Dad Rock Research Paper

Number Four: They Almost Gave Away One of Their Most Famous Songs. Bon Jovi's single, "You Give Love a Bad Name," almost wasn't theirs. They nearly gave the song away to the band Loverboy before coming to their senses and deciding to keep it for themselves.

The album was an instant success and was later certified

Yesterday, Pearl Jam were (rightfully) nominated for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame next year, in their first year of eligibility.

Rock and roll is nicknamed American music. This style of music arrived in the hearts of composers in the mid 1950’s. It is speculated that the first early rock and roll song was Jimmy Preston’s “Rock this joint”. Rock and roll was combined with many styles of music to make it what we hear of today, and some of those styles are boogie woogie, the rhythms of R&B, country, gospel and blues. It mostly just evolved from the 1950’s early rhythm and blues. The words “rock and roll” and concept of rock and roll was first used by Alan Freed, a Cleveland DJ, who used it when playing the song "My Baby Rocks Me with a Steady Roll". This music

Their confusion was mainly because he sung the first line before the music started. With the music playing and another line sung they stop, causing the crowd to be confused, then started too play “Lithium” which is what they said they would play instead of “Rape Me”. MTV was more than likely not happy with them but they did not stay mad. According to Loudwire’s article “23 Years Ago: ‘Nirvana: MTV Unplugged in New York’ Released After Kurt Cobain’s Death” Nirvana recorded their MTV Unplugged was recorded in 1993 but was not released until November 1, 1994, after Kurt Cobain’s death.

By the band singing and performing these songs, they showed others that it’s acceptable to be diverse and made people realize that massive changes were brewing in America, which made the band more popular. The Rolling Stones sang about issues of this time period and expressed extreme emotions that the people of the 1960s were curious to discover and accept, making their popularity reach new

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” is an analysis essay written by a Virginia Commonwealth University student, Matt Compton. In his essay, Compton analyzes the lyrics of the song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” performed by Nirvana and written by Kurt Cobain. “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, released in 1991, received many music awards. Although some could not interpret the song’s meaning, it was exactly what many youths “needed to hear”. By drawing attention to specific verses and changes in rhythm, Compton applies that the song articulated “the emotions of America’s youth.” Compton expresses that “Cobain had written and performed a song about his own confusion, and in the process he had connected with young people all over the United States.”

Nirvana was a grunge rock band formed in Washington in 1987. The band consisted of lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, bassist Chris Novoselic, and drummer Dave Grohl (Erlewine). The trio would create music that would shake the rock world. With blockbuster albums such as Nevermind and In Utero, Nirvana made its footprint in the world of music (Erlewine). Nirvana was one of the most important

Kurt Donald Cobain, the lead singer for the band Nirvana was born on February 20, 1967, and committed suicide on April 5, 1994. The talented performer became a rock legend when he started his band Nirvana in 1988. The night of April 5, 1994, Cobain committed suicide in the guest house behind his Seattle home.

Kurt Cobain did a lot before he started Nirvana. “As a child, Kurt Cobain loved art and music. He showed talent in both areas. He taught himself to play piano and he played guitar, also little league baseball.” (Kurt Cobain biography.com) Also said by Rolling Stone, “He came from a musical family. . . At four, Cobain began singing and playing piano, and gravitated to the music of bands ranging from the Beatles to the Ramones.” When Kurt was fourteen, he got his first guitar and learned to play. He dropped out of high school his senior year due to bullying, and then he started hanging around local band rehearsals.

As a child, Cobain’s main influence was Evel Knievel, and he was determined to be reckless and fearless like his hero. As Cobain grew older, however, his influences became primarily musical, and included Neil Young, nicknamed the “Godfather of Grunge,” the Beatles, and various alternative bands (DeRogatis, para. 8). His major accomplishments were his recordings, as Cobain was known as a lyricist more than a musician, despite his short-lived career.

The Nirvana trio had released four complete albums including Bleach, Insecticide, Nevermind and In Utero before their notoriety was cut short by the sudden death of lead singer Kurt Cobain. Cobain had struggled with an ongoing heroin drug addiction and had suffered from suicidal tendencies for many years leading up to his demise. On April 5, 1994 Kurt Cobain committed suicide with a shot to the head inside of his own residence in Seattle, Washington. An electric employee named Gary Smith discovered his body three days later; alongside him were a suicide note with a pen stuck through it and a shotgun. His suicide rumbled the nation.

I think the major reason why Nirvana achieved a worldwide fame rather than just on America soil like Alice in Chains lies in album "Nevermind" that Nirvana put out in 1991. That album was easy to listen without losing any of its core "Grunge" values that could appeal to anyone. Alice in Chains as I mentioned previously drew more inspiration from metal therefore their albums were usually much darker and heavier to listen to which from a global point of view captured less listeners. “Nevermind” was just genre defying as it sold over 10 million copies in America alone and won the triple platinum. “Nevermind” is a good mix of slow, gloomy and mellow songs combined with fast paced guitar riffs ending in strangling guitar solos that Kurt loved so much. Usage of soft-loud dynamics and heavy dose of insidious hooks is what makes this album shine. The last song on this album is particularly interesting because it emphasizes that Cobain was making music clearly for creative expression rather than more trivial reason like making money or building fame. You can come to that conclusion by analyzing the song “Something in the Way”. It has a very dark and haunting feel to it. Simple melancholic guitar plucks with a following soft bass line combined with not surprisingly depressing lyrics and a cello on a top of that makes a song that perfectly reflects despair,

     Rock ‘n’ roll music came of age in the sixties which was a period in the nation’s history when a young generation expressed their anguish and sense of alienation to the country’s social establishments by searching for new answers to the age-old questions concerning the meaning of life, the value of the individual, and the nature of truth and spirituality (Harris 306). The classic rock music which was created during this period gave form and substance to this search. Songs such as “My Generation” by the Who recorded the keen sense of alienation that young people felt from the past and the “Establishment” and it also showed the keen sense of community they felt among themselves.      Classic albums such as the Beatles’ “White Album,” the Who’s “Who’s Next,” Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited, and Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” capture what was essential about the time because they were both a result of that time and because they helped to produce it by reinforcing the younger generation’s feelings of alienation and separation.      Although

This trio from Seattle appeared in the public consciousness in 1991 with their single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” full with pure, raw emotions which was new that time. Nirvana was formed by Kurt Cobain singer/guitarist and Krist Novoselic bassist in Aberdeen,