An Unruly History @wanderlustjazz-blog - Tumblr Blog

The members of N.W.A spoke eloquently about street and gang life, however only one of the members was actually involved in gang life. For the most part, they had no real relationship to the streets, yet they still spoke about the realities of street life. N.W.A. is known for lyrics depicting misogyny, homophobia and violence. The group was frequently compared to Public Enemy, whose socially conscious messages were more peaceful, while NWA featured a more militant style of expression and power. The beat's and compositions within the music of NWA were simple and raw, yet innovative. “F*ck Tha Police” was written in Compton in 1988, one of the most turbulent years for the inner city. The song is said to be a result of an incident in which members of the group were detained for shooting at random people with a paintball gun, just as a fun joke. The cops forced them to lie face down in the street and pointed guns at them. The song criticizes the police force’s stereotypical racial profiling as well as police brutality and the notorious deep tension between African American’s and local law enforcement (most of the police were white).

#NWA #fuck the police

Old School Biography of the Creator of Hip Hop, Kool Herc

DJ Kool Herc is known for his “Merry Go Round” technique which used two turntables instead of one. He was one of the first DJs in the Bronx to use 2 turn tables, if not the first. Using multiple turntables meant you could play two songs at the same time. He played funk music, and noticed that the dance floor was the most lively when there were instrumental breaks in the songs. This gave him the idea to use the merry go round technique which meant instead of playing the whole record, he would only play the instrumental breaks.

#dj kool herc #merry go round #turntabalism

Run DMC was a rap/hip hop group that no longer interested in the extra instrumentation in their songs at all. They mostly relied on strictly percussion in the background as they rapped, and did not rely on disco strings or horn parts at all. They were much more minimalistic in their approach to rap. One notable thing about Run DMC was their visual appearance, and how it was not like they cardigan wearing, funkadelic futuristic style other artists at the time were wearing. The members matched outfits regularly and their orientation was much more regarded as street level. With a reliance on a street gang aesthetic, their Adidas apparel and massive, flashy, gold chains and other jewelry made statements to the public. Run DMC did not wear shoelaces in their Adidas’ for the sole fact that laces were not allowed in prison. This just amplified their gangster orientation and street life, which quickly became huge in hip hop/rap ideals. This era of Run DMC significantly relied on this kind of street life image.

source: http://i1.nyt.com/images/2015/06/25/arts/freshdressed1-sneakers/freshdressed1-sneakers-jumbo.jpg

#run dmc #adidas

The Last Poets were a group of artists (musicians/poets) in the 1970s. Their group formed in Harlem at the peak of the civil Rights Movement. They wrote poems/raps that were delivered with rage and anger, taking on topics like the oppression of African-American people, as well as detailing the many crimes of the U.S. government. Their rap “When the Revolution Comes” was sort of like angry poetry in the form of a rap/song. It did not spare any specific targets, including apolitical African-Americans. One of their lines in When the Revolution Comes influenced the Notorious BIG as he wrote his ever famous rap, “bullshit and party,” even though the two raps had completely different meanings behind those words. The Last Poets meant the line as a means of insulting hip hop for becoming something that you listen to when you are partying, instead of being politically rooted with actual meaning.

source: http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/1373578883_The%20Last%20Poets.jpg

#the last poets #when the revolution comes #party and bullshit

The Grateful Dead was an American band that started out in 1965. They developed a unique style which fused country, fold, blues, bluegrass, rock, reggae, etc. They helped to drive the jam movement, which was basically the concept of playing their instruments freely mid-song which lengthened songs. They had one of the most massive fan bases in the world, coined as the “Deadheads” who routinely wore tie-dye shirts and experimented with psychedelic drugs.

source 1:sound-images.s3.amazonaws.com/images/2015/grateful-dead-.jpg

source 2: www.pressdemocrat.com/csp/mediapool/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=eqbpG25M3f$jusiOczdSBs$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYs9IGXk4rJPcWSzM9NtyBcYWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_CryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg

#grateful dead #jam band movement

The Ramones formed in the 70s in New York City. They are known to be the inventors of punk rock because they produced a unique sound unalike any other music genre. Their songs embodied a combination of punk energy, a loud and fast sounds, reckless attitude and simple lyrics that anyone could sing along with. Their short, combustible songs mixed humor and horror and gave their fans that lived in cities a way to purge all the pent-up energy that comes from living in a crowded, hectic, smoggy, traffic filled city. A typical set rarely ever lasted 30 minutes, even though they performed fifteen or more songs.

