Here are the top five YouTube videos that show up when you type in "adolescent female"
Here are the top five results for "teen girl"
The second result was "naked teen girls learn to kiss"
This video was rightfully tagged for adult content and even I wasn't able to access it without a gmail account -- which was probably good for my anger management issues! It have 40,300 views and the "search tags" are: lesbian kiss,sexy girl,teen,cute,rape,,licking,make out,dykes,bathing girl ...
I might hurt someone.
Heare YouTube results for"adolescent male"
And here are the results for "teen boy"
The first result is titled "Queer teen boys kissing" and has the same explicit content flags as the teen girl video. There are no search tags listed.
The third result is titled "fff" and is flagged for explicit content. The content of the video is unclear except that it has something to do with feet.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Week 11: Music as Historical Artifact
Week 11: History and Popular Music
Our reading from this week emphasized that music can be interpreted as historical artifacts. In teaching The Things They Carried, I have become very interested in the musical preferences of America and what those preferences can “say” about America at the time. Last week I couldn’t help but defend 1969’s #1 song “Sugar Sugar” by arguing that it represented a tendency for the masses to escape into familiar and safe patterns in times of tragedy and stress.
The year just before “Sugar Sugar” topped the Billboard Hot 100, the leader on almost every popular music chart was “Hey Jude” by the Beatles. Here it is.
“Hey Jude” The Beatles #1 on Billboard Hot 100 1968
Hey Jude
Don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.
Hey Jude, don’t be afraid.
You were made to go out and get her.
The minute you let her under your skin,
Then you begin to make it better.
And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain,
Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders.
For well you know that it’s a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder.
Hey Jude, don’t let me down.
You have found her, now go and get her.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.
So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin,
You’re waiting for someone to perform with.
And don’t you know that its just you, hey Jude, you’ll do,
The movement you need is on your shoulder.
Hey Jude, don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her under your skin,
Then you’ll begin to make it
Better better better better better better, oh.
Na na na na na ,na na na, hey Jude...
Biographical context: Many music enthusiasts point out that Paul McCartney wrote this for John Lennon's son Julian to comfort him while his father (John Lennon) and his mom (Cynthia) were divorcing after an eight year marriage. The song was originally titled “Hey Jules” for John Lennon’s son Julian and many believe that the vague pronoun “she” used in the song refers to Yoko Ono.
Historical Context: 1968 was the year that took the most American casualties in the Vietnam War. This was also the year that LBJ and military leader Westmoreland claimed that “peace was on the horizon” in Vietnam – that America and its allies would soon put down the communist “insurgents” in Southeast Asia. They were both made out to seem foolish, however, when the VietCong and VietMinh launched a huge surprise offensive (known as the Tet Offensive) on a national holiday.
So Americans are faced with more tragedy, frustration, and anxiety in 1968 than in any other year of the era (I would argue) – distrust in government, loss of young draftees, failures of anti-war initiatives. I think that all this emotional trauma was what led “Hey Jude” to the top of the charts. Just like a breaking family is traumatic for a child, so the war was traumatic for America – and both needed comforting, which “Hey Jude”offered.
“Hey Jude” has a mournful tone with some vague language on which an audience can project their own pain. Lines like “Don’t be afraid,” “Take a sad song and make it better,” and “Remember to let her into your heart Then you can start to make it better” are all lines that are powerful enough to identify with but non-specific enough to apply to any trying situation.
The mournful beginning builds into a hopeful, strong ballad, finally crescendo-ing into a repeated shout of hope and the ability to rise above trauma with hope and love. “let it out and let it in/ Hey Jude begin” then “You’re waiting for someone to perform with/ and don’t you know that it’s just you Hey Jude you’ll do/ The movement you need is on your shoulder;” these lines suggest that the individual and his/her conscience are enough to move on. And finally, the song ends with a fanfare of “better better better,” etc, giving strength to both the anger of the trauma and the force of hope possible.
The song lasts nearly seven minutes in a time when song lengths are typically 2-3 minutes, showing further that there is something about the content and emotion of this song that makes it special.
