Supernatural and the Underclass- 3

[laespada]

Supernatural and the Underclass 3- Music

Part 1- Intro
Part 2- Dangers of Underclass

If I were to start by using one thing, I would point out the music. American rock oldies, you say. Yeah, okay, big deal. Yes,  very American, so what's your point? The point belongs to that of a generational divide that, unless you are someone born in  the 50s, or

Comments

[sonofabiscuit77]

I've been reading all your metas and finding them all fascinating. As a non-American a lot of this stuff is completely new to me and really interesting. However, as a big fan of 60's/70's rock and a Brit, I couldn't stop myself from commenting on your usage of the term "American rock" to describe the kind of classic rock on the show, so I really hope you don't mind.

The majority of bands that Dean professes to like and most of the ones that end up on the soundtrack (at least the season 1 one which I have on my MP3 player) aren't American bands. Zeppelin, Sabbath, Priest, Def Leppard, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Bad Company are all British, ACDC are Aussie/British. There are American bands of course on the show like Kansas, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Metallica, though I would hesitate to put them in the same category as the ones above who are probably "heavier" and well, better ;P (That's probably my music-snob side talking, or years of indoctrination from my other half).

However, the inspiration behind all those bands was of course a lot of the blues and folk music that you mention, and you can definitely hear it in LZ's music in particular. But they're a slightly different case, as your poster says above they're more middle class and from the South of England, like the Stones, and really flaunt their blues influences, again like the Stones. For bands like Sabbath and Priest who are from Birmingham, and Def Leppard from Sheffield, there's other working-class, industrial, British influences in their music that has nothing to do with America.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's really hard to classify any music as being outright "American" or "British" or whatever, as it all just ends up blended together, with bands gaining influences from all over. It is interesting how a lot of the time, the nationalities of bands can be completely irrelevant to the effect and inspiration their music can have on people and how those people identify themselves, so much so that the music ends up completely transcending the individual artists (which is probably a good thing in a lot of cases.)

Finally, thank you so much for writing about the "O Death" song, I have been wondering about it for a while. It was an incredibly stirring and effective piece of music, definitely the best usage of music on the show, it totally made that scene. Your comments about the kind of folk music it comes from has really prompted me to search out similar stuff.

[laespada]

Hey there-

Yeah, I was aware that some of the rock that you mentioned is actually from British artists. Others I had no clue, but I suppose that's more indicative of general Americans' awareness than anything. Which I do apologize for, and is probably something I'll get around to mentioning and correcting it.

But my history still stands, regardless of origins of specific rock bands and artists. Rock as a music genre was an American child born from previous generations, and from there picked up by other countries. Which there are most definitely other cultural influences that were added, that made them uniquely their own subgenre, and that I definitely agree with.

Maybe a better classification would be just "classic" rock, than "American" rock. There was a definite merge of cultures to produce the massive amount of awesome rock we have, and for the most part, I don't think it's too much of an issue for anyone. :D While there are most definite certain origins of the band, how they've become part of the American culture I'm discussing is pretty definite.

But yeah, I'll definitely edit my meta to reflect this. Thanks for bringing it up!

As for O Death- I love this song. It's so incredibly typical for the area it came from. My sister, first time hearing it, pegged it as Appalachian. If you'd like another recc, there's Every Night When the Sun Goes In. I remember singing it in school; it's another Appalachian song. I've been thinking about recording it, so if you're interested in listening to how it was taught to me, I can link you to it.

[sonofabiscuit77]

I'd love to hear other similar Appalachian recordings, so yes, if you wouldn't mind linking, I would definitely listen!

[laespada]

Okay so I've done a quick and dirty recording of the way I learned it. Caveat: there's a lot of crappy breath support, crappy terminal diction, and more than once I'm flat or slid off some notes. But my voice is shot from yelling at 100+ highschoolers all day, so mea culpa. Also typing near the mic at the end. D:

Here it is:




Also here is an alternate version, one that's more common, by some random dudes on the interwebbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjNsmEdbE-8&feature=related

[laespada]

Frig. Let's try this again.

[sonofabiscuit77]

Unfortunately I can't get that file to play on my computer, though I listened to the random dudes on youtube and that was a lovely recording, I loved their geeky sincerity! I'm still gutted I didn't get to hear you sing it ;D

[laespada]

It seems that tindeck hates that file.

Here, try this instead, it should work:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B74fum3VdZ3iMDY3MDY3NmUtOTRmYi00Y2MwLTkyNzAtZWEwMDI0YjUzNjFh&hl=en_US&authkey=CJ6X-4cE

Mine's a bit more traditional than their's; they have some weird swing sort of influence, but hey. :D

[laespada]

Btw, the file I linked is only about a MB, so it's teensy.