CAREER

My background in music roots way back to since I was a young boy. I always had some sort of new instrument around the house that I was learning. I am totally self-taught and currently play lead guitar and vocals in a local reggae band here in Tallahassee called Pulsation. Guitar is definitely my instrument of choice as I play it every single day. I mess around with keys here and there and melodica. I also grew up playing drums so anything with heavy rhythm influence is something I play well (ex: reggae guitar’s percussive role).

Our band is a roots reggae band so I definitely enjoy playing bass with a true African roots sound. I am planning my whole life to be in the professional music industry in this reggae music world. I am making small strides every single day and just last night we got to play for Passafire. We’ve had opportunities to play with other  big reggae groups like Stick Figure and Fortunate Youth in April of this year. We also got to play and hang with Raging Fyah from Jamaica.

Writing is so critical for factoring into my future career. With reggae music, it is very spiritual and soul filled. The lyrics are the most important component so I am very careful and choosy with my words in the music. Historical topics such as the life of King Solomon, Haile Selassie, and Marcus Garvey come up often in the music as I am Rasta. The teachings and things I learn from these people and the scriptures are what give I the discipline that I possess now. These historical and cultural traditions of these people and of the Nazirite vow are what shape my lifestyle. I eat what is called an Ital diet. No food from a vine shall be consumed by my mouth and no razor shall come up my head or face. These are big things that many people may not realize can tremendously alter your day to day encounters.

Word count: 335 words

Blog Rules

What to Do

1. Follow the prompt. While you will have some flexibility in how you choose to tackle the information, stay on topic.

2. Meet the minimum word count (750 words). You can always go over the word count, but as this is a W course, meeting the minimum is crucial to passing the assignment.

3. Be thoughtful. Publish only your best work and thoughts.

4. Be creative. Include links, videos, pictures, etc. in your posts. Vary the format of your writing.

5. Read other music blogs. Look for blogs about both classical and popular music. Pay attention to their writing style. How can you make your writing sound both approachable and intellectual?

What Not to Do

1. Don’t be excessively harsh. When writing critiques, reviews, or comments on other entries, provide constructive criticism and not vitriol.

2. Don’t steal anyone else’s work. Always cite sources and put others’ work in quotations.

Rhetorical Situations

“Do you still have lots of water? If not, try to go to CVS or Publix early in the morning to re-fill.”

 

The above quote is from my mother. I know most writings that begin with a quote are more immediately profound and inspiring, but do not be fooled by this seemingly innocuous text from Mercy. This message is a vessel through which we can explore the statements on rhetoric by Lloyd Bitzer and Jenny Edbauer. Though she was almost certainly unaware of these rhetoricians, my mother actually exemplified many of the concepts that Edbauer and Bitzer discussed in their essays.

In The Rhetorical Situation, Bitzer outlines a 7-part description of the inseparable effect of situation on rhetoric. “Rhetorical discourse comes into existence as a response to situation, in the same sense that an answer comes into existence in response to a question, or a solution in response to a problem” (Part 1). In this case, the coming hurricane necessitated my mother’s inquiry as to whether I would have a sufficient water supply to last the storm. “Discourse is rhetorical insofar as it functions… as a fitting response to a situation which needs and invites it” (Part  Here, my mother is in need of assurance that her son will not dehydrate during the storm. She needs to know whether or not she should assist me in getting more water or if I have the situation under control. Our relationship as mother and son is also important information as to why this is an important question for her; I assume my mother cares about my wellbeing (but I suppose you never know). These are just 2 parts of Bitzer’s analysis on situation in rhetoric but they help to understand the origin, subtext, and meaning of the message.

Edbauer also reminded me of my mother’s text message in her essay Unframing Models of Public Distribution. In her writing, Edbauer stresses the importance of the “concatenations of texts through time”. Indeed, my mother’s text is not the only document necessary in understanding her intention. One would also need to be familiar with documents such as reports about the coming storm, advisories on how to handle hurricanes (a key element includes obtaining bottled water), and our previous discussions of the storm. These all contribute to her specific concern for my water supply. Edbauer also stresses the importance of the participants’ backgrounds in a rhetorical situation, “the two bodies carry with them the traces of effects from whole fields of culture and social histories”. My mother and I are both from South Florida and are aware of how seriously a hurricane must be taken and the necessity of preparing for one.