When I pair this analysis with my defense of “Sugar Sugar” from last week, I am able to show a cyclical pattern of healing and not healing from the trauma of the war. The stages of grief set up by psychologists follow this pattern:
1. SHOCK & DENIAL-
2. PAIN & GUILT-
3. ANGER & BARGAINING-
4. "DEPRESSION", REFLECTION, LONELINESS-
5. THE UPWARD TURN-
6. RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH-
7. ACCEPTANCE & HOPE-
To contrast this conventional pattern of healing, we see that America in 1968 shows stages 2 and 7 in “Hey Jude” a song that demonstrates both anger and hope, then in 1969 retreats back to escapism and denial (stage 1) with “Sugar Sugar” in 1969.
I love to write papers, don’t you? I am having so much fun!
Our reading from this week emphasized that music can be interpreted as historical artifacts. In teaching The Things They Carried, I have become very interested in the musical preferences of America and what those preferences can “say” about America at the time. Last week I couldn’t help but defend 1969’s #1 song “Sugar Sugar” by arguing that it represented a tendency for the masses to escape into familiar and safe patterns in times of tragedy and stress.
The year just before “Sugar Sugar” topped the Billboard Hot 100, the leader on almost every popular music chart was “Hey Jude” by the Beatles. Here it is.
“Hey Jude” The Beatles #1 on Billboard Hot 100 1968
Hey Jude
Don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.
Hey Jude, don’t be afraid.
You were made to go out and get her.
The minute you let her under your skin,
Then you begin to make it better.
And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain,
Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders.
For well you know that it’s a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder.
Hey Jude, don’t let me down.
You have found her, now go and get her.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.
So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin,
You’re waiting for someone to perform with.
And don’t you know that its just you, hey Jude, you’ll do,
The movement you need is on your shoulder.
Hey Jude, don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her under your skin,
Then you’ll begin to make it
Better better better better better better, oh.
Na na na na na ,na na na, hey Jude...
Biographical context: Many music enthusiasts point out that Paul McCartney wrote this for John Lennon's son Julian to comfort him while his father (John Lennon) and his mom (Cynthia) were divorcing after an eight year marriage. The song was originally titled “Hey Jules” for John Lennon’s son Julian and many believe that the vague pronoun “she” used in the song refers to Yoko Ono.
Historical Context: 1968 was the year that took the most American casualties in the Vietnam War. This was also the year that LBJ and military leader Westmoreland claimed that “peace was on the horizon” in Vietnam – that America and its allies would soon put down the communist “insurgents” in Southeast Asia. They were both made out to seem foolish, however, when the VietCong and VietMinh launched a huge surprise offensive (known as the Tet Offensive) on a national holiday.
So Americans are faced with more tragedy, frustration, and anxiety in 1968 than in any other year of the era (I would argue) – distrust in government, loss of young draftees, failures of anti-war initiatives. I think that all this emotional trauma was what led “Hey Jude” to the top of the charts. Just like a breaking family is traumatic for a child, so the war was traumatic for America – and both needed comforting, which “Hey Jude”offered.
“Hey Jude” has a mournful tone with some vague language on which an audience can project their own pain. Lines like “Don’t be afraid,” “Take a sad song and make it better,” and “Remember to let her into your heart Then you can start to make it better” are all lines that are powerful enough to identify with but non-specific enough to apply to any trying situation.
The mournful beginning builds into a hopeful, strong ballad, finally crescendo-ing into a repeated shout of hope and the ability to rise above trauma with hope and love. “let it out and let it in/ Hey Jude begin” then “You’re waiting for someone to perform with/ and don’t you know that it’s just you Hey Jude you’ll do/ The movement you need is on your shoulder;” these lines suggest that the individual and his/her conscience are enough to move on. And finally, the song ends with a fanfare of “better better better,” etc, giving strength to both the anger of the trauma and the force of hope possible.
The song lasts nearly seven minutes in a time when song lengths are typically 2-3 minutes, showing further that there is something about the content and emotion of this song that makes it special.
