and legendary release, the follow-up album was expected with anxiety by fans and critics. But Kurt didn´t want to rush the release, and the label released Incesticide, b-side compilation to calm down the fans. The third studio album, In Utero, was released in September 1993. The record was a huge departure from Nevermind, and didn’t achieve its commercial success. Kurt hated the life he was living as a celebrity and an icon, and wanted to make listeners feel that despair and sorrow in the album (he even wanted to call the album I Hate Myself and I Want to Die). Critically the album achieved acclaim all over the world, with critics praising how different from Nevermind it sounded. In Utero has sold over 15 million copies worldwide and provided singles as popular as Rape Me or Heart-shaped Box.

Nirvana´s is still one of the most celebrated bands ever. Popular magazine Rolling Stone published a list of the 500 Greatest Songs Ever. Four Nirvana songs entered the ranking: All Apologies (#462), Come As You Are (#452), In Bloom (#415) and Smells Like Teen Spirit (#9). In the list of the 500 Greatest Albums Ever three Nirvana albums appear: In Utero (#435) , MTV Unplugged in New York (#313) and Nevermind(#17). In addition to that, Kurt Cobain ranks #73 in the 100 Greatest Guitarists Ever list and #45 in the Greatest Singers Ever list.

Unfortunately music wasn’t the only thing that made Kurt Cobain an icon. His charismatic personality and tortured artistry fascinated thousands of people around the world. His life also became a hot topic in journals and TV shows. Kurt married singer Courtney Love in 1992, and they both had their only children next year. Their relationship was always controversial, and many thought that they weren’t able to have a baby. Kurt was also known for his multiple addictions. He consumed drugs like marijuana and LSD during her teenage years, but heroine was his real addiction. He suffered an unknown stomach illness, and found in heroine the only effective solution to it. There were times when he tried to rehabilitate, but always went back to heroine. He committed suicide in April 1994, after escaping from a rehabilitation hospital. His death is full of mysteries and has led to numerous rumours and speculations.

I decided to write a post about Kurt Cobain because I genuinely believe that there isn´t, there wasn’t and there won’t be any other artist like him. His creativity-depressive and even perverse- and his abilities as a musician haven’t still met a rival.

Joaquín Achúcarro

My web communication plan is focused on Joaquin Achucarro, a basque pianist. I decide to speak about him and one of the concerts that he will give the next week at the Philharmonic Society of Bilbao because my hobby is the piano and I will go to Joaquin’s concert the next Tuesday.

“I have only heard this sound from Rubinstein” — Zubin Mehta

“There is something special with Achucarro. Very few musicians can extract this kind of sound from the piano” — Sir Simon Rattle

Joaquín Achúcarro

 

Paris:
“Volupté sonore” “Magnifique!”
London:
“It was a delight to hear piano sonority for once with such a warm and clear and intimate bloom”
Berlin:
“Achúcarro used his fine strength and technical sovereignty to achieve perfect unity with the orchestra”
Budapest:
“The purity of his sound […] Strength, modesty and responsibility of a great artist”
Madrid:
“Joaquín Achúcarro: One of the Greats”
Venezia:
“Achúcarro’s superb performance closes in Beauty the concert series at La Fenice”
Dublin:
“He drew from the piano all the singing quality of the instrument”
Roma:
“With a dazzling technique and an exquisite poetical sensitivity Achúcarro mesmerized the public”
Chicago:
“Achúcarro is the consummate artist”
Toronto:
“Pianist Achúcarro plays pure magic”

WCPLAN-PIPERRAK

Piperrak is a a rock-punk music band created in “La Rivera” (Spain). We have little information about this group even if it is well-known. They first started playing music in the decade of the 90s in the sorroundings of the Basque area. The band was composed by Josetxu (from Lodosa), Txitxarro (from Alcanadre), Rufo (from Pradejón) and Fermin at the beginning of their career. At the moment Fermin has been substituded to Jabitxu. The name “Piperrak” means peppers in Basque, a very well-kwnown vegetable here.

Now I shall talk about the rough cut. The first one they brought out was in 1990 with the name of “Ahorkate”. Two years later “La Ribera Rock&Roll” had a good success in all Basque country. We can mention some names of the songs like “We don’t care”, “La hora 0”, “Deskontrol” of the first rough cut and of the second one we can find “Potrotaino”, “Okupados”. This last succeded.

