The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 05, 2003, Page 7, Image 7
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, February 5, 2003 7
CONTACT US THE\ SAID IT
UUl x FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE: “Convictions
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? are more dangerous enemies of truth
E-mail us at gamecockmixeditorC&hotmail.com - than lies.”
Behi
' The Mix takes a look
some lesser-known mu
genres you prob
hear on ma
Ir
ft Josh Hutto,
a second
year
journalism
student,
hosts an
emo radio
program on
WUSC-FM.
Emo, short
for
emotional
punk,
started in
the '80s
with bands
such as
Rites of
Spring and
evolved to
the
mellower,
more
dynamic
sounds of
bands such
as Sunny
Day Real
Estate.
PHOTO BY TRISHA
SHADWELL/THE
_GAMECOCK
Emo
Straying from
their punk roots,
emo bands are
slowing tempos
BY QUINN STEINBRECHER
THE GAMECOCK
In 1985, many music fans sus
pected punk would decline after the
breakup of groups such as Minor
Threat. Bands looked instead for an
aesthetic recovery in new avenues.
In Washington, D.C., a new
movement started up, fueled by
bands such as Rites of Spring and
Moss Icon. Bands such as these
kept the energy of punk, but their
vocals became more emotionally
driven and the lyrics refocused on
self rather than political or social
agendas.
It was during that summer of
1985 at a Rites of Spring show that
someone coined the term “emo,”
short for emotional punk.
As it grew, emo branched off into
_ _v*_
a uumuci
of sub
sects such
as emo
core,
screamo
and indie
rock emo.
Most of
inese sud
genres retained their punk roots.
Indie-rock emo moved farthest
from these roots; it is now the
most popular denomination.
Pioneered by Sunny Day Real
Estate, this is the sound most uni
versally known as emo today. The
group’s landmark work “Diary”
is the album that nearly every emo
band has tried to recreate.
This idea that everyone is try
ing to emulate “Diary” or, more re
cently, to rehash the Get Up Kids,
has resulted in a vilification of all
things emo. A few think it should
fade as soon as possible and think
that the new emo bands are not
puuuig aiij uiuxg ig
inal into their music.
And it’s true that a
few bands like Taking
Back Sunday and the
Juliana Theory have
derived entire albums
from past work.
In particular, the
juuana rneory s song
“Is Patience Still Waiting” might
come completely from the band
Thursday, which uses melodic hard
core along with some screaming.
It is interesting that while
1993’s “Diary” is considered the
zenith of emo, it is far removed
from the original idea of emo,
which was much more deeply
Emo has the
opportunity to wrestle
kids away from boy
bands, rap-rock and all
of the other soulless
mainstream drivel.
rooted in punk.
Bands such as
Sunny Day Real
Estate and Texas Is
the Reason quickly
moved on from
emo, and this dis
tancing has only
continued through
out the years.
This might be
the biggest prob
lem in today’s emo;
it has distanced it
self so much from
its original sound
that it barely ever
references its
punk-rock roots. 1
The new wave of emo bands are
simply slowing down the tempo of
their songs so that what was once
punk is now basically acoustic
rock a la Dashboard Confessional.
When comparing Rites of
Spring’s “End on End,” The Get
Up Kids’ “Something to Write
Home About” and Dashboard
Confessional’s “The Places You
Have Come to Fear the Most,” it
becomes blaringly obvious that
there is a vast expanse separating
them. Emo has the opportunity to
wrestle kids away from boy bands,
rap-rock and all of the other soul
___ess_i
less mainstream drivel. But to do
this, the genre has to distance it
self from the others with creativi
ty and originality.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com
Notable Albums
Sunny Day
Real Estate
“Diary”
Dashboard
Confessional
“The Places
You Have
Come to Fear
the Most”
Rites of
Spring
“End on End”
The Get Up
Kids
“Something
to Write
Home About”
Underground Hip-hop
BY JUSTIN BAJAN
TI1K GAMECOCK
Hip-hop, like every other musi
cal genre, has undergone many
changes from its original form.
Initially it embraced a more block
party feel — with the DJ taking
higher precedence than the em
cee. Less than a decade later, the
emphasis switched to the emcee,
making hip-hop more than just
something to party to.
The late ’80s ushered in a
heightened awareness of social is
sues, like safe sex and police bru
tality. A few years later, hip-hop
became about gin, pot, guns and
gangs as the gangsta movement
took over. But by the mid-’90s,
there wasn’t a prominent sub
genre saturating hip-hop records
and magazines. By this time hip
hop was commercial: You saw it
in Sprite commercials; you heard
it on top-40 radio; even Bill Clinton
started using hip-hop slang.
As hiD-hon was becoming the
focus of syndicated television
shows and clothing lines, some
thing was germinating in New
York City. Independent labels like
Fondle ’Em and Rawkus Records
were creating a small buzz among
hip-hop purists. What these record
labels contributed to hip-hop was
like-minded artists who were all
pretty much fed up with the cello
phane staleness of modern hip
hop.
Perhaps the most notable of
this large flux of independent
artists were the New York-based
Company Flow, who were com
posed of two emcees, El-P and Bigg
Jus, and a DJ, Mr. Len. The
group’s first album was
“Funcrusher Plus,” a recording
that found both emcees blasting
hip-hop’s status quo over El-P’s
raw production.
