Joseph Oliveira

10/12/14
Writing 1010
B5
The music genre Rock N Roll is an amazing genre of music. The way the genre
sounds with its distorted, and sometimes not distorted, sound of its guitar. The rhythmic beat
of the drums. The lead singers voice. All of them combined are just awe inspiring. Jaw
dropping for many. This might sound hard to believe, but even Rock, N Roll has a literacy
side to it, with its ads, tabs, and even lyrics. It doesnt matter if you are trying to read a tab or
reading the lyrics to a song, you are performing literacy either.
One example of literacy are music lyrics. Songs tell stories of people and or places
and if you read the lyrics, you are reading the story included in the song. If you were to read,
for example, Same Ol Situation by Motley Crue. This band was started in 1981 by
guitarist Mick Mars. Their genre of music was Heavy metal/hard rock. Whenever they wrote
music, their music usually involved sexualized females. As Same Ol Situation is. You are
reading about, what seems to be about, an ex-girlfriend and how her life turned out after her
and another guy broke up. The song starts out with the author, Vince Niel, giving details
about what the girl looks and acts like. Shes got an alligator bag. Top hat to match.I used
to call her Cindy. She changed her name to Sin (Same Ol Situation by Motley Crue).
This quote explains how the girl looked and how she decided to change her name. In the
second verse, it explains what happened after what seems to be a break-up. Last time I
saw them. They were kissing so softly. To the sound of wedding bells.(Same Ol

Situation). This quote is hinting about key moment in her life after she broke up with her
previous boyfriend.

Another form of Rock N Roll literacy, which in this case would be called musical
literacy, are tablature (A.K.A tabs). Tabs might not be a form of literacy for some, but for
people that play guitar or an instrument that uses tabs, it does. Tabs are a form of sheet
music, but instead the notes being notes, they are numbers on six lines. Each line
representing a string. For example, when a part of a tab has the number 5 on the 4 string from
the bottom, that means that you finger goes on the fifth fret on the fourth from the bottom
string or the D string. It takes a specific kind of literacy skill in order to read and understand
the tablature. Sheet music that uses notes, however use that same kind of literacy skill, but
are more complicated to understand. You need to be able to read notes not only on your
music, but on your instrument as well. There are also different kinds of notes called sharp,
flat, and natural notes. When you see these kind of notes, you need to place you fingers in
different spots to make the notes sound either higher or lower. Reading sheet music is a very
difficult kind of literacy, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes very easy.

Concerts can also be another great example of literacy. Well, not the concert itself, but
rather the advertisements. An example of this are the, All Bad Things Must Come To An
End advertisements for Motley Crues August 1st performance at the Usana Amphitheatre in
West Valley, Utah. There are a lot of words on this advertisement such as, the Performers.

Motley Crue with special guest star Alice Cooper. Then the poster has the motto on it. All
bad things must come to an end. The poster also has what it is. The FINAL TOUR. Then
the poster says the representer, Dodge. There is a lot of literacy on advertisements that the
reader might not even know about. The helpful things on these advertisements include, the
name of the Bands performing, the location, the date, the time, and the fact that it is the last
tour. To the Rock N Roll community, this is a very important piece of advertisement because
it is telling them, that a Rock N Roll band is going away forever.
What about the people in the Rock N Roll culture. How does literacy interact with
them? Yes it does. Although the past has classified Rock N Roll as, The Devils Advocate
or The Devils Music, Rock N Roll is no such thing. For example, the quotes from famous
Rock N Roll stars can be inspiring. We believed that anything that was worth doing was
worth overdoing (Steven Tyler of Aerosmith). The meaning behind this quote could suggest
that if you think that what you want to do is worth doing, then dont just do. Overdo it. There
are some people however that have let the suggested meaning of Rock N Roll get to them.
Suggested meaning being that you should be able to have as much fun as you want. No
matter what it is. Some girl asked me for an autograph and I asked her why, she said
because she admires me. I said she should see a shrink. Then she started crying and I started
laughing (Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue). The word shrink was classifying a psychologist.

There is literacy all around us. Even in the music we listen to. Whether it is Pop, Jazz,
classical, or even something considered dead such as Rock N Roll, literacy can be found.
The lyrics we read have it, the music we learn has it, and the advertisements for the concerts
we see have it. Music plays a major role in literacy because it is something you are
performing when you dont even know you are, so the next time you are reading lyrics or
trying to learn a song, remember this. You are preforming literacy.

Works Cited
""Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)" Lyrics." MOTLEY CRUE LYRICS. N.p., n.d. Web.
12 Oct. 2014.
"Motley Crue." Official Release: MOTLEY CRUE Announces THE FINAL TOUR.
N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
"50 More Rock'N'Roll Quotes." Clash Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
"Motley Crue." Motley Crue. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.