In 1994, in hands of Suicide records, would appeared their first official disc whose name was “Arde Ribera”. It contains some songs like “Cualquier día” and “Mi primer amor” which are well-known not just in the Basque Country also in Spain.

In 1996, appeared their followed work which was called “Los muertos de siempre”. We can see that the name is rather frightening but it is just the way the play their songs, which are too hard.
“Los muertos de siempre” was also in hands of the suicide records. However,it was produced by Fernando Madina the singer of Reincidentes another rock-punk basque band.

In 1997, one of the members of the group decided giving up the band and was substituted by Jabitxu who already sings at the moment. He plays the guitar.

After the concert they gave on the 19th January of 1998 in Durango which was a live concert gain in supporters.
Therefore in 2007, they came up with the idea of recording in video a live concert. Durango was the elected place for it. The managed to have around 8000 people, just a huge amount of fans, we can see.
By then, they did not know whether they will continue playing music. Although after seeing how much followers they had, they decided to continue.

In 2009, was shot up “ La kemos liau”. We can see songs like “Demokrazia”, “Ke lo voy hacer” and “Akatu” between others.

To finish with we must know that the band is growing in its followers in all the state and all over the world. Actually, they are pretty known in Catalonia.

REFERENCES:

• Piperrak. Google search.Fecha de consulta: 17:08, 21 de noviembre del 2011 desde http://www.piperrak.org/
• Piperrak. Wikipedia, La enciclopedia libre. Fecha de consulta: 17: 15, 21 de noviembre del 2011 desde http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piperrak
• Foto. Google search. Fecha de consulta 17:20, 21 de noviembre del 2011 desde
  http://www.google.es/imgres?imgurl=http://www.piperrak.org/images/logoweb.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.piperrak.org/&h=193&w=575&sz=11&tbnid=1z-nhWSVtlqjdM:&tbnh=40&tbnw=118&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpiperrak%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=piperrak&docid=zI7Yyv3IpxVPmM&hl=es&sa=X&ei=iJ_STpPrBujQ4QTZl6F9&ved=0CEIQ9QEwAg
• Myspace. Google search. Fecha de consulta: 17:20, 21 de noviembre del 2011 desde http://www.myspace.com/piperrakband

Nickelback. Bide luzea

Nickelback taldea, 1995ean sortu zen musika talde kanadiarra da, post- grunge estiloa jorratzen duena, hain zuzen ere. Sarean aurki ditzakegun mila erreferentziatik, Nickelback– eri buruzko lana egiterako aukeratu ditudanak hurrengo hauek dira, izan ere, banda honen gaineko informazioa lortzeko aproposak iruditu zaizkit.

Jack Johnson, the new icon of Surf & Beach culture

Looking back to the 50’s or 60’s, when californian beaches were full of surfers lying on the shores and listening to the Beach Boys, nobody would imagine that a man named Jack Johnson, aged 36, and with acoustic genres would revolutionize the concept of Surf music. Therefore, we will take a trip trough the last decades, in order to explain the main changes on the evolution of the surf & music culture, and we will end at Jack Johnson’s works, which nowadays have undoubtedly become very popular and listened.

A Little Bit of Brain on Music

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession  writen by Daniel J. Levitin (1957), an american professor, cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, record producer, musician and wrtier, will be one of the references we will be using for the elavoration of the article about Jack Johnson.

Ladies and gentleman let’s rock & roll

MTV is the lava lamp of the 1980’s… the musical channel phenomenon has been exported successfully all over the world-Doug Ferrari[1]

Access to music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, that what MTV’s purpose. MTV music television was born the 1st August 1981 under the slogan “ladies and gentleman let’s rock &roll”. The first video they played was video killed the radio star from The Buggles.

The Hellacopters and their web communication strategy

The Hellacopters, a successful Swedish rock band from the nineties, are active in social networks and microblogging (Twitter, Facebook, Myspace… ) Along their not-too-long career they have become one of the most successful bands in the international hard rock sphere, even though they come from a non-English-speaking country. Due to the popularity they have earned they like to be constantly in touch with their fans.

They seem to folow Seth Godin, a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change in music industry

“The music business is changing and successful artists have to build a tribe, and this is done through engagement and personal interaction. More and more artists are taking over the business part of the profession and handling their own marketing and communications.”