source 1:themixedtape.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/ramonesmain.jpg

source 2: 4.bp.blogspot.com/-pQK9IP5oy84/T-BX7K4uO4I/AAAAAAAADTA/NTbKzBQYAVM/s1600/4x1O9uh7wBceRcQuQs3XU9bvYgX.jpg

#ramones #punk rock

David Bowie was the face of Glam Rock n Roll in the 70’s. He had a psychedelic rock persona, dyed his hair abnormal colors, wore makeup, dressed in shiny clothes that were seen as futuristic, experimented with cross dressing and gender switching, and acted/performed in ways that were not seen as acceptable at that time. This is one of the big reasons that Bowie became so famous, because he repeatedly reinvented himself (going from a clean cut man to a dolled up woman) in his performances throughout the years. A few of his characters were Ziggy Stardust, the thin white duke and the cracked actor. He had themed albums that centered on whichever character he exemplified at the time. Bowie eventually got heavily involved in the drug scene, which ultimately led him to overdose on cocaine three times.

#david bowie #life on mars #ziggy stardust

The majority of the world believes “Another Brick in the Wall” by Pink Floyd is about students rebelling against the school system. In Walter Benjamin's essay , “The Work of Art in the Age of...

The above article is a complete analysis of “Another Brick in the Wall.” Pink Floyd formed in 1965 as an English rock band known for their highly progressive and psychedelic type of music. Pink Floyd’s 1979 studio album, “The Wall,” was released as a rock opera styled double album with a storyline that progressed as you listened further into the album. The main character in the story, Pink, is portrayed as a fascist leader, explaining how domineering parents and dictatorial & offensive teachers impact the lives of the students/kids they have. Pink resents society, established order, and being taught what is “right“. “Another Brick in The Wall” sets the foundation for the album, with three parts that make up the song, spaced throughout the album, signifying the progression of Pink. “The Wall” music video made everyone take a second look at our educational system at the time since it illustrated the how the system created faceless and mindless children. Pink Floyd have sold over 250,000,000 records to date, and in 1996 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

source:https://mincedwriting.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/tumblr_n1fcth6ysw1s5emgio1_500.gif

#pink floyd #the wall #another brick in the wall #we dont need no education

Led Zeppelin came together in 1968 and rose to fame soon after. The band is known for their raspy, gritty, bluesy, metal sounds. They are regarded today as one of the most influential rock bands to come from the 1970s. One of their most popular songs is Stairway to Heaven, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album. It is one of the greatest rock songs of all time, even though it is rumored to contain backward satanic messages, as if Led Zeppelin sold their souls to the devil in exchange for "Stairway To Heaven. Even though it was never released as a single, Stairway to Heaven is still to this day the most played song on FM radio to date, which is mind boggling.

source:https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8pPvNqOb6RA/hqdefault.jpg

source2:http://www.quizcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Quiz-Crunch-Led-Zeppelin-Stairway-to-Heaven-Quiz.jpg

#led zeppelin #stairway to heaven

No list of live Jimi Hendrix performances would be complete without this one as he headlined at Woodstock. This performance is hands down known as one of the best live performances of all time. Hendrix closed out the festivities with his own rendition of the national anthem, since he was one of the biggest figures in the hippie movement. He used very heavy feedback and distortion with his amplifier and included some in-between soloing of his own, which was probably intended to simulate war sounds since the US was deep in the Vietnam War.

#jimi hendrix #vietnam #star spangled banner

Janis Joplin was the greatest female American rock singer in the late 1960′s. She was gifted at singing from a very young age, singing in her church choir. As she got older, she moved away from home to check out the emerging music scene in San Francisco, which was the basically the haven for hippies at the time. She blew Big Brother & the Holding Company away when she auditioned for the group. After she joined Big Brother, Joplin rose to fame and quickly became known for her powerful, raspy, supercharged, emotional, blues-inspired vocals and her ability to play both the guitar and the piano. Joplin became a part of the psychedelic rock era with Big Brother and the Holding Company, which unfortunately came with a lot of drug use. Her fans were aware of her drug abuse since they could see her physical appearance rapidly changing. She left Big Brother eventually to pursue a solo career soon after Woodstock. She died in at the early age of 33 in 1970 from a heroin overdose.

