Critical Analysis OfMoney, By Pink Floyd

Almost Free is a story about a slave by the name of Samuel Johnson. Johnson was a mixed slave that lived in Warrenton, Virginia and worked to free himself and his family from slavery in the late 1700s and the early to mid-1800s. He was not like most slaves. Johnson’s father was white which gave him a lighter complexion than other slaves. His owner, as well as other town folk, took to liking him more because they believed he was a smarter, more capable slave than the rest. His owner, and a few other men with authority, helped Johnson become free and even stay in Warrenton. Though these men did help him, one must wonder if it was for an ulterior motive. It could have been to make things not seem so bad for the slaves, and thus ending a feud that would ultimately lead to the division of a nation.

Where do you fall in the American economic class system? Is it determined by the education you attain, how much you make, or/and the occupation you have? In the article ‘Show Me The Money' by Walter Mosley, he discusses many points about where all this money is being attained and mainly around the middle class that is ambiguous out of the other economic classes. Walter Mosley focuses his attention on how "most Americans are working-class wage-slaves…" (5), and yes, we can see the description of "working- class wage-slaves…" (5) can be applied to most of everybody I know and "wage slave" is the working-class of people, according to Walter Mosley.

The hippie aesthetic era was an important time in rock and roll during the late 60’s and on into the early 80’s. It was a time were rock had a sense of purpose. They sung about the issues that plagued the country. It was also a time where technology would play an important roll in the sound of music, with the advancement in recording and synthesizer technology (Covach, “The Hippie Aesthetic”). The hippie aesthetic was not immune to the advancement of music. This essay will go over three songs that represent the different aspects of this era. It’ll will review a song that is predominately hippie aesthetic, a song that is a little of both, and finally a song that has no trace of hippie aesthetic.

What if you had to pay a dollar or two extra just for that little Debbie cake or that nice, refreshing bottle of Mountain Dew? Did you know that the government is now considering taxing all junk food? Personally, I feel that no matter a tax or not people will still buy what they want. Sure, sales might drop a little (which is a good thing), but if people were buying them before I’m not sure that a slight price increase will stop them now. What makes you think that people will completely quit buying their favorite snacks and drinks that they have probably been consuming their whole lives?

A novel written by Fitzgerald, F. Scott. This movie clearly shows how people with money, people with all that fame, can be so arrogant and wouldn’t care about others. Throughout the movie, money was a big thing. Each and every scene showed how money is being used for people to be happy. The movie starts with a beautiful advice given to the character named Nick Carraway by his father that “Always try to see the best in people” An advice given to think about before criticizing others. With this beautiful start, the narrator Nick starts to talk about how he was so disgusted by everyone and everything, but only one person was excluded from his disgust. The person was Gatsby, a person with hope. From there on he started to talk about how he came to New York in summer of 1922. He stated “The parties were bigger, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the models were looser, and the ban on alcohol had backfired, making the liquor cheaper.” This gives the hint of New York all being about money. Money was like all around, parties, shows, these tall buildings, each and every thing was highlighting “wealth”. Moving forward, the narrator Nick talking about, renting a house away from the city. Just next to a colossal castle, which was owned by a person he never met, the person named Gatsby. Nick then talks about his cousin Daisy; she was married to the heir of one of the America’s wealthiest families. Her husband’s

In the essay “Sixty-Nine Cents,” by Gary Shteyngart, tells about a boy who can’t fit in the American environment thoroughly but he also can’t go back to his original root. The author is an immigrant, and in that period of time, he tries to fit in the society he’s living in. He wants to be an American, and tries to become one. In the beginning of the essay, the author says he lost his Russian accent, so it symbolizes Shteynfart’s farewell to his original culture root. He also states there are three things he wants to do in his incarnation, his new life in America, which are go to Florida, have a girl, and have a meal at McDonald’s. Then, he describes his vacation to Florida, an experience that he is now as an American that he has always been

Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” album has entered the cultural norm as a contemporary masterpiece of art, but it also continues to be an excellent vehicle for the analysis of the results of mental trauma in modern society. Inspired by the personal life of Roger Waters, the band’s bass guitarist and lyricist, “The Wall” tells the narrative of a fictional character named Pink. Pink’s life is full of misfortunes associated with the development of a post WWII society, and the album shows that inability of humanity to rationalize with modern existence. By creating a figurative, mental wall Pink shelters his psyche, or self, from the horrors of the outside world, but also abandons his humanity. Through the psychoanalytical work of Sigmund Freud, Pink’s wall can be justifiably built by the early death of his father, abusive school teachers, and his unique Oedipus complex.

