In THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939), the Wicked Witch of the West gets a shock when she goes for the ruby slippers.
Jeff Lynne made a concept album with the Electric Light Orchestra about a man escaping his dull life through dreams. So what's a better cover photo than this?
ROCK Sex says, Refine the past to redefine the future.
This is the catalyst for all culture and creativity.
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In 1969, a Funky Soul group called The Winstons had a Top 10 hit with their song "Colour Him Father". The B-side was an instrumental called "Amen, Brother", and its drum solo became the basis for at least 1500 songs across the following decades!
You've heard it in everything, and you don't even know it.
Nate Harrison breaks it all down in his excellent video thesis.
"I find this quite interesting. Hundreds of tracks, dozens of DJs, a number of clubs and events, in effect an entire subculture- based on this one drumbeat. I mean, based on six seconds from 1969."
- NATE HARRISON
-"Video explains the world's most important 6-second drum loop" (2004)
(excerpt:)
"During the '80s, when DJs plundered old Jazz and R'n'B records looking for samples, HipHop music in particular and Electronic music in general were not the Pop phenomena and moneymakers we know them as today.
There seemed to be a brief few sort-of glory years back then, when the novelty of sampling and the rate at which it was being employed as a new technique proved faster than the rate at which any sort of copyright bureaucracy could maintain the law. Older bits of sampling were appropriated, perhaps under the assumption of their being able to be freely used, in the spirit of a pledge to new forms.
In other words, sampling was not seen as simply rehashing past sounds, but as an attempt to make new from something old, an artistic strategy as time-honored as creativity itself.*
Only when these Urban forms started receiving a lot of attention and making a lot of money did people and -more importantly- Corporate bigwigs who held the copyrights to much of the back catalog of contemporary American music start cracking down on copyright violation."
ROCK, er, um, JAZZ Sex takes you to the moon, Alice.
Today, we measure "How High The Moon".
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"How High The Moon" came from a Broadway revue called "Two For the Show" (1940) and quickly became a standard.
One of the greatest versions was by Les Paul and Mary Ford. The sonic wizards multi-tracked her angel chorals and his electronic guitar tones in a way that sounded as otherworldy to 1950s radio audiences as they do today.
Paul's quicksilver and fierce leads influenced all the Jazz and Rock'n'Roll that would follow.
LES PAUL and MARY FORD -"How High the Moon" (1951)
Ella Fitzgerald did the song many times, and here Sarah Vaughan does a fun homage to Ella's adventurous scatting.
SARAH VAUGHAN -"How High the Moon" (live, 1957)
Bebop pioneers often played the standards straight at dancehalls, and free-associated radically off of their chord structures in Bebop nightclubs.
New songs rose out of "How High the Moon" like these varied classics.
"Liberation for all. Everything must be rethought." ______________
Two great things hybrid a third great thing. ROCK SEX is a metaphor for the creative connections that link our shared culture together. This Pop Culture hub explores the roots and branches of Music, Film, Art, Comics, and more. _______________
Rock'n'Soul music is a baton relayed by everyone. Learn the holistic history with the most advanced Music Playlists online!:
BLUES, MAMBO, JAZZ, ROCKABILLY, SURF, BEAT, SOUL, GARAGE, PSYCHEDELIA, FUNK, GLAM, PUNK, NEW WAVE, HIPHOP, POSTPUNK, GRUNGE, RIOT GRRRL, ELECTRO, next! _______________
This is our party and everyone is invited!
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