#janis joplin

The 1960’s hippie counter culture movement involved a variety of concerns and beliefs. Their primary belief was that life was about being happy, not about what others thought you should be. Their “if it feels good, do it” attitudes included little forethought nor concern for the consequences of their actions.

This article outlines what the hippie counterculture movement really was. “Make love, not war. Don't trust anyone over 30. Turn on, tune in, and drop out.” These sayings among others became slogans for the emerging youth hippie counterculture in the 1960s. As more and more children (baby-boomers) of middle-class Americans entered college, they rejected the suburban lifestyle of conformity that was shoved down their throats by their parents. With this anti-establishment counterculture phenomenon, the youth embraced creativity while displaying blunt new attitudes about drugs and sex, communal lifestyles, with innovations in fashion and music. The counterculture youth of America went against nearly every value their parents had tried to instill in them. The sexual revolution was most prominent on American college campuses, where birth control and a rejection of traditional views of sexuality led to a more casual attitude toward sex. The youth experimented mostly with weed and LSD, sometimes mushrooms and an assortment of pills.

#counterculture #hippies #drugs

Woodstock had a humanistic pagan environment that allowed people to be free and do whatever that wanted. The naked woman shown above is trying to hitch hike to Woodstock. Going naked was common for the hippie culture. The bottom picture shows the aftermath of the 2 hour rain storm that occurred after people performed rain dances and chanted to the rain gods to try and stop the rain. Once the rain stopped, people gathered and made massive mud slides, sliding around either naked or at most with their pants on.

source: http://viralturtle.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Woodstock1.jpg

source2:http://ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2014/08/Mud-Woodstock-94.png?

#woodstock #rainstorm

On this day in History, The Woodstock festival opens in Bethel, New York on Aug 15, 1969. Learn more about what happened today on History.

In 1969, a three day music festival was hosted on a 600-acre farmland in New York. There were 400,000 attendees, which was twice the amount initially intended. Woodstock is now the most memorable music festival known to man, as it nearly every single major artist at the time, including The Who, Janice Joplin, Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Sly & the Family Stone, Stills, Nash & Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, The Band, Crosby, and so many more. This festival was synonymous with the San Franciscan hippie counterculture, with an abundance of civil rights and anti-Vietnam activists, psychedelic drug use of every kind, wild and exotic dancing, no reports of violence, free speech, etc.

#woodstock

source:http://hipquotient.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/hunter-altamont.jpg

source2:https://thoughtcatalog.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/altamont.jpg

On December 6, 1969, Altamont Speedway held a free rock concert with the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, Nash & Young, and various other rock bands. The concert and is remembered today for violence that occurred, since it quickly became catastrophic as the 300,000 audience members broke out with many fights. The concert was poorly planned and organized, with gang members in the security (known as Hell’s Angels), who went too far and stabbed a man to death. Others were killed as fights broke out all over the place, people were assaulted and injured, and property was stolen or damaged.

#altamont festival #hells angels

The Haight-Ashbury district was notorious for being the birthplace of the hippie counter culture movement during the late 1960s. It was a community in San Francisco that became the epicenter of the hippies after the 1950’s drew in an abundance of people due to the area’s fairly economical and underpopulated conditions. This new hippie epicenter based their culture a mixture of anti-establishment attitudes, drugs, and music. They experimented with LSD, acid, marijuana, among other drugs, right at the same time that the psychedelic rock era became more popular.

#hippies #drugs #haight ashbury

This photo sums up the way The Who acted on stage as they performed for audiences. The Who was a part of the British Invasion, but they had a completely different fan base than the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Their music often had themes of rebellion, attitude, and anti-authority. The band members were very destructive on stage, which was the complete opposite of the Beatles. Pete Townshend, the lead guitarist, was known for smashing his guitar on the ground or on the amplifiers on the stage. Keith Moon was widely known as one of the greatest drummers of all time, and most notably had a total disregard for the illusion of live performance. He once played his symbol and drums completely out of time and at random moments when he performed on the Smothers Brothers Comedy show on TV. The ending of this song was the most chaotic part, with the band destroying their instruments, and with Moon pounding anything he could find on his drum set, knocking over his symbol and placing small cherry bombs in his drum set without the knowledge of his bandmates. Pete Townshend claimed he was left deaf in one ear from the drum set explosion.

source:http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i44/CRobbins_2006/smashing-guitars_zpsd08a765d.gif

source:http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/images/equipment/guitar/sc_smash/b1/smash_19670311_KingsHall_Stoke.jpg

#thewho

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