Rhetorical Situations

“Do you still have lots of water? If not, try to go to CVS or Publix early in the morning to re-fill.”

 

The above quote is from my mother. I know most writings that begin with a quote are more immediately profound and inspiring, but do not be fooled by this seemingly innocuous text from Mercy. This message is a vessel through which we can explore the statements on rhetoric by Lloyd Bitzer and Jenny Edbauer. Though she was almost certainly unaware of these rhetoricians, my mother actually exemplified many of the concepts that Edbauer and Bitzer discussed in their essays.

In The Rhetorical Situation, Bitzer outlines a 7-part description of the inseparable effect of situation on rhetoric. “Rhetorical discourse comes into existence as a response to situation, in the same sense that an answer comes into existence in response to a question, or a solution in response to a problem” (Part 1). In this case, the coming hurricane necessitated my mother’s inquiry as to whether I would have a sufficient water supply to last the storm. “Discourse is rhetorical insofar as it functions… as a fitting response to a situation which needs and invites it” (Part  Here, my mother is in need of assurance that her son will not dehydrate during the storm. She needs to know whether or not she should assist me in getting more water or if I have the situation under control. Our relationship as mother and son is also important information as to why this is an important question for her; I assume my mother cares about my wellbeing (but I suppose you never know). These are just 2 parts of Bitzer’s analysis on situation in rhetoric but they help to understand the origin, subtext, and meaning of the message.

Edbauer also reminded me of my mother’s text message in her essay Unframing Models of Public Distribution. In her writing, Edbauer stresses the importance of the “concatenations of texts through time”. Indeed, my mother’s text is not the only document necessary in understanding her intention. One would also need to be familiar with documents such as reports about the coming storm, advisories on how to handle hurricanes (a key element includes obtaining bottled water), and our previous discussions of the storm. These all contribute to her specific concern for my water supply. Edbauer also stresses the importance of the participants’ backgrounds in a rhetorical situation, “the two bodies carry with them the traces of effects from whole fields of culture and social histories”. My mother and I are both from South Florida and are aware of how seriously a hurricane must be taken and the necessity of preparing for one.

American Audio/Visual Traditions

 

The music video is a modern marvel of innovation and creativity that we, in 2016, consider a staple in music culture. We’ve become so accustomed to associating striking visuals with engaging music, that major music award shows typically have a whole category dedicated to awarding the best music video every year. The artistic medium that is the music video serves a singular purpose: to stimulate the visual and aural senses simultaneously and provide for a more engaging experience. The sociocultural circumstances in which the modern music video was created can’t be attributed to a single society or culture, per se. Well, obviously, innovation by American inventors and creatives are a substantial factor. Still, I’d say that the prevailing force behind the inception of music videos (and audio visual traditions at large) is mankind’s need for increasingly high levels of stimulation. We, as humans, require interaction with things that entice our senses. We have a very basic need: feeling and perceiving things with our senses. It helps to provide a sense of place and grounding.

There is a myriad of benefits for an audience viewing music presented visually. The most evident is being able to live vicariously through the artist or group that the audience is watching perform. Musicians living a rock star lifestyle that common people can’t relate to can easily be made seemingly accessible by means of adding visual elements to the music. Another benefit is the enveloping sensory experience that viewers can undergo when viewing music presented visually. Seeing engaging images edited tightly with the music can evoke emotions and sensations from viewers that audio or video may not be able to achieve on their own. This specific type of presentation says a lot about the culture background of its viewers. This includes, predominantly, a sort of first world privilege that people in other cultures around the world were not able to relate to or enjoy, and many still aren’t. The biggest demographic of viewers of these music videos are young people who are accustomed to being stimulated in several different ways simultaneously, constantly. These are the same kinds of people who need to experience things from several different sensory perspectives to enjoy an experience, and the same kinds of people who feel the need to document their experiences and share them with their peers via social media, all for the sake of validation. There’s been a growing culture sweeping the world as technological advancements allow for first world nations and peoples everywhere to be connected and make this big, blue marble seem a little bit smaller. We are communal people who need to interact with others, and one of our most effective ways of doing that is through music. Adding visual presentation to this visual culture makes it that much easier to translate cultures between people and societies. Sharing experiences is a common want of most people and music videos make sharing experiences possible in a wholly new way.

