THE IMPACT OF QUEEN, DAVID BOWIE, AND THE DUO FRESH PRICE AND DJ JAZZY JEFF
Alex Koifman 11th December 2018
Abstract
Through my research on Queen, David Bowie and the duo Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff. I wrote about key moments in their journey to become iconic music artists and highlighted key moments in which they decided to fight the norms of there generation and with that, they changed the music genre and society in a whole. there impacts range from starting an HIV charity to showing the world that its okay to be different all the way to making an adult genre to a genre for everyone.
Contents
Contents i
1 Queen 1
2 David Bowie 3
3 Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff 4
i
1 Queen
What you are about to read is the story and monumental impact of a band that consisted of 3 academics and one art student who challenged the music industry and broke rules while pushing limits to redefine popular rock and other genres of music that we know and love today. This band is named is Queen and consists of Freddie Mercury (Lead vocalist, pianist), Brian May(Lead guitarist and vocals), Roger Taylor(drums and vocals), and john deacon(bass guitar) Before Queen was known as one of the most popular bands ever to join the industry it was known originally known as Smile and only had Roger Taylor and Brian May as members and was formed in 1968. Soon a fan named Freddie Mercury joined the group in 1971 and suggested the now iconic name, Queen. By 1973 queen debuted there the first album appropriately named, Queen. Although received well sold poorly. Later in 1974, the same result occurred to there new album Queen II. Then the same year Queen released sheer heart attack which was a commercial success. Soon after in 1975, Queen released the album A Night at The Opera which some consider “Queen defining” setting there unique style and performance. After several more albums which were all critically and commercially major successes with major hits like
• Seven Seas of Rye (1973-Queen II) • Brighton Rock (1974- Sheer Heart Attack) • Killer Queen (1974- Sheer Heart Attack) • Bohemian Rhapsody (1975- A Night At The Opera) • Love Of My Life (1975- A Night At The Opera) • You’re My Best Friend (1975- A Night At The Opera) • Tie Your Mother Down (1976- A Day At The Races) • Somebody To Love (1976- A Day At The Races) • We Will Rock You (1977- News Of The World) • We Are The Champions (1977- News Of The World) • Sheer Heart Attack (1977- News Of The World)
1 1. Queen
• Fat Bottom Girls (1978-Jazz)
• Bicycle Race (1978-Jazz)
• Don’t Stop Me Now (1978-Jazz)
• Crazy Little Thing Called Love (1980- The Game)
• Another One Bites The Dust (1980- The Game)
• Under Pressure (1982- Under Pressure)
• Radio Gaga (1984- The Works)
• I Want To Break Free (1984- The Works)
• I Want It All(1989- The Miracle)
Queen then performed what is considered the best live music show of all time at LIVE AID in 1985. Soon after in 1986 Queen performed there last show and released 2 more albums and rumors began to spread that Freddy Mercury had HIV/AIDS. Later in 1991, those rumors were confirmed by Mercury himself who died less than 24 hours later. After a couple of years, Paul Rogers joined the band to attempt to make the band whole again but even though he could sing and dance he could not replace the impact Freddy had, as Brian may said it himself “we believe the last time queen performed was in 1986, it stops with the exit of Freddy into another place” Freddy Mercury’s stage performances were iconic. He was considered one of the greatest rock performers of all-time. His sexuality was often discussed and people were wondering if he was gay or straight at a time when being gay could end his musical career, Mercury was known for hiding his relationship with his long-time partner Jim Hutton. But he also had two serious relationships with women. Mercury never publicly said whether he was gay or straight but at one point answered a question about his sexuality with the response, “If I am, so what?” Mercury’s death, the first musician with HIV/AIDS, opened the eyes ofthe public to this disease, which by 1991 was the second-leading cause of death in the US among men 25-44. Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon created the Mercury Phoenix Trust to raise funding for HIV/AIDS research, and in April 1992 produced The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for HIV/AIDS
2 Awareness which sold out 72,000 tickets in five hours and was watched by approximately one billion viewers. Queen’s popularity made Mercury one of the most high-profile AIDS-related losses and brought increased attention to HIV/AIDS. This made him one ofthe most important icons to die from AIDS. The Mercury Phoenix Trust foundation gave to a wide range of Education and Awareness projects, targeting young people in the evolving world. In the last 21 years, the Trust has given away over 16 million dollars in Freddie Mercury’s name and funded over 700 projects in the global battle against HIV/AIDS
2 David Bowie
The following artist has been called the chameleon of the musical world.This artist is David Bowie. David Bowie changed the face of music in his own and unique way with his androgyny and sexuality along with his extremely unique images and performances all this with his unique sci-fi spirit was being mixed into his most popular songs. David Bowie was born on January 8th, 1847 and had an interest for music at a young age but didn’t start actually starts performing until the 60s where he hopped around several blues bands such as the Konrads, The King Bees, The Manish Boys and more. it wasn’t until 1967 he released his first self-titled album which did not perform well. with that, he joined a promotional film called love till Tuesday which had a couple of his own songs. after one other album in 1970 titles the world of David Bowie he released an album where he wore a dress to take advantage of his androgyny look which was fairly unique. after that he released an album in 1971 called hunky dory creating apersona named Ziggy Stardust. throughout the years David Bowie would create more unique personas to match his music. David Bowie’s music varied from album to album going from blues to rock to techno and other different types. a lot of his songs are icons and are all mixed through all of his albums. his 1991 album may have his first number one album but his most unique songs are spread out through each album making each of them unique and not having one good album instead they are all good. some of his iconic songs are
