2010.02.19 – Már csak 4 nap!

2010.02.18

Szia!

Ma tovább folytatjuk – és be is fejezzük – a zenés témát, mégpedig a tegnap elkezdett brit résszel.

Még egy fontos hír: 2010.02.23-án, kedden jelenik meg a magazin márciusi száma, amelyben (többek között) a következő témákról olvashatsz:

ÚJ: Kids’ Corner – angol lecke zenével gyerekeknek

Nyelvtanulás és nyaralás Máltán

A fejfedők divatja – Hats on!
… és még sok minden érdekesség és hasznos tanulnivaló!

És a címlapon lehet, hogy Te is rajta vagy?

Jó tanulást és kellemes hétvégét kívánok!

Üdv,
Nóri

BRITISHPOP MUSIC 2.

Madchester is a substyle of Britpop defined by a percolating sixteenth-note dance groove and chunky guitars. Noted Madchester bands are The Charlatans U.K., Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, and Jesus Jones.

I can’t write a page on British Pop Culture without mentioning ‘The Mods and The Rockers’. In the Sixties the music scene was said to be split along a North / South divide, the Northerners preferring rock music and wearing leather. In London it was rhythm and blues, blue beat and ska. The Londoners danced and wore smart clothes and were known as modernists or Mods. The Mod image was the wearing of shrink to fit Levi’s, Fred Perry tennis shirts and the Parka.

Emanating from London and the South East the Mods were complete followers of the latest fashion except musically, whilst the Beatles were enjoying immense popularity and success among Britain’s mainstream society in the early 1960’s, the first-wave of Mods pursued a different sound. They adopted modern jazz, which was a style of music originated in Black America, however as jazz grew in popularity, Mods began listening to Blues, Soul, Rhythm & Blues, and then moved on to Jamaican Bluebeat and Ska to stay ahead of the mainstream, bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, The Kinks, The Cyril Davis All-Stars, The Downliners, and The Small Faces became all the rage.

A Mod was a product of working class British youth of the mid-sixties. They portrayed an image of being stuck up, emulating the middle classes, snobbish and phoney. The Mod boys dressed in suits, neat narrow trousers, and pointed shoes. The girls displayed a boyish image. They darkened their eyes and wore their hair short to fit a unisex type of culture and the real status symbol was to have a Lambretta GT 200 or a Vespa GS 160. These were the scooters that they rode as part of their badge that connected them to being a Mod. The most popular and revolutionary band who could be labeled as Mods themselves were the High Numbers, later renamed The Who. Their biggest enemy?

Northern Soul is a genre from the 1960s, although the term originated in the 1970s. Beginning in the North of England the sound was based on MoTown. The culture of Northern Soul is all about spirit, loyalty, commitment – and in some cases, even obsession!

Sometimes known as Prog Rock (or even pretentiously Prog), started in England in the late 1960s, its popularity grew in the 70s and it’s still popular today, especially in the UK and Europe. It is a style of rock music associated with attempts to combine rock with jazz, classical, and folk music influences along with other forms of music.

The noun punk these days usually refers to followers of ‘punk’ culture and music. Punk Rock was started as a deliberate reaction against the mass commercialism of music. It began in New York in the early 1970’s, then unknown artists like Patti Smith, the Velvet Underground, and the Dolls of New York (changed later to New York Dolls) and Television started to do their own thing with aggressive lyrics, confrontational performances and anger against consumerism. Malcolm McLaren having failed to hit the big time in America came to the UK and teamed up with his friend Bernie Rhodes. In London they met and managed The

Sex Pistols. Their anarchistic view of the world made them instaneous celebrities. With spiked hair, tattered clothes, and safety pins as jewelry, they frequented talk shows and publicly badmouthed fellow artists, bands, and musicians. They spoke harshly of the British class system and the subjugation of the working class. They made news for concert violence, spitting at and fighting with fans. John Lydon – formerly Johnny Rotten – became the figurehead for a disillusioned generation, The Sex Pistols proved that you did not need to be able to play an instrument to be in a band – you just had to have something to say inspiring groups like The Clash, The Buzzcocks, Joy Division and The Stranglers.

Rockers generally came from "up north" and saw Mods as weedy, effeminate snobs because they had good jobs and dressed smartly. Mods saw Rockers as dirty and thick idiots as the stereotype of manual workers from rural areas. To the outsider Mods looked like nice but arrogant young chaps, whereas Rockers looked as if they were going to make trouble. Rockers enjoyed Rock and Roll, and their style consisted of jeans, boots and leather jackets. The Rockers were a British version of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang. They wore black leather and studs, had anti-authoritarian beliefs, and projected an easy rider nomadic romanticism. The Rockers lived for the present, with a scruffy, masculine, ‘bad boy’ image.

Rockers were essentially from the working class and despised any fashion. They each had the same hairstyle, shaggy with a bit of slick to it. Riding motorcycles was of the upmost importance, so they kept away from drugs and alcohol. The motorcycles were also modified or "souped up" in order to be in top racing form. Every Rocker had a ‘Triumph’ or a ‘Norton’, a brand of motorcycle.

Their favoured music? Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Animals and The Trogs. Even the Beatles, who started their life as a leather clad rock band The Quarrymen, made long hair fashionable.

Their biggest enemy?

Ska comes from Jamaica. It became very popular there and then travelled across to the United Kingdom when people migrated for economic reasons from the West Indies during the 1950s and 60s. Ska music fuses elements of traditional Jamaican mento and calypso music with a rhythm and blues sound. It was welcomed by the British public for its infectious fun, and quickly became a chart topper. Today Ska is still going but seems to be returning to its roots as more and more bands play full blown traditional ska.

Soca originated in Trinidad. It is a sort of fusion between Calypso and soul music. It is a lively, energetic mixture of rhythm, movement and the sort of lyrics that get the listeners into a carnival mood.

Derived from the word technology, the industrial, hard sound of techno, heavy, raw, repetitive beats, yet again the DJ is king. Associated with the rave parties held in warehouses or the middle of a field all add to the ‘Techno’ culture of rebelliousness.

Garage is another genre of music that reflects a style as well as sound, designer labels abound such as Red or Dead. Influenced by Soul, Drum and Bass and House Music it combines rhythm, funk and energy into an easy to dance to mix. In UK Garage the DJ is king.

Listening to pop music can be a good way to improve your English and study new vocabulary, (not always good grammar though). You could buy some albums of British pop music and study the words of the songs (but note than most CDs bought in the UK do not include the words to the songs).

Be careful in choosing who to follow, choose bands who favour lyrical content over repetitive beats or loud music. If you already have a favourite rock group, you can visit their website, join their fan club or post messages onto their message board. If not see below:-