Listening Journal # 6

For listening journal # 6 there were selections of music that I enjoyed listening to. Module 6 talks about music from the 1970's through the 1980's. As previously noted before, I am a huge fan of music from all genres as well as music eras. Vernacular music of the 70's and 80's made it's mark in the history of American popular music. Being an 80's baby, music from the disco era, rock, pop and early rap will always have a special place in my heart.

When I typically think about music from the 1970's, I always think about disco and rock music. I also take into consideration the cultural attributions that music from the 70's has had on American society. "Stairway to Heaven" is a hit song performed by Led Zepplin in the 70's. The hit British band became an American sensation with their rock and pop feel to their music. "Stairway to Heaven" is a very instrumental with great lyrics. The textbook describes "Stairway to Heaven" to be the anthem of heavy metal music. Although "Stairway to Heaven" isn't like other led Zepplin songs or the typical heavy metal songs with loud guitars and heavy drumming; it still consists of musical value. I love the smooth flow of the guitar accompaniment with the vocals. Near the end of the song the vocals gets a little louder along with the drummer providing drum fills and the guitar breaks. Then at the end of the song the instrumentals fade out as the song ends with a soft vocal.

"Oye Como Va" is a hit song by Carlos Santana. "Oye Como Va" has a Latin rock feel to the music. As we all know, Latin music is filled with great instrumentation ranging from various percussion instruments to brass, strings and keyboard instruments. I feel that the rhythm quickly locks in as soon as the music starts. It has a certain groove and emotion throughout the song. The "groove" is felt from the beginning to the end of the song. What I really love about this song is that it gives a lot of room for instrumental features. Not taking away from the lyrics of Carlos Santana however, I feel that the instrumentation along with the limited vocals has made "Oye Como Va" a hit song.

I thought that this would be my first time hearing "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads. However, after listing to the song I soon realized I had heard this song on the hit video game Guitar Hero! This is a great song and it's a shame that I haven't heard it on the airwaves on any radio station in my area. However, for that simple reason I am glad we have the opportunity to listen to such great music for our listen journal exercises. "Psycho Killer" also helped to lead the way for the punk rock era in music. The lyrics may have been out of the ordinary but I feel that it's unorthodox style gave listeners another style of popular music to enjoy. Hence in which I feel serves the purpose of vernacular music.