• Space Oddity (David Bowie 1969)
• Life On Mars? (Hunky Dory 1971)
3 3. Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff
• Starman (The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust)
• Ashes To Ashes (Scary Monsters)
• Lets Dance (Lets Dance 1983)
• Heroes (Heroes 1977)
• Rebel Rebel(Diamond Dogs 1974)
• The Jean Genie (Aladdin Sane)
David Bowie is the type person who stands out of the crowd. this is what makes him different and impactful. david bowie had an androgynous lookand wore dresses to promote music while also where makeup where, back then, was unheard of for male performers. and the type of make up he would where we’re not just to make him look good but to make him significantly different. with this colorful style, Bowie was becoming more and more of stand out whilst performing. not only that but at one point he announced that he was bisexual at a time where it was not accepted Bowie’s impact can be summarised in one simple sentence. being considered strange isn’t always a bad thing. bowie dressed odd, looked odd, and performed oddly. his unique looks inspired so many different styles and personas such as Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, and Thin White Duke has given influences to dozens of other stars such as Lady Gagaand fashion companies. with his style came his sexuality, when Bowie came out bisexual he bombarded with questions and took them all well. with these modern musicians such as Adam Lambert considered that he pushed the idea of sexuality and made it seem that it’s not as black and white as it seems.
3 Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff
You may have not heard of his rap name but he definitely heard of him, Will Smith, also known as Fresh Prince in his rapping days. at a time where rapping was becoming more and more popular Will Smith and his best friend Jeffery Townes, also known as DJ Jazzy Jeff, became one of themost influential rappers of the 90s with there unique and relatable music that combined rap and hip-hop that anyone could listen to.
4 Will Smith was born on September 25 in 1968 and, like Smith says in one of his most famous songs, In West Philadelphia born and raised. Will Smith attended a Catholic school as a child and grew in a middle-class family.he later then went to high school where he was considered a troublemaker but with his quick wit and charismatic personality, he got out of trouble quick which then awarded him the nickname, Prince. With an interest in rap that started to rise. when 16 Smith had a party and met his best friend and musical partner, Jeffery Townes. soon into his high school life Smith and Townes started to rap and both decided not to go college after university which Smiths mother was not a fan of as he secured a spot at MIT for engineering. but something that his mother didn’t know is that Smith and Townes would become millionaires before he left high school. Before Smith and Townes graduated they released their debut album in 1987 Rock The House which made them millionaires due to it kid friendly and humorous rap which was a wide market due to rap at the time dealing only to do with sex or containing inappropriate content. they later made an album titled which was titles He’s The DJ and I’m the rapper which went and went on to be triple platinum. since they were both kids they were spending money faster than they were making it which made them released a new album called And In This Corner… which was extremely unsuccessful and made them very little profit. also since they were kids they forgot about something called income tax and owed the bank 2.4 million dollars which they failed to pay and the bank took everything. at this point, both of them were down on their luck but Will got an offer to be on an unnamed TV show from a manager hemet while going on talk shows to make money. it was a very uncomfortable situation for Smith to audition as he met the manager and went to the audition hours later and was unprepared and did not memorize the script. after some convincing, he performed on the spot and become the starofThe Fresh Prince Of Bel Air which spawned one his most famous songs of the same name that was used as the intro to the show. Smith and Townes were still best friends and Townes appeared on the show every couple of episodes. Smith later ended his rapping carrier before the 2000s and became an A-list star in movies to this day and Townes remained as a music producer.
• Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble (Rock the House – 1987) • Parents Just Don’t Understand (He’s the DJ, and I’m the Rapper – 1988 ) • Brand New Funk (He’s the DJ, and I’m the Rapper – 1988)
5 3. Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff
• Nightmare On My Street (He’s the DJ, and I’m the Rapper – 1988)
• Summertime (Homebase – 1991)
• Fresh Prince Of Bel Air(1996)
The things that made this duo different is that their music had unique beatto it and was relatable. not only that but their song Parents don’t understand is the first rap song to win a Grammy. Its extremely unique beat and relatable content stood out of the crowd. not only that but the duo had songs that referenced things that people loved like their song nightmare on my street where it is an obvious reference to the nightmare on elm street franchise. Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff changed the content in which music, especially rap would contain. instead of rap songs containing content such as drugs and sex and made rap more kid-friendly and approachable by making songs that relate to pop culture events. they made rap fun, unique, and relatable.
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