A New and Concise History of Rock and R&B through the Early 1990s Eric Charry Published by Wesleyan University Press Charry, Eric. A New and Concise History of Rock and R&B through the Early 1990s. Wesleyan University Press, 2020. Project MUSE. muse.jhu.edu/book/74014. https://muse.jhu.edu/. For additional information about this book https://muse.jhu.edu/book/74014 [ Access provided at 1 Jun 2021 19:45 GMT from Wesleyan University ] When we hear music, we try and place it within our own experiences to make sense of it. This can include identifying instruments and voices we hear, styles that they invoke, and sentiments being expressed. Depending on our experience, we may be III able to make value judgments about its quality. Is it good, bad, original, imitative, INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORKS virtuosic, innovative, thought provoking, sterile? Musical encounters may have an impact on us. Do they capture certain emotions, give comfort, incite to action, lull into complacency, provide an escape from daily life, lead to alternate realities, reinforce or shape our personal and group identities? Our cultural and social backgrounds provide us with the tools and abilities to respond and be moved. The first three chapters in part 3 are designed to help us understand what goes into those backgrounds. Chapter 8 discusses some of the key identities that are part of the makeup of rock and R&B, and chapter 9 explores the historical background of the fundamental aesthetic sensibilities that have shaped rock and R&B. Chapter 10 provides an in-depth look at cross-cultural encounters, with two extended contrasting examples and four (more focused) case studies, which all lay the groundwork for the ensuing examination of the concept of appropriation. Chapter 11 looks at the academic study of rock and R&B, laying out some general themes of the book. I devote so much space to the first three chapters to provide a basis for more informed discussions of controversial topics at the heart (even if at the subconscious level) of rock and R&B. Much of the discourse around rock and R&B produced by fans, journalists, aca- demics, parents, and artists clusters around its cultural and social value or status. On the cultural side debates can arise about artistic merit, integrity, and authenticity, with art and commerce being two poles on a spectrum. Some artists or groups have a special aura about them because of their ability to reconcile the opposing tendencies of art and commerce. The Beatles, for example, continued to explore fresh innova- tive artistic ground while maintaining unprecedented popularity throughout their recording career (1962–70). Due to the nature of the music industry, which is driven by popularity and income streams (formerly record sales), accomplishments like what the Beatles have done are not that common. On the social side debates can arise about rock’s relation to society. Journalists sometimes use the word anthem to describe the importance of certain songs, mean- ing that they somehow capture the mood or lifestyle of a group of people or perhaps their desires (rather than their reality). Can rock affect behavior or cause social or personal change, and, if so, in what ways may it be positive or harmful or maintain the status quo? Political progressives might embrace some of rock’s messages, either in the lyrics or the sound, which might encourage listeners to alter their worldview and lifestyles. Aretha Franklin’s version of “Respect” (1967), John Lennon’s “All You Need Is Love” (1967), “Give Peace a Chance” (1969), and “Imagine” (1971), and Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” (1989), for example, may have provided inspiration to many.1 Some of the lyrics and the sounds of 1970s punk expressed a disillusionment and alienation of youth and might be viewed as implicitly calling for some kind of positive change. Some of punk’s shock tactics (including Nazi regalia), however, appealed to young extremists, who explicitly embraced violence and a white power agenda (Knopper 2018). In the face of charges that rock can incite indecent or harmful acts and proposals that warning labels should be put on certain albums (e.g., the Parents Music Resource Center in the 1980s), some might counter that rock does not cause but rather reflects or calls attention to a state of affairs or perhaps provides solace to those in distress. Because of its popularity among youth, rock can be used to mobilize people for a variety of causes. This could lead to disconnects, for example, with Madonna singing the escape-themed “Holiday” (“It’s time for the good times / Forget about the bad times. / We need a holiday”) at Live Aid in 1985, a global event intended to raise awareness and funds for relief from the devastating famine that had struck Ethiopia. Some musical styles that feature seemingly simple and innocuous lyrics, such as 1950s rock and roll or 1970s disco, have been credited with positive social change by bringing together diverse groups of people for concerts or for dancing. Rap has generated debates, with some emcees (rappers) insisting that they rap about reality, and some commentators suggesting that it may be more entertainment and fantasy, which can sometimes promote negative stereotypes. A young Dr. Dre declared, “We only rap about stuff that we know about. Stuff thatcan happen or did happen. You know. Everything we say in our records is true” (MTV News Raw n.d.