Audio/visual pairing can highlight aspects of music that may otherwise go undetected or be shrugged off by audiences as less significant than the artist may have intended. Audio alone can leave all the qualitative details of a narrative completely to the listener’s imagination, which is fine because music is an art form and should be open to interpretation. However, adding visual elements to the audio/music can fill in the spaces not only in people’s perception of characters, themes, and settings in the music, but also in their experience with the audio. Add visuals that incorporate principles of design and elements of art to make the entire experience the type of thing that grabs an audience and forces them to feel things that they don’t typically feel throughout the course of an average day. The best kinds of audio/visual presentations give viewers goosebumps because they’re so powerful. A couple of great examples of great music paired with great visuals are the music video for Cause I’m A Man by Tame Impala, and the opening sequence to the Netflix original series Narcos. These kinds of pairings inspire the artist in me to create more engaging and creative pieces with more cultural context and historical background. There’s just so much more depth that can be achieved when you connect audio to pictures and video, and when you link the ears to the eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

History.com Staff. “The Music Video, Before Music Television.” History.com. 2011. Accessed December 08, 2016. http://www.history.com/news/the-music-video-before-music-television.

 

Tame Impala – Cause I’m A Man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hefh9dFnChY

 

Narcos Opening Credits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtJ6yAGjsIs

Audiovis

Quinton Scrase

 

Visual traditions

Modern Day Rap Music Videos

            Our generation has seen great changes in so many aspects of life, technologically, culturally, and even musically. In turn all these aspects influence each other in their own specific ways, technology continues to change the music industry every single day; producers are just as valuable as the artist themselves nowadays, and nonetheless, every cultures artists influence the music industries globally. Music is an expression, as are the music videos that accompany so many of the new songs we see and crave to always hear.

Music videos have specifically come so far, advanced in progression if you ask me. MTV music videos used to host some of the first music videos available to general public, many consisting of bands simply playing one of their songs behind a green screened CGI image which at the time amazed people, Video Killed The Radio Star was actually the first music video to start this trend. This created a wave of many other artists racing to do the same style of videos. The rap genre wasn’t nearly as relevant as it is now therefore the music videos weren’t as highly esteemed for as they are in today’s society. Nonetheless, their genre’s videos respectively have changed tremendously.

I find that there is most certainly a correlation to the quality and content of a rappers music video and the money that their career has brought in. Many rappers in today’s day and age are viewed as violent due to the words they articulate their music with and to be frank, many of these rappers actually come from violent upbringings and backgrounds, music is an expression; it’s their attempt to escape these violent upbringings and in this attempt they paint a picture, as I stated previously music is an expression.   Rap has constructed itself as a concrete genre in today’s music industry, moreover turning itself into a multimillion dollar industry. But when many of these rappers are still attempting to get themselves really out there and haven’t seen multi figured contracts and paychecks, it is very common for rapper’s music videos to be based around their upbringings often structuring the whole video upon lifestyles their attempting to stray from, this is their general content and this content often has guns or drug paraphilia or things of the same nature. Chief Keef, 21 Savage, and Travis Scott are only a couple of the more current artists who have jumped on this tradition and furthered it. Yet, interestingly enough once they receive their multi figured contracts and paychecks these videos along with their lifestyles changes. Without their hefty contracts and checks their lifestyles in relation are different needless to say.

