Throughout high school I was very involved with musical theater.  Shows I performed in included Meet Me in St. Louis, Oklahoma, Urinetown, West Side Story, Beauty and the Beast, and Fiddler on the Roof.  It’s interesting how one of my favorites of the bunch (Oklahoma!) was co-written by Richard Rodgers, a name mentioned in the Star and Waterman book as being one of the most popular songwriters of the 1920s and 1930s.  When I was a mere freshman in high school learning, listening, and performing those songs, although the experience was very fun and I enjoyed doing it, the songs seemed incredibly dated and old-fashioned and, well, let’s just say not many (or any) of us appreciated them as good songs.  What’s striking to me is how songs like those WERE the hits in those days! I know we haven’t really delved into the genre of musical theater in class (but I have a hunch that’s where we’re heading), but it’s amazing when I personally consider what those songs must have been to their contemporary audiences: they were the new pop hits!  

 

Another completely separate idea that has sort of been nagging me since the beginning of this class has been the following:  I know we’re studying American popular culture and music, but sometimes it can be easy for me to feel like America is being picked on and I’d like to take a paragraph to just acknowledge that other countries do parodies, other countries make fun of other races, and although America makes fun of races, America itself gets made fun of as well.  My first (and absolute favorite) example is Flight of the Conchords, a comedy folk parody duo hailing from New Zealand, who since   their 2 season stint on HBO, have risen to tremendous popularity.  Jemaine and Bret make fun of virtually every typically-considered “American” music genre possible.  In this clip, they portray the typical American rap music video, and everything from their lyrics to the cinematography mimic in a very caricature fashion the typical rap video: <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FArZxLj6DLk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

I could honestly talk for pages about the various styles of music they make fun of, but I think that clip speaks for itself.  And what I think is great about it is how damn popular that show has become (it was for a while an “underground” favorite of mine...the novelty and obscurity has since been wiped out as they’ve grown in popularity...something that, as discussed in class, has made me slightly sad.  I can’t help it).    The show has a very basic plot, there is little to the story, in fact the story is simply a segway between songs.

 

In listening to my favorite playlists this week, I discovered the band Hanson has a song called “The Great Divide” <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dcifAzv8-bU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

This song begins with African children chanting in their native language “I have hope” and I think it’s one of those songs that really sticks out in its message attempting to erase racial boundaries. Complete with African-like chanting and a strong beat to the song, the chorus, in which the singer concludes that he finds hope in the most unlikely of places that “we can conquer this great divide,” is a powerful one.  Like we have touched on in class, there is the occasional pop song that comes along that speaks to something much much more than Katy Perry’s fireworks...