- v).2 Some may voice opposing stances, depending on the context. In promoting his career, Tupac Shakur asserted, “What rap doesn’t have is a real person. I’m 100% real.” On the other hand, facing a trial that would ultimately send him to prison, he said, 1 Lynskey (2011) covers thirty-three songs with strong political content. 2 It was a common stance at the time. Twenty-two-year-old Snoop Dogg stated, “My raps are inci- INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORKS dents where either I saw it happen to one of my close homies or I know about it from just being 258 in the ghetto. It’s all everyday life, reality” (Touré 1993). “This [trial] is all about my image. I’m selling records. This is what I do for a living. I’m selling records. Don’t get it twisted; this is not my real life. This is not how my real life is supposed to be” (Perry 2004-v, episode 4).3 Ice-T has voiced what is the most widespread claim for hip hop: “The key to hip hop is sing about your life, not my life, your life. There’s people that live that life, and they’ll buy your records” (episode 5). Lyrics need not necessarily be taken literally but rather may offer a forum for high- lighting or thinking about social situations. In rap the commitment in the delivery (one sign of authenticity) may be more significant than what the actual lyrics are saying. Without trivializing the reality of many rap lyrics, one can place this kind of authenticity within the larger field of rock and expressive art forms more generally. Discussing Bruce Springsteen’s image as a working-class hero, Frith notes, “What’s at stake here is not the authenticity of experience, but authenticity of feeling; what matters is not whether Springsteen has been through these things himself (bore- dom, aggression, ecstasy, despair) but that he knows how they work” (1988: 98). Responding to critiques about misogyny and negative portrayals of fellow Jews in the novels of Philip Roth, writer Lisa Halliday referenced a line Roth once quoted, from nineteenth-century novelist Gustave Flaubert, providing some perspective: “The task at hand is not to change it [humanity], but to know it.”4 Moving beyond content to its form and affect (emotional impact), rock may pro- vide a stimulus in the strength of delivery and commitment. Writing about her reaction to the Sex Pistols, rock critic Ellen Willis noted, “And there lay the paradox: Music that boldly and aggressively laid out what the singer wanted, loved, hated—as good rock and roll did—challenged me to do the same, and so, even when the content was anti-woman, anti-sexual, in a sense anti-human, the form encouraged my struggle for liberation. Similarly, timid music made me feel timid, whatever its ostensible politics” (1978: 22). Words can be powerful, though, as we have seen in the various critical viewpoints in the section on hip hop in chapter 7. Highlight, help to think through, reflect, shape, reinforce, subvert . these are all things that rock and R&B can do. The following chapters provide a foundation for discussing how all this may play out. 3 The second quotation is excerpted in Touré (1994: 75). Ice Cube drew on a similar strategy in 1991 (as noted in the section on misogynist lyrics earlier). 4 Halliday tells the story in Remnick (2018); the Flaubert quote comes from a letter cited in Llosa INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORKS (1986: 230). 259 Music is a primary field of action for exploring and asserting identity, whether on a personal level (how one perceives or wishes to project oneself ) or at the level of a group of individuals having some common characteristics. Two crucial points about identity 8 should be kept in mind: although much of our identity has some kind of biological IDENTITIES basis (something we are born with), it is socially constructed; and that construction is based not only on how we perceive ourselves (that is, our subjectivity) but also on how others see us. The biological basis may be thought of as immutable or fixed, and the social construction process may be thought of as mutable, or open to possibilities, and forged by individuals and groups.