Popular Music Essays

Search paper Pinnacles of Perfection: Phish and the Evolution of Jamming For as much as I love Phish, there is so much music I hadn’t heard until I decided to write this paper. It was almost impossible for me to have lots of experience with all the different periods of jamming they had. I decided […]

What do we know about the psychedelic music in the sixties? Robert Fontenot, (Fontenot, 2007) tells us, “When I talk about psychedelic rock, I don’t mean hippie music (like Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, etc.) at all, I mean the all-too-few records produced be teenage bands in the short time between their discovery of hallucinogenic drugs […]

All Blues is a member of pieces from ‘Kind of Blue’. There are five pieces, entitled All Blues, Blue in Green, So What, Freddy Freeloader and Flamenco Sketches. The recording features Miles Davis on trumpet, Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley on alto sax, John Coltrane on tenor sax, and a rhythm section made up from Paul Chambers, […]

Tupac Shakur the Tragic figure Tupac was born in New York City, where he attended a prestigious Baltimore School of the Arts as a teenager that helped him launch his tragic career. Later on moved to Oakland California were the gangster rap started. He started out as a second-string rapper and dancer for Digital Underground, […]

Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Arabic, Indian, and Malay folk music. It developed in the 1970s among working class Muslim youth, but especially since the late 1990s has reached a broader following in Indonesia. A dangdut band usually consists of a lead singer backed by four to […]

Originally from Marcy Houses housing project in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City,[9] Jay-Z was abandoned by his father Adnes Reeves and shot his brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry[10] when he was twelve years old. [11] Jay-Z attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn, along with rapper AZ, until […]

It is common to hear hip-hop and rap music played on local radio stations these days, but have you ever really taken the time to listen to some of the lyrics? You might be shocked at what is really being said behind those catchy rhythms. Lots of hip-hop and rap songs that are sung by […]

CARIBBEAN MUSIC Introduction: Caribbean music originated from the Caribbean Islands, also known as the West Indies, and is a mixture of West African and European predominantly Spanish influences. The music has its origin when West African slaves were brought to Caribbean Island. They composed music with the help of percussion instruments like drums, bells and […]

Thelonious Monk “You know anybody can play a composition and use far-out chords and make it sound wrong. It’s making it sound right that’s not easy. ” This quote spoke by Thelonious Monk himself represents his whole career into two sentences. He was widely considered one of the most influential jazz piano musicians. What is […]

In the 1960’s there were many cultural changes in music. Rock and roll has been around for decades and has inspired many artists around the world such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, The Who, and The Monkees. One of the great rock and roll bands that influenced new […]

Elements of Music Project The two songs I am analyzing are by the same artist. The artist is DJ Shadow and the songs are entitled “Building Steam with a Grain of Salt” and “Midnight in a Perfect World. ” These songs are from his first album “Endtroducing…,” which was written in 1996. Shadow’s music has […]

Since the 1990s, teenagers have increasingly embraced rap music because of its catchy beats and thought-provoking lyrics. T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, has gained recognition in the rap industry for his ability to connect with inner-city teenagers through his music. His lyrics mirror the harsh realities that these teens encounter, striking a chord […]

For instance, they had taught me that “when life throws oh lemons, make lemonade” . Perhaps you are wondering what SONS had did or faced in the past? Well, let me tell you the secret. First of all, there is an incident called the black ocean occurred in the Dream Concert. Dream concert is a […]

‘The new Beatles’ that’s what they’re called, I’m talking about One Direction (1D), the new popular boy band that make the heart of most girlsbeat out of their chest. But can you say 1D are the new Beatles? They have similarities but because the Beatles were popular before the members of 1D were even born […]

Reggae is the musical genre of the island of Jamaica. Reggae originated in the early 1960’s from its precursor’s ska, rocksteady, and dub. It’s origins can be found in African, Caribbean, and rhythm and blues music of America. Reggae is often associated with the religion of Rastafarianism which spread throughout the world by the music […]

Reggae is a genre that developed from numerous musical styles. It is rooted in the music of black slaves transported from Ghana by the Spanish in the 15th century. They created a unique style of music that was popular as mento in Jamaican folk music from centuries and changed in the 1960s and 70s, in […]

Despite losing his sight in childhood, Stevie Wonder became a renowned American icon and musical prodigy. His heightened sense of hearing likely contributed to his exceptional talent as a musician, allowing him to excel in R&B and popular music genres. “Songs in the Key of Life,” one of his most acclaimed albums, marked a pivotal […]

Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler, a Spanish singer, songwriter and actor, was born on May 8, 1975 in Madrid, Spain. He is the youngest of three children belonging to Julio Inglesias, a Spanish singer, and his mother Isabel Preysler, a magazine journalist. Following their divorce in 1978, Julio moved to Miami, Florida the next year to […]

Understanding the genre of Hip-hop requires knowledge of its origin, evolution, and impact on today’s society. Hip-hop, a controversial subject, has existed for several decades. It is commonly debated whether it promotes hate and violence or self-belief and addresses social and political issues. Critics argue that negative lyrics in rap and hip-hop music can harm […]

By the 1950’s, the blues had lost it’s primary black audience to soul music, but had gained a new audience of young white kids. To the black audience, the themes of oppression, anger and rebellion were no longer relevant and reminded them uncomfortably of their past history as slaves. In Britain, the popular music scene […]

The challenge in addressing this question is defining the term ‘black music’. Does it refer to music created by black individuals, for black audiences, both, or neither? Moreover, what distinguishes it from ‘white music’? Additionally, legal classification based on race (black or white) presents challenges, as various states historically used different criteria to determine someone’s […]

Scott Alexander (2008) asserts that musicologists widely recognize the Original Dixieland ‘Jass’ Band’s 1917 release of Dixie Jass Band One Step as the first-ever Jazz record, signifying almost a century of Jazz history. Jazz has undergone evolution and diversification, much like any other musical style or genre, resulting in several branches and sub-genres. Its inception […]