In the book Anthem, Equality 7-2521 (Equality) lived in a society where everyone was equal and treated with disrespect. The society had no tolerance for being different and having their own opinion and ideas. People couldn’t even pursue the career they dreamed of having. They were punished for disobeying any of these “rules”. Despite Equality’s strict society, his motivations in conducting his experiments are finding individuality, starting a new revolution, finding freedom, and trying to become a scholar.

Anthem, the futuristic novel pinned by Ayn Rand in 1937 gives light to a very scary place and time. This writing expressed her views and beliefs that the United States would be repeating a dark place of its history. Setting the preface where slavery and dictatorship was once more the social norm. As with most forward thinkers their thoughts and ideas are concerned extreme and not given the validity they deserve until future generation look back into the past. History and human behavior always repeats itself.

Born in 1903, Theodore Adorno is one of the most prominent figures in the Frankfurt school of communications, a school of social theory and philosophy which studied the effects and structure of the media. In 1945, Adorno published one of his most famous articles, “A Social Critique of Radio Music”. In his somehow controversial essay, Adorno claims that the music played on the radio reflects broader social behavior patterns, that benefits the power elite and numbs the masses. Adorno goes on and state four axioms he believed to be true regarding the existing capitalist society, including how we live in a society of commodities. The main problem he dissects in his article, is that now music is being treated as a commodity as well. Further,

“The rise of rock ‘n’ roll and the reception of it, in fact, can tell us a lot about the culture and values of the United States in the 1950s. According to historians James Gilbert, there was a struggle throughout the decade ‘over the uses of popular culture to determine who would speak to what audience, and for what purpose”. At the center of that struggle, rock ‘n’ roll unsettled a nation had been “living in an ‘age of anxiety’” since 1945” (p.15). Altschuler talks about how music and race interlock with one another. Rock had become a “highly visible and contested arena for struggles over racial identity and cultural and economic empowerment in the United States” (p.35). Other chapters within the book state the battles involving sexuality, generational conflicts, as well as other social issues. The author states ideas that are somewhat problematic. For example, he states that there is a myth that rock ‘n’ roll went into a “lull” following the payola hearings (the practice of record promoters paying DJs or radio programmers to play their labels ' songs) of 1959 and did not come about again until the arrival of the Beatles in 1964.

The next stanza reads, “I see this, and I hear only a few people / got all the money in this world, the rest / count their pennies to buy bread and butter.” (30-32). Throughout this stanza, the speaker critiques the way the “few people” have all this money to spend, while every other person in our society is just barely scraping by. Those people with money are not doing anything to help the less fortunate, while the people below them are struggling. The next stanza continues with this idea, “Below that cool green sea of money, / millions and millions of people fight to live, / ... trying to cross poverty to just have something.”(33,34,37). The speaker describes the money as a cool green sea to emphasize the calmness of the money flow to the rich, but then tears that coolness down by saying how people under that “sea” are fighting for survival. The sea has corrupted our society and let only few people succeed in their

For my final paper, I chose to do “Taxman”, by the Beatles, from the album Revolver. The reason for my selection was because of the background that it had to offer. George Harrison composed this track, as a way to express his anger towards the British government, and their reasoning for taking more than half his profit, in tax. My interpretation of the song, was pretty much what George Harrison explained, I felt that the song was upbeat, but the lyrics expressed a lot of anger, and questioning of Mr. Heath’s, and Mr. Wilson’s actions.

Throughout history, music has been seen as a medium in which different people all over the world can relate. Adorno criticizes, however, that songs that have the most “hits” on the top music charts or are most listened to, otherwise known as popular music, are being produced for and consumed by the masses as a commodity. He identifies popular music as being a part of a culture used for capitalism, and that we as listeners, are falling into a trap in which we believe songs have individuality and that we have the freedom to choose what we listen to. He argues that in reality these popular songs are all standardized and made to seem different through various elements that are added. In this paper, I will display how Adorno’s critique of popular music being used for capitalism applies to the song,1-800-273-8255, by hip-hop and rap artist Logic, through its standardized elements in both its content and marketing; however, I will argue that although it contains these elements, the audience is actively listening and responding to the song as it brings awareness to mental health and suicide prevention that is changing and saving lives all around us.

Ulmer 1Derek UlmerInstructor HarrisEnglish 15.23-RARD15 September 2017Is a Dollar Worth It?Kendrick Lamar, a thriving African American rap artist, grew up in Compton, California, a city notorious for gang violence and drugs, exposing him to the realities of gang life from a very young age. Kendrick writes about his many experiences in his songs, and usually attempts to deliver a message through his lyrics. Lamar’s song, “How Much a Dollar Cost,” on his album,“To Pimp a Butterfly,” is one song that is clearly intended to deliver a specific message to theaudience. This song intertwines a deep religious message while describing an interaction Lamar has with a homeless man. Since it’s told from Lamar’s