After these artists receive their checks they continue on to another tradition that usually comes along with the same genre of artists, which consists of many who come from the lowest economic tax brackets and rap about it as well as their rise to the highest economic tax bracket. However, tax bracket placement is not the only thing that changes, the content of their videos and rap also changes. A common occurrence or tradition per say is that after this influx or money and mass augment in lifestyle overall is a lavish life, some learn to conserve their money in order to make more and some artists spend it all within this new choice of lifestyle. Nonetheless, this becomes the new content they compose their songs with and moreover, their music videos. Lavish lifestyles and elegant living has most certainly ascertained respect among music video compositions. Interestingly enough the same artists producing music videos that showcase the super cars worth millions or castle like homes that their lives take place in are the same artists who previously made music videos with content of lives polar opposite of the rich, marvelous lifestyles they find themselves in. As I said, music videos are an expression, many rappers who have come from nothing like to showcase this in their videos as an expression of where they have come from and how far they truly have come.

This in itself has become another tradition in my opinion, showcasing the traversed path of economically dissatisfying lifestyles in music videos early on in careers to highlighting the lavish lifestyle you have turned your career into. People like to see this, as their music can only put their lifestyles on a pedestal that’s only so high, but when they’re seeing the rather crazy lifestyles first hand they get to see how bizarre their lifestyle and career change truly is.

 

Music Videos

Although the music video has origins in audiovisual genres before the 1980’s that can be seen in genres like the promotional clips and musical short films, the modern day music video became mainstream in 1981 with the launch of MTV. The first music video that played on MTV was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. MTV’s presence gave artists and record companies a platform to promote music using a new medium that could add dimension and help attract listeners, and the music industry of the 1980’s soon began to consider the video with as much importance as the song itself.

The most popular artists of the era, especially in the pop genre, were those who could create the most attention-grabbing videos. Artists like Madonna and Michael Jackson owed much of their success to their popular music videos. Musicians like Madonna, whose performances incorporate dancing as much as singing, could showcase their many talents and reach more audiences. Michael Jackson influenced the genre with his music video for “Thriller,” which initiated the idea that music videos could have a clear narrative. It was also one of the first music videos to utilize high production values and Hollywood directors, much like the music videos of major pop artists in today’s music industry. Michael Jackson was also the first African-American artist to have his videos played on the channel, even though many black artists were creating videos at the time and before him. MTV was often criticized at the time for playing mostly white artists. Other artists, like David Bowie in “China Girl” and “Let’s Dance,” used their videos to promote specific messages.

Although MTV is now a place of reality television shows rather than music videos, the genre still thrives on platforms like YouTube and Vevo. Most music videos of popular artists are large productions, incorporating high-profile directors, special effects, and expensive costumes, props, and locations. Many have specific social or political images meant to communicate specific messages, like Usher’s “Chains” or Beyoncé’s “Formation.” Others are flashy and creative, hoping to reach viral fame on the Internet and expand their audience, like Ok Go’s “Here It Goes Again.” Overall, artists hope to use their music videos as a way to reach the listener in new ways and often showcase other aspects of their artistic expression.

 

Word Count: 390

Bibliography

Atkinson, Sophie. “A Complete Breakdown of the History of Music Videos.” Highsnobiety. Published September 21, 2016. http://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/09/21/history-music-videos/.

“Top Ten Madonna Music Videos.” Hunger. Published August 16, 2016. http://www.hungertv.com/feature/top-ten-madonna-music-videos/.

 

Television and Rock&Roll

 

As the late 20th century arrived in America, it brought a huge wave of changing technology, music, and popular culture. An important part of this was the rise of  the Youth Culture, driven in large part by the booming post war economy. Thanks to the growing availability of disposable income, many teenagagers and young adults started receiving bigger allowances, and received more freedom. In this way, they became a valuable, growing market for companies and industries to market to sell products and music too, and also became an essential tool in shaping and manipulating the mainstream and teenage culture blossoming within American society.

