Assignment 2-2: Icons

The Beatles are, to this day, still regarded as one of, if not the best, band in the history of pop music. The Beatles had 20 songs hit #1 on the pop charts and there are estimates that they have sold over a billion albums worldwide. Bob Dylan was responsible for making song lyrics a legitimate form of literature. Many of his lyrics could stand on their own as poetry instead of the usual “bubble-gum” pop lyrics of the time. The Velvet Underground was one of the most critically adored rock bands in history, though only two of their 4 albums ever cracked the Billboard charts.

I chose these three icons because, as a musician these three artists have greatly influenced me. I was first exposed to The Beatles as a child because my mom would listen to them quite a bit around the house while she was doing her daily chores. The album I identified with the most was the White Album due to the sing-along quality of songs like ‘Rocky Raccoon’ and ‘The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill.’

When I first heard Bob Dylan, I realized that song lyrics could have powerful meanings and could use literary devices in order to convey a message more profound than songs like ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand.’ Songs like ‘Masters of War’ and ‘A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall’ are great examples of Dylan’s use of imagery and metaphor in a way more literary than pop lyrics had been up to that point. Dylan also showed me that a singer doesn’t have to have what would be considered a classically great voice in order to produce great music.

Finally, The Velvet Underground was the group that inspired me to want to learn how to play music. The first time I heard the song ‘Heroin’ with its discordant viola and feedback, the only thing I could think was that I wanted to learn how to do that. Their music was so interesting to me because I had never heard anything quite like it before. The simplistic nature of the songs combined with the avant-garde use of noise and drones had a really powerful effect on me as a listener.

Resources:

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/the-beatles

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/bob-dylan

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/the-velvet-underground