Ben Ryer’s Rock/Soul/Progressive Blog

Honestly, I would not say that I have listened to a lot of soul music in the past. After listening to some in class, however, I have to wonder exactly what it is about soul music that gives it “soul.” Is it the heartfelt emotional lyric style? Listen to the first 5 seconds of the Beatles’ cover of Mr. Moonlight, and tell me that John isn’t screaming his heart out. Is soul in the churchy, swinging organ? Light My Fire does not seem to lend itself to this genre. Soul is generally considered to be black music derived from gospel, giving the impression that one is in church, says Guralnick in Sweet Soul Music. But does this mean that any emotional, meaningful, lyrical music with an organ is soul in some form or another?

I had never really listened to the Beach Boys a whole lot. Sure, I’d heard some of there more popular songs, the really poppy ones about surfing and cars. But listening to the more mature Brian Wilson stuff honestly blew my mind. Even listening to the instrumental for Wouldn’t It Be Nice really made me think, as I’d never really concentrated on the isolated music before. Caroline, No really made me stop and think, it was much more somber and dark than any Beach Boys songs I had heard before. In fact, I was kind of depressed by the end of class this morning! Still, it was a good, reflective, thoughtful kind of depressed. One thing’s for sure, I’m going to have to get some more Beach Boys and Brian Wilson.

I have to say that after today’s class discussion, I really have to take a hard look at my views of what exactly makes up rock and roll. You’ll find little opposition when arguing that a song like “Twist and Shout” or My Generation” is a “rock and roll” song. What makes them rock songs is their upbeat, energetic style, their “dancability,” and their crazy attitude. To give an example from our class discussion, I bring up the Decemberist’s The Crane Wife. Now, I personally love this album, I consider it to be musically and lyrically innovative, and fun to listen to. I also always considered it “rock,” or at least “alternative,” without thinking twice.

 However, now I’m not so sure. One must ask, is rock still what it always was, or have the huge innovations in music over the past 50 years or so changed the very definition of rock? Getting back to The Crane Wife, for one who is familiar with the album, I could perhaps consider O Valencia, The Perfect Crime #2, and When the War Came to be “rock” songs in that they are noticeably more up-tempo and up-beat than the others (The Shankill Butchers, Sons and Daughters.)

What I’m trying to say is that I believe that rock has become so popular that it is automatically given the label of encompassing almost all forms of popular music today. This leads to the inevitable question that I cringe to hear, is rock dead?

As I write this post, I am listening to the albums Beatles For Sale and Help! Many people, obviously, consider Sgt. Pepper’s to be the big “turning point” album for the Beatles, what with the drugs and the psychedelic tunes. However, I always felt that the two aforementioned albums also signaled a change of sorts. For example, Beatles For Sale contains songs including Rock and Roll Music, Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey, and Words of Love, songs that are very reminiscent of older rock and roll, and covers, I might add. However, getting into Help!, one finds songs such as You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, Ticket to Ride, and Yesterday. Sure, songs such as Dizzy Miss Lizzy (another cover) and even The Night Before may have that older rock feel, but in my opinion, the first three songs that I mentioned signaled just as much a musical shift as anything on Sgt. Pepper’s, albeit less trippy.

It is pretty clear, especially after having read up on early rock and roll in the book, that white music basically has jazz and early black music to thank for it’s evolution and success. The fact that white kids were mystefied and enchanted by this wild music gave it the foundation that it needed to really spread and begin changing. But I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if black music had not been accepted in the way that it was. What if more conservative, old-fashioned whites had simply refused to stand for the wild new sound playing across America? What if Bill Haley’s cover of “Rocket 88″ had completely overshadowed the original version, or if he never covered it at all? What I’m getting at is that I really can’t begin to imagine where pop music would be today if not for the acceptance, albeit sometimes reluctant, of popular black music.