The combination of new technology of television as well as the influence of youth on the mainstream culture made the rise of popularity of Rock and Roll explosive and unparallelled. Television programmers would consistently show music performances and dances on television in the late afternoon, which was a common time for teenagers and students to come home from school and turn on the television. These shows became so popular that they dominated pop culture trends, and became kingmakers within their industry. Programs like the national dance and music show American Bandstand were essential in discovering artists like Chubby Checker and Elvis.

An important audiovisial component of early rock and roll was the incorporation of specific dances, popularized by specific songs. A famous example is the Twist, popularized by Chubby Checker. Checker was a fairly unknown artist  before he appeared on American Bandstand in September of 1960. But because of his performance, the Twist dance became a national craze, inspiring many people who loved the dance for it’s ease and because it lacked the strict gender roles that earlier,  more formal dances were characterized by. The Twist was so popular it became the only pop song at the top of the Billboard 100 twice, in two separate charts.However, many Americans criticized and scorned the dance for being obscene and vulgar, because of the vigorous hip shaking it required, similar to the protests against Elvis presley in the 1950. Other famous songs popularized by Chubby Chekcer “Limbo Rock”, as well as two follow up hits to “The Twist”, named “Lets Twist Again” and “Slow Twistin”

Elvis Presley was another groundbreaking artist because not onky was he an extremely talented performer, he also was famous for his iconic sense of style, his risque dances and his heartthrob looks. Elvis Presley was one of the first celebrities to become so iconic an ingrained in the american pop culture, as it was presented by television. Along with being and undeniably talented pop singer, Elvis also appeared on television as an actor many times. He also crossed genres with country music and gospel, bringing elements of these genres together. Elvis Presley was also ground breaking in the world of dance. Thanks to television broadcasting live performances, Elvis was able to become explosive not just as a performer but also as a sex symbol. Much of the american population at this time was either very invested in ending the burgeoning sexual culture, or very interested in opening it up.Though he was often portrayed as the poster child of heterosexualioty, many modern critics have developed theories about his attraction to not only women but LGBT men.  Elvis, as a performer who blatantly and obviously used his sexuality to rile up his crowds is still one of the most popular musicians today, thought of as “The King of Rock and Roll”

Television was important within the growth of rock and roll, because rock and roll is not only about the music, but also about the pysical body language of the performers, and the things that we as consumers and participants of this music can gain from the words not said by the musicians.

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Jazz Dance in the United States

A great phenomenon in American audiovisual musical tradition was the rise of Jazz dance. Jazz dance became huge in the early 1900s, especially after World War I during the “Roaring Twenties”. This was a time of great change in the culture within United States: young people were coming back from the war and looking for ways to enjoy life after seeing so much destruction; people had more disposable income and were going out and spending it; women had earned the right to vote and were beginning to move away from the traditional home lifestyle and becoming more independent; and music was greatly changing as well. Though Jazz had been around since the late 1800s, it was mostly an African American genre that was mostly listened to in the Southeast. However, due to the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North, which began in 1910, Jazz spread throughout the country and became very popular. As it spread to northern urban areas, people began to create dances to go along with the new popular music.

Originally, the term “jazz dance” referred to tap dance. Then, as the Jazz age progressed, new dances such as the Cakewalk, Lindy Hop, Charleston, Black Bottom, Jitterbug, and Swing all became very popular. All these dances were very different than traditional forms of dance. They were rather energetic and involved a lot of fast paced, almost flailing movements. Young people very quickly fell in love with these new styles of dance because they were very fun. Soon, in every club, bar, or dance hall around the United States young Americans were doing the Lindy Hop and the Charleston.

