Rock History

last semester, I took rock music history as an elective course
it was fun and great for a music newb like me to learn in uni
and I did learn a lot more about music than before

from blues, rolling stones, beatles, soul, punk, new-wave, MTV
blah blah blah...

it was fun, cuz all we did in class was watching clips, listening tracks, and talking about their history and influences
one of the class was a jam session played by the lecture and his friends
they played blues, boogie pianos, beatles, police and it was a great session

it was great, cuz I learnt many names, events that I didn't know before
how rock'n'roll was formed, why psychedelic was popular during 60's
blah blah blah...
but one thing I realised was that different type of music use different methods to attract their audiences
like Elvis Presley, he used his look, his expressive energy, and popular tunes
like Jimi Hendrix, he used his amazing guitar techniques and expressive behaviours
like The Beatles, they used their looks, wonderful pop songs
so now, when you are talking about genres of music, I can tell...
metal - techniques, vicious images
pop - looks, sing-along tunes
hip-hop - beats and bass, hard-core images
jazz - i duno this one, just jazzy i guess...
alternative - mainly expressive...
and that's why i'm more attracted to alternative and indie-pop than other genres

though it seemed like a wonderful course, but it got exams too
I did pretty alright except for the final essay...
my poor writing skills only allowed me to write an introduction...
my topic was about "why there's no selling-out for bands nowadays? it's all about just getting heard..."
very interesting topic, and i did a lot of research
I'm just gonna write it here i guess... sigh

- "sales are no longer the absolute indicator of success or popularity that they once were" Nick Horby from 31 songs
- "in the old days, you toured to promote your records. now you release records to promote your tour"
- "we're in a computer age where most of the magic happens in the studio, rather than on stage, and power marketing record companies pump out soulless shit to a multi-medium platform by the minute. In saying that, without the internet, a lot of good music would go unheard..." Van Schie from Van She

I guess that summed up my argument

Now, let's watch the amazing performance from Santana at Woodstock in 1969
this is without the drum solo (awesome), but still good
look at how musicians expressed themselves and delivered to the audiences back then
now musicians deliver to please the audiences
it must be a heaven and hell out there, but I wish I was there...