Ryan Gill

COM 286
Dr. Kohl
12/8/16

Rock N Roll music has seen quite the variety of sounds, personalities,

and lyrical styles all the way to the beginning of the music. Other genres of

music have seen the same things, but nothing quite like rock n roll. When

you have artists like The Doors, The Clash, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and

Aerosmith, many definitions of rock n roll come to mind if you take the time

and investigate it in-depth. When it comes to my own personal definition of

rock n roll music and what I feel its like, the three words that come to mind

are community, protest, and emotion. Theyre many songs out there that

relate to these words that I could write more than the required amount for

this paper.

The first word that Ill touch on is protest. Throughout the history of

rock n roll, numerous artists have written songs expressing concerns with

war, government corruption, and other social concerns that artists believe

are major threats to all of mankind. With such a variety of songs to choose

from, the first song is London Calling by the British punk-rock group The

Clash. This song had a different type of protest meaning than other songs

that were released in that decade, such as God Save the Queen.

London Calling was released in 1979 and was written in London,

England. The song itself actually has a catchy grove and feeling to it, since
British punk-rock was heavily influenced by reggae music. During this time in

the late 70s England was in a dark place. The government was completely

out of touch with both the older and younger population, as well as the rich

and the poor. Jobs were at a premium and hard to find during this period as

well. With The Clash being about war, the war that this song talks about is

rich vs poor and youth vs the government. Its awfully similar to Street

Fighting Man by the Rolling Stones in terms of song meaning.

The second song that is without a doubt a protest song is Times They

are a Changing by Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan has written many songs describing

his feelings towards political and social issues, especially the Vietnam War

during the 60s and 70s. Songs such as Hurricane and Times They Are A

Changing can also be described as protest songs giving Dylan the chance to

express his feelings about race issues in America throughout the 60s.

Tines They are a Changing was released in 1964. The meaning behind

this song is Dylan writing about frustrated youth across America and later

became popular among the hippies that were active during the Civil Rights

Movement in the mid 1960s. The lyrics also symbolize what was happening

throughout the movement. Come senators, congressmen. Please heed the

call. Don't stand in the doorway. Don't block up the hall. For he that gets

hurt. Will be he who has stalled. There's a battle outside. And it is ragin.

This was the type of song writer Bob Dylan was that made him popular

throughout the 60s.

 The third and final song that has a theme of protest is Straight Outta

Compton by NWA. Even though NWA was the meanest, baddest rap group

during the late 80s and early 90s it still has relevance to rock music. Rap

has some origins of rock n roll and now rap artists are being inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The beats that you hear in rap music came from

artists rapping over some rock guitar riffs and solos.

Straight Outta Compton was released in 1988 when the NWA debuted

in Los Angeles. They were the poster boys for rapping about racial issues

that were happening in Los Angeles. This also came out not too long before

the whole Rodney King situation broke out when the LAPD shot and killed a

young black man named Rodney King. The lyrics and aggression you hear in

their voices makes it obvious that this is a protest song. The police are

gonna have to come and get me. Off your ass, that's how I'm going out. For

the punk motherfuckers that's showing out. This could easily be a song that

fits under the category of emotion as well.

The next word that comes to mind when trying to describe rock n roll is

emotion. Every song thats ever been created has some type of emotional

attachment from a previous experience, thats been either positive or

negative. Ballads are the greatest example of emotion songs because you

can tell or get the sense of what the artist is feeling, as well as what their

mind set is. Emotion songs can also recognize an achievement of someone

or something that a particular artist is attached too.

 The first song that captures the true feeling of emotion is Tomorrow

Never Knows by The Beatles. This is without a doubt one of the most

powerful and emotional songs that the Beatles ever released. The lyrics to

the song are extremely relaxing and can help anyone take a deep breath and

enjoy whatever it is that theyre trying to enjoy.