Not to be outdone, harbingers of
a different perspective arrived on
the West Coast. Artists such as the
Solesides Collective, Aceyalone
and Jurassic Five reflected a freer
spirit that contrasted the East’s
rugged sounds.
Where commercial hip-hop only
focused on three major regions —
the South, the North and the West
— underground hip-hop began to
branch out, as artists began pop
Notable Albums
Anti-Pop
Consortium
“Tragic
Epilogue”
“Lyricist
Lounge
Volume One”
Company
Flow
“Funcrusher
Plus”
Blackalicious
“Blazing
Arrow”
i
ping up all over the contiguous
United States. Atmosphere
emerged in Minnesota, Sage
Francis represented Rhode Island;
Dose-One, Blueprint and Illogic all
put Ohio on the map. Even Canada
gained recognition through tal
ented artists like Swollen
Members, Moka Only and
Choclajr.
♦ HIP-HOP, SEE PAGE 8
Progressive Rock
d i vcmxis numb nivnuLs
AND MIKE LUKE
THE GAMECOCK
“Progressive Rock” describes a
rock movement originating in late
’60s England. Some critics credit
The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band” as the first pro
gressive rock album. In the tradi
tion of “Sgt. Pepper’s,” progres
sive combines a sense of the space,
dynamics, virtuosity and monu
mental scope inherent in classical
music with the energy, raw pow
er and instrumentation of rock.
The English middle class pro
duced early examples in the genre,
as members had the time and
money to perfect their art. Here,
prog rock first developed a nega
tive connotation because so many
artists of the genre often wrote
pretentious, complex, and lengthy
self-indulgent music. The lyrics,
often influenced by science fiction
or mythology, tended to alienate,
rather than attract, mass appeal.
Despite barely surviving the
end of the 1970s, some progressive
rock albums did acquire commer
cial success and have transcend
ed time.
Yes released “Fragile” in 1972.
All members of Yes were classi
cally trained musicians who knew
their respective instruments like
their own children. The music
they produced for “Fragile” was
catchy, skillful, psychedelic and
energetic all at once. “South Side
of the Sky” is quite possibly the
most definitive song of the album,
but the range of dynamics and
moods expressed in all the record
ings makes it difficult to describe
any one song as the best.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer re
leased “Brain Salad Surgery” in
1974. ELP was the most commer
cially successful prog-rock band
in the,’70s, raking in as much
money in album sales and tours
as bands such as the Who and the
nulling atones, ine aiuum is
definitive of their sound because
of songs like classically adapted
“Toccata,” a radio-friendly “Still
... You Turn Me On,” and a 30
minute keyboard driven master
piece, “Kam Evil 9.”
Rush’s “Hemispheres” in 1978
and King Crimson’s “Discipline”
Notable Albums
Emerson,
Lake and
Palmer
“Brain Salad
Surgery”
Tool
“Lateralus”
The Beatles
“Sgt.
Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts
Club Band”
Rush
“Hemi
spheres”
in 1981 are two other important al
bums.
More recently, Radiohead’s
“OK Computer” and Dream
Theater’s “Scenes from a
Memory” have contributed to pro
gressive rock’s classics, perfect
ing upon the existing genres of
metal, jazz and even pop.
But the true hold ers of the pro
♦ PROG ROCK, SEE PAGE 8
Alternative Country
BY MEG MOORE
THE GAMECOCK
With “This song is sung for
anyone that’s listening/this
song is for the broken-spirited
man,” the genre of alternative
country was officially bom in
Uncle Tupelo’s 1990 release
“No Depression,” an elixir for
the common man.
Christened by critics as the
“fathers of alt-country,” Uncle
Tupelo combined the brash at
titude of punk, the raw musi
cality of rock and the honesty
of country; shook them well;
and spun out a tradition-based
brand of music.
From its appropriately
humble beginnings on a
MiQQisQinni har-hflnrVs hrpak
through album, alternative
country, or “No Depression”
music, has rocked and rattled
its way onto stages and radio
playlists nationwide, provid
ing the rougher-edged hipster
with an unapologetic style of
confessional music.
Bona-fide alternative coun
try music is brutally honest,
whether describing a singer’s
drinking habits or expounding
upon loves lost. The songs
rarely make apologies for one’s
actions, except when trying to
win back a lover.
On the surface, it sounds
rough edged and raw, yet alt
country lyrics generally man
ifest an intelligent under
standing of life and loss. It’s
not for the intellectual, but
rather the experienced man —
the person who has known
what it is to love, to lose and to
ache.
Although alt-country up
start Uncle Tupelo met its
demise in the mid ’90s, two of
its members have continued to
serve as alt-country torch
bearers, separately fronting
two of the movement’s most
prominent bands: Wilco and
Son Volt. Jeff Tweedy, Wilco’s
frontman, and Jay Farrar, Son
Volt’s star, refined and solidi
fied the confessional songwrit
ing that has secured many alt
country artists acclaim.
Alt-country has also be
Notable Albums
I Ryan
Adams
“Heart
breaker”
Uncle
Tupelo
“89/93: An
Anthology”
I Whiskey
town
“Strangers
Almanac”
Wilco
“Yankee
Hotel
Foxtrot”
come a favored platform for
the singer-songwriter.
Augmen-ting the alt-country
mix with a dose of folk sim
plicity, alt-country’s singer
songwriters have earned the
attention of critics and fans
alike.
Most notably, the genre’s
poster boy Ryan Adams has
♦ ALT COUNTRY, SEE PAGE 8