Student Life

Listening to both Queen and Pink Floyd helped me to see how music had evolved from the 60s to the 70s. Rock became harder (therefore becoming heavy metal), appearance became a bit factor, more so than before (for example David Bowie and glam rock) disco became very influential, battling rock for music domination.

When asked to create a piece of music inspired by the 70s music (Queen/Pink Floyd), it was difficult to come up with one idea to try and create it around. Therefore, it was only logical to take parts from Queen, and parts from Pink Floyd.

Bohemian Rhapsody (one of the most well know songs by Queen) consists of several different sections. From a ballad, ending with a solo on guitar, into an almost opera style section and finally into a rock section. "At the time, it was the most expensive single ever made" (Cunningham, 1995).
Freddy Mercury, the writer of the song only stated the song is about "relationships; the band is still protective of the song's secret)" (Chiu, 2005)

"I think people should just listen to it, just think about it, and then make up their own minds as to what it says to them" 

Freddy Mercury (Davis, 1993, p. 20)

When taking into account both the fact that Bohemian Rhapsody has distinct sections, and that Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' is a concept album, a piece inspired by both would help to showcase the 70s better.

The main idea of this was first to build it around one specific thing (ala concept album/Pink Floyd). The easiest topic was to do something that we're familiar with: being a student. Then taking inspiration from Queen, it was clear that if it was in sections, it would help represent the life of the student that much clearer.

Starting off with a slow string and synth sound, it represents getting up in the morning and everything feeling a bit groggy.
As the guitar comes in, it helps to give it a bit of rhythm, getting into the swing of things and actually doing something. As the piano comes in, it helps to back up the guitar and make it more pronounced, keeping the string\synth sound in the background (because students are always tired). The removal of both the guitar and piano helps to create a more fluid song as it rises slightly then drops, helping to create a nice 'wave' of sound. All at once, a beat is 'dropped' and things start to build up immediately, which contrasts the previous sections. This helps to give the song a change in dynamics and also represents the party aspect to a typical student life. A more prominent synth sound is still present to recreate the feeling of being dizzy and almost drunk. The piece ends with a sudden stop of that fast beat and into the beginning however this time with almost a beat, bringing it full circle, from the moment a student wakes up, to the moment they go to sleep.

This was made using Protools (which I am still getting use to) however I am pleased with the result of it. One improvement is that the middle section is a little out of the time (the piano is with the strings). Although I know it's wrong, it could be interpreted as a blur of the two sections from waking up to every day activities.
Also, I think that maybe a sound that lasts the whole piece would help to give it more of a foundation. Maybe utilising another thing from Pink Floyd (music concrete). The sound of static, faintly in the background would help to represent the brain of a student and how they aren't fully taking anything in (almost a sense of being broken)

Disco in the 70s

Synonymous with the 70s is of course disco music. The groove became big and took off, clashing against the previously dominating rock music.
It contains elements of pop, funk, soul and even psychedelic to create brand new genre that people had not experienced before and were ready to get down to.
Well known performers such as ABBA, The Bee Gees, Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor became the frontrunners for disco music and is the reason it is so popular now (everyone knows a bit of ABBA whether they like it or not)
The main music components of disco music include piano, synth string,  and electroacoustic keyboards, however the core of disco relies in the beat and the prominent bass line on a bass guitar. Backed up with layering using high pitched instruments (to create harmonies) such as the violin, harp, flutes, saxophones and other wind and brass instruments.
With a heavy inference from latin music (such as the samba and the rhumba(, disco relies on a steady four on the floor beat being aided by a rhythm guitar (however it is not as present in disco compared to rock).
All of the instruments used create a soaring and uplifting tune that people associate with having a good time, which disco was all about.

Formed in 1972, ABBA (an acronym of the first letters of all 4 members) are known as one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music (after winning Eurovision in 1974 and becoming the most successful to date)
Selling over 380 million albums worldwide, they quickly dominated the 70s with their disco music and are still the second most successful music groups.

The Bee Gees started out their career as a 'rock' band in the late 60s however in the 70s, they took on a more disco feel to their music and perhaps was one of the most successful career choices to make. Famous for their signature and recognisable 3 part harmonies, the three brothers quickly made a name for themselves and have managed to sell 220 million albums worldwide, again like ABBA, making them one of the best feeling music artists of all time.
"Only Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees" (1997)
Agreeing to participate in the creation of the Saturday Night Fever was the pivotal moment in their careers where they experimented with disco, prolonging their success as well as disco's.
"Fever is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing - it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying" (Kashner, 2007).
'Night Fever' charted at number one in both the UK and the US with other songs such as 'Stayin Alive' 1 in the US, 4 in the UK

In today's music scene, disco is still present in some songs. In particular, 'Meet Me In The Pale Moonlight' by Lana Del Rey features a funky guitar in the background, very disco. Furthermore, 'I Want It All' by Karmin also has a disco feel with the funky bass line, the horn sections in the chorus, the rhythm guitar and the faint 'cowbell' sound in the background. Finally, 'Take Back The Night' by Justin Timberlake is a fusion of both disco and R&B with its use of high vocals (falsetto), horns, guitar and keyboard.

The Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd

The Dark Side Of Moon (1973), synonymous with rock music (although could be classed as psychedelic or prog rock) is one of Pink Floyd's greatest legacies and will be forever known in history as "one of the best selling albums of all time" (Werde, 2006 p. 12). Remaining on the Billboard album chart for 741 weeks, while in the UK, it is the 8th best selling of all time.

The famous album cover shown above has a strong connection to the lyrics of the song itself, and was created by George Hardie and Storm Thorgerson. The white light represents unity and was suggested by Waters (Schaffner, 1991, pp. 165-166)  which passes though the triangle which represents society, suggested by Thorgerson himself (Harris, 2006, p. 141). The 6 colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue & violet (missing indigo) represents unity being 'diffracted'.

The album has two sides both a continuos piece of music that flow into each other, a reflection of life and how it doesn't stop. How life keeps on going no matter what happens. Also, to give the album a 'life', with the beginning and ending with a heartbeat

"After Syd Barett descended into mental illness, Roger Waters took over as Pink Floyd's driving force" (Harris, 2003)
Described as a concept album, The Dark Side Of The Moon was created without Barrett's songwriting abilities. Water's wrote all of the lyrics to the album, which they had not experimented with before. The main fear was if it would work with the absence of what had been there in the previous albums. The lyrical themes include "conflict, greed, the passage of time, death and insanity, the latter inspired in part  by Barrett's deteriorating mental state" (Pink Floyd, 2003)

"The album also is also notable for its use of musical concrète" (Mabbet 1995). This is where music is taken from instruments, the voice and also everything else (such as the cash machine sound in the opening of 'Money', to symbolise the greed and consumerism).
Other instruments used - apart from the usual guitars, keyboard and occasionally a saxophone - were coins, tearing of paper and a clicking machine (all used in 'Money'). Also, on multiple tracks, for example 'Brain Damage', a synthesiser was heavily used as well as an organ and also laughter to create the descent into madness. The heartbeat sound was made using a specific drum and also a clock ticking can be heard in tracks such as 'Time'.

Psychedelic Rock

The term 'psychedelic' was "first coined in 1957 by psychiatrist Humprhy Osmond as an alternative descriptor for hallucinogenic drugs" (Murray, 2003 p. 413) while the first use of it in a musical sense was thought to have been by the "New York- base group The Holy Modal Rounders on their version of Lead Belly's 'Hesitation Blues' in 1964"  (Hicks, 2000, p. 59-60)

Typical instruments and effects and characteristics are:

• Guitars often with distortion and extreme reverb. "The guitar, once known as the "Queen of instruments" became an intense masculine tool" (Hicks, 2000, p. 22)
• Non-western instruments, often of Indian origins such as the sitar and tabla
• A keyboard sound - organ/harpsichord
• Electric instruments such as synthesisers of theremins
• Lyrics often referring (directly or indirectly) to drugs or alcohol

As John Lennon once said, "If someone thinks that peace and love are just a cliche that must have been left behind in the 60s, thats a problem. Peace and love are eternal" 
The 60s was all about loving each other and fighting 'the man'. It was about exploration and a general consensus to unite and come together, something that the world had no done in a long time.

With that idea, it paved the way for music to reflect this and to bring about a decade of unusual genres not heard of before. 
If someone was to think of The Beatles and the genre of music that they released, you might say 'pop' or 'rock'. It would be a shock if the word 'psychedelic' was mentioned, a cliche of the 60s and it's portrayal in the media. "''Hey Bulldog' boasts the Beatles' best ever psychedelic riff" (DeRogatis, 2003, p. 50)
During a recording session, "McCartney and Lennon ended up woofing and howling, and the title became 'Hey Bulldog'" (Costello, 2011)

When the members of the Beatles finally went their own ways, Lennon - the biggest user of psychotic drugs - distanced himself from that lifestyle and instead concentrated on writing song of influence and his personal experiences.

The Rolling Stones were the bad boys of the 60's. Publicly smoking, drinking and with society aware of their drug habits, they were the epitome of psychedelic rock. 
With songs such as 'Paint it, Black' having Eastern undertones and 'Something Happened To Me Yesterday' being described as "The most accurate LSD song ever" (DeRogatis, 2003, p. 53)
With several of the members being charged with drug accusations and on bail, they started to write their eleventh studio album 'Their Satanic Majesties Requests'. 
A combination of theremins, synthesisers, a string arrangement, the Stones wanted listeners to open their mind and "let the pictures come".
Albums that followed, strayed away from the psychedelic sounds and instead became less 'Rolling Stones'.