Tomorrow Never Knows was released in 1966 during the peak of all of

them using and experimenting with drugs such as LSD. Everyone knows that

when The Beatles greatest hits were being made in the mid 1960s they were

taking many forms of pyscholdedic drugs. Tension in the band was also

mounting at this time as well. However, when you listen to the lyrics you can

tell this song is straight emotion even though LSD probably influenced the

songwriting process. Love is all and love is everyone. It is knowing, it is

knowing. And ignorance and hate mourn the dead. It is believing, it is

believing. But listen to the colour of your dreams. It is not leaving, it is not

leaving

The second song that clearly hits the emotional nerve in both the artist

and the audience thats listening to the song is Release by Pearl Jam. If

someone is looking for a true, emotional rock n roll classic, this is the perfect

song for you. Eddie Vedder, who is the lead singer of Pearl Jam, takes his

personal life into songwriting and produced an all-time classic hit that fans all

these years later love listening to it, and hearing it live in concert.
 Written in 1991 off their debut album Ten, Eddie Vedder opens up

about his past history with his real father and step-father. When he was

young in his teens, the man who he thought was his father had died. Shortly

after his death, he learned that the man who was in his life for all these years

was actually his step-father. His real father died before he even had the

chance to connect with him. The lyrics that Eddie belts out come straight

from the heart its that obvious. Oh, dear Dad, can you see me now? I am

myself, like you somehow. I'll ride the wave where it takes me. I'll hold the

pain, release me. Ohh, ohh I, ohh ohh. Anytime I listen to this song I even

get shaken up a little bit even though Ive never had the experience of losing

a parent and hope that I never do. The tone throughout the whole song with

the opening guitar riff is dark, sad, and gives you the chills right away, even

if youve listened to it numerous times.

The third song that hits an emotional nerve as well is What It Takes

by the greatest American Rock N Roll Band Aerosmith. For a long period of

time the chorus of this song was actually my ringtone because its probably

my favorite Aerosmith song besides Dream On. Unlike Release, What It Takes

doesnt really have the feeling of a sad, emotional rock ballad. When you

listen closely to the beat and style that they go with, it sounds like an older

country song from the late 80s, only to have a few heavy guitar riffs

included throughout. This is how you can tell that Steven Tyler has the

country roots deep to his core of songwriting.

 What It Takes was released in 1989 of the album Pump which contains

a lot of Aerosmith classics that are well-known by fans. This was the second

album made by Aerosmith after Steven Tyler and Joe Perry became clean of

drug use, which nearly caused the band to never play together again many

times throughout their prime. The meaning of the song is quite simple. Its

about breaking up with a girlfriend and wanting to know what it takes to get

over it. The lyrics can clearly define the meaning of the song, but with the

style its played, you would never know it actually is a power ballad.

The third and final word that comes to mind when I think of rock n roll

is community. Community seems to be involved in almost anything that

happens in life. Rock and Roll music is no different either. The first song that I

believe fits the category of community is Good Vibrations by The Beach

Boys.

The reason why I chose Good Vibrations as a song about community is

because when you listen to the song, the feelings of good thoughts and

happy places is running through Brian Wilsons mind. The beat is extremely

upbeat and nothing too crazy. Surf music is designed for fans to enjoy

themselves and always be thinking about surfing in California, driving a nice

car down the street, or beautiful girls running after you while youre driving

that nice car.

The second song that fits the description of community in my opinion is

Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. This song clearly identifies what is what
like living in Seattle especially during the late 1980s early 1990s. Kurt

Cobian was not a happy person throughout the duration of music career and

used his music to express how he felt. Unlike Pearl Jam, Nirvanas music is

angrier because thats the way Cobain was.

I also got this opinion that Smells Like Teen Spirit is a song that fits the

description of community is because a lot of young people that grew up in

Seattle during that time werent happy and mostly depressed. Suicide rates

were at an all-time high during this time frame as well. The style of the song

is so upbeat and fast that it gave the youth a chance to just let whatever

emotion they had out, because thats what Cobain did as well.

The third and final song that falls under community is Voodo Child

(Slight Return) by the greatest guitar player of all-time not named Jimmy

Paige, Jimmy Hendrix. Its not what youd consider to be a song that talks

about feeling good and loving life, which is what community is all about. This

is without a doubt the best song Hendrix has ever written and hes written

some good ones.

The song was released in 1968 during the time of war and protest

across the United States. Its also during the time when LSD and other drugs

were becoming popular in the songwriting process. Theres no question that

when you listen to this song that Hendrix is high on some type of drug. But,

with great guitar riffs and lyrics that talk about feeling good and loving life, it
fits the description of community. People were looking for a reason to just

relax, love life and have a good time, and Voodo Child does that.