The dances popular during the jazz age were very indicative of the sociocultural environment of the United States at the time. The youth of the country were tired of the old traditional American life style, especially after returning from World War I and witnessing all the death and destruction that had occurred over in Europe. Many Americans began to think that there was very little to life and therefor it must be enjoyed to the fullest. This era of the Roaring Twenties was a sort of mini “counterculture” era prior to the 1960s. Many people began to reject religion and the thought of an afterlife and, consequently, began to seek to enjoy life on Earth more fully. This new belief in fully enjoying the worldly life coincided with an economic boom that followed The Great War, and thus, the American people had more leisure time and more disposable income. This means that more and more people were able to spend time listening to music, learning to dance, and going out and partying and spending their new-found wealth. Many young people decided to start rebelling against their more traditional parents. Young women started going out of the house more and many even began wearing shorter dresses and bobbing their hair. These revolutionary women were known as ‘flappers’ and were a very notable part of this era of American history.

In conjunction with these new revolutionary young women, Prohibition was in place. This caused a rampant use of alcohol in the United States. This is probably because Americans just like breaking rules. Speakeasies, underground bars that illegally sold alcohol, flourished at this time and many Americans, young and old, tended to frequent these places to get away from life. At many of these speakeasies jazz music was very popular. This is how White Americans fell in love with the genre. Listening to it was also a sort of rebellion against the traditional culture of the time. Before, Jazz was seen as an African American genre of music and was taboo for many whites to listen to. However, at this time, White young people began to listen to it and started learning the dances that accompanied the music and the jazz culture.

Word Count: 652

 

References

DanceLessons.net, editors of. HIstory of Jazz dance . n.d. Web . 6 Dec 2016.

docludi2. Whiteys Lindy Hoppers .. Hellzapoppin. n.d. web . 6 dec 2016.

Renzland, Peter. What is Lindy Hop? n.d. Web. 6 Dec 2016.

Warta, Tamara. history of jazz dance. n.d. web. 6 dec 2016.

 

 

American Audio/Visual Traditions- Minstrelsy

American Audio/Visual Traditions- Minstrelsy

 

Throughout the history of the United States of America, the struggle for equal rights and fair treatment of African Americans has continuously been an issue. Specifically during the 1800’s, the treatment of African Americans was extremely poor. During this time period, African Americans were kept as slaves and were restricted from their freedom and basic human rights. Unfortunately, African Americans were often mocked and as a result, the creation of minstrelsy began to rise around the 1830’s. Minstrelsy was the performance of a white male with their face painted black acting ignorant and presenting the African American race as foolish and unintelligent. The black paint performers used was usually either made of a layer of burnt cork and cocoa butter or black grease paint. The false portraying of African Americans and the rowdy environment these shows typically had encouraged the audience to laugh and mock an entire race as a source of entertainment. This entertainment promoted the public acceptance of discrimination against African Americans. Minstrelsy became extremely popular and created staple figures that we still reference today. For example, “Jim Crow” became a popular figure originating in 1830 when a white minstrel performer, Thomas “Daddy” Rice, blackened his face with burnt cork and sang along while drinking. As Minstrelsy began to grow, the creation of Vaudeville emerged. Vaudeville originated in 1880 and lasted till about the early 1930’s. These shows were similar to the earlier minstrelsy shows except these new shows were family-friendly. This made the shows more suitable for all audiences as the earlier minstrelsy shows attracted raucous audiences. Vaudeville began at Tony Pastors Opera House in New York.

As the popularity of minstrelsy grew, the structure of the shows in blackface became more orderly. These shows were typically arranged in a 3 act format. The first section would usually enter with the performer dancing and singing on stage. The next act is usually accompanied by a variety of entertainments. A popular act performed during the second section is usually a “stump speech” in which the performer speaks in a comical monologue, nonsense sentences and malapropism. Malapropism is when a word is mispronounced in place of a similar sounding ord that produces an amusing sounding effect. This presented the African American as uneducated and illiterate. The third act was typically a musical skit or a play of some sort.

Overall, I feel that the connection between social and culture played a role in the popularity and spread of minstrelsy. The openness of such discriminating behavior increased the want for blackface entertainment. During this time period, the divide between white and black was extremely large and the fight to keep it remained. As time progressed and the social acceptance began to increase, the popularity of blackface decreased. This example shows that the entertainment business plays a significant role in our culture and everyday life.

