Week 7

We’ve shifted in this module from the style-line of jazz-big band+blues-rock to something more unique and less grounded in the above line.  Prince embodies 80s and 90s pop rock with a techno-flavor.  Dubstep, Europop, Techno are all more rooted in the styles of When Doves Cry than When Doves Cry is in what has come before.  Electronic instruments and synthesizers are used for more music making than ever before and in more unique ways than ever before too, and proto-synths are being used here.  The shift to the focus being on the performer rather than on the chart or the listeners being active participants in the dance is in full shift.  Soon, Whitney Houston will solidify this with her rendition of the National Anthem, something that will mark the fullness of The Time of ME! and will continue right through Renee Fleming’s rendition this past Super Bowl.  When Doves Cry is boring.  The bass line, a driving force of rhythmic cohesion in other styles is bland and has little influence.  The drum set, rather than the bass (electric or acoustic) has taken the bass part’s role in time keeping and cohesion with boring, simple patterns and limited fills.  To me, Prince isn’t innovative, he’s simplistic.  Not my style. 

Nirvana and Smells Like Teen Spirit… I rather prefer the Weird Al satire myself, but this came first.  It is so different from Prince, and as different from Prince is as Prince is from what has come before.  Our two required listening examples this week are so diametrically opposed from one another.  This is still Rock, with a pulsing bass line, and my observations about Prince are completely the opposite here, as the bass line is handled by the electric bass.  There are extended guitar solos, and we’re back to the music being about the music.  At least until they smash their guitars in some live performance of the chart.  Pity that Nirvana wasn’t able to stay on the scene for too long. 

Prince stands out in this week’s listening as one of the major pivot points in popular music history.  Much of the remainder of the listening, including Aerosmith, Van Halen, and the like, are all similar to Nirvana than they are to Prince.  The bass grooves, the set is interesting, and the groups are about the music.  It might have a nice beat that you can thrash to, but the music is about the music.