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MTV Changed The Game

MTV changed the music industry on August 1, 1981

Aug. 1, 1981, might not immediately come to mind as an important date in history, but to a generation of music fans, it was monumental. On that day, 35 years ago, a cable TV channel that played music videos around the clock made its debut.

Part of MTV’s impact was that it transformed music into a multi-sensory medium. It wasn’t enough to sound good; suddenly bands had to be hypersensitive to their visual image. The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star was the first video shown who otherwise wouldn’t have found much of an audience on U.S. soil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwuy4hHO3YQ. What a fitting song to kickoff the MTV music video craze than a song that is all about how the introduction of television ended the radio era. Besides the glossy silver suit, when you look at the video now-a-days you would never think that people thought of this as “flashy”. The lead singer is not moving at all and the backup singers have very minimal movement. There are not even instruments shown in the video but the whole idea of music videos on the TV was so revolutionary that people automatically gravitated towards it. The song came out a couple of years prior to the launch of MTV. When MTV launched, it featured videos 24 hours a day on every day of the week. MTV creators knew its cultural and musical impact would be huge, and the selection of ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ served as the perfect harbinger for its impending significance. It also showcases the rebellious nature of rock and roll.

MTV initially had a limited audience. Cable television was not widely available in the early 1980s. As the popularity and scope expanded, MTV began to effectively define popular culture and the music industry in an unprecedented manner. Popular music became more visual. Dancing styles and clothing styles became increasingly more important. It also helped break the color barrier for popular music on television. Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ video was shown in 1983 and helped MTV and Jackson gain in popularity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi_XLOBDo_Y  ‘Billie Jean’ exemplifies the flamboyance that pop music brought to the 80’s. The video showcases the brilliant vocal range and dance moves the the talented young Michael Jackson. Also, a stark comparison from Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ and the Buggles’ ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ was how much more of a story Michael Jackson told on screen. As you follow Michael Jackson roaming the dark city streets and getting into indiscriminate shady deals behind alley ways,  it brings out an air of mystery and danger that you would get to experience by just listening to the steady tempo of the song ‘Billie Jean’. While watching the video the timbre of the song becomes dark and cool like you are getting thrown into the city night as you follow the illuminated path of Michael Jackson.

Record sales spiked for artists shown on MTV. Soon the music video became an effective marketing tool for record companies. For artists the video developed into an avenue that expanded creative boundaries and embraced and propelled technological advances, Lewis said. The increased importance of music’s visual element had a number of effects on the music industry as a whole. Jackson led to Lionel Richie, Billy Ocean and other black musicians, though leery network executives had to be persuaded all over again when rap became popular.

MTV’s impact was immense during the 1980s. It made artists like Madonna and Guns N’ Roses into stars.Some bands that were less talented but had great visual appeal became more popular. MTV did not only affect the music industry but also, arguably the political realm as well. Bill Clinton was a constant presence on MTV in 1990-91.  His outreach and charm pulled the young generation in because he felt so much more relatable than the other politicians running. Not saying that this was a direct correlation to the results of the election but he did ended up being elected president.

However, if you turn on MTV today, you’ll have a hard time finding any videos at all. The network began to back away from playing music videos in 1992, and started introducing the debut of the first reality show, The Real World, which had a huge impact on the television industry . MTV still offers a perspective of popular culture, but that it also is limited. Now there are more avenues that define popular culture, offering more diverse perspectives, I don’t think that MTV can return as the singular defining force of popular culture that it once was.

Word Count: 787

Work cited:

Marks, Creig. “The Golden Age of MTV – And Yes, There Was One.” NPR. NPR, 6 Nov. 2011. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Okla, Ben. “The Latest US and World News.” USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Video Made the Radio Star.” CNN. Cable News Network, 1 July 1998. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

MichaeljacksonVEVO. “Michael Jackson – Billie Jean.” YouTube. YouTube, 02 Oct. 2009. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Fritz5173. “Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star 1979.” YouTube. YouTube, 16 Jan. 2008. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.