When I pair this analysis with my defense of “Sugar Sugar” from last week, I am able to show a cyclical pattern of healing and not healing from the trauma of the war. The stages of grief set up by psychologists follow this pattern:
1. SHOCK & DENIAL-
2. PAIN & GUILT-
3. ANGER & BARGAINING-
4. "DEPRESSION", REFLECTION, LONELINESS-
5. THE UPWARD TURN-
6. RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH-
7. ACCEPTANCE & HOPE-
To contrast this conventional pattern of healing, we see that America in 1968 shows stages 2 and 7 in “Hey Jude” a song that demonstrates both anger and hope, then in 1969 retreats back to escapism and denial (stage 1) with “Sugar Sugar” in 1969.
I love to write papers, don’t you? I am having so much fun!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Week 10: "Dumb" Music
Week 10: Uncovering the Undervalued POP Song
I am currently teaching 11th graders the 60’s alongside the fictional memoir The Things They Carried. I was curious at first about protest music and war ballads, etc; however, when I started searching, I found that the protest songs were not the most popular songs of the day. The year of the war that had the largest American casualties was 1968, and “Hey Jude” topped the Billboard Hot 100. The following year, a completely different kind of song held the title. Here it is “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies…
“Sugar, Sugar” The Archies #1 Billboard Hot 100 1969
Sugar, ah honey honey
I am currently teaching 11th graders the 60’s alongside the fictional memoir The Things They Carried. I was curious at first about protest music and war ballads, etc; however, when I started searching, I found that the protest songs were not the most popular songs of the day. The year of the war that had the largest American casualties was 1968, and “Hey Jude” topped the Billboard Hot 100. The following year, a completely different kind of song held the title. Here it is “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies…
“Sugar, Sugar” The Archies #1 Billboard Hot 100 1969
Sugar, ah honey honey
You are my candy girl
And you've got me wanting you.
Honey, ah sugar sugar
You are my candy girl
And you got me wanting you
I just can't believe the lovliness of loving you,
(I just can't believe it's true)
I just can't believe the one to love this feeling to
(I just can't believe it's true)
Sugar, ah honey honey
you are my candy girl
and you got me wanting you
honey, ah sugar sugar
you are my candy girl
and you got me wanting you
When i kissed you girl I knew how sweet a kiss could be
(I know how sweet a kiss could be)
Like the summer sunshine pour you sweetness over me
(Pour your sweetness over me)
Pour a little sugar on it honey
Pour a little sugar on it Baby
I'm gonna make your life so sweet, yeah yeah yeah
pour a little sugar on it yeah
pour a little sugar on it honey
pour a little sugar on it baby
I'm gonna make your life so sweet, yeah yeah yeah
pour a little sugar on it honey
Ah sugar, ah honey honey
you are my candy girl
and you got me wanting you
Oh honey honey, sugar sugar..............You are my candy girl
“Um, okay, yeah,” was my initial reaction here – we as a country have just suffered for years from the bloodiest war in our history and this is what we are singing about? “I just can’t believe the one to love this feeling to”?!? That doesn’t even make sense!
The lollypop dance beat and sing-song melody of “Sugar Sugar” seems like it belongs in a 1950’s poodle skirt dance off rather than on the lips of draftees and anti-war protesters. Take a look at the images that go along with the single (above).
“Um, okay, yeah,” was my initial reaction here – we as a country have just suffered for years from the bloodiest war in our history and this is what we are singing about? “I just can’t believe the one to love this feeling to”?!? That doesn’t even make sense!
The lollypop dance beat and sing-song melody of “Sugar Sugar” seems like it belongs in a 1950’s poodle skirt dance off rather than on the lips of draftees and anti-war protesters. Take a look at the images that go along with the single (above).
Checkered floor? Swoopy, teased hair? Comic book characters?
Rather than pouring out emotion and pain in song, the Archies have topped the charts in 1969 by retreating into a pre-war safety zone happy place where music and the expression of emotion is familiar, unoriginal, and even copies style from generations back.
There is nothing deep or disconcerting about the lyrics, just a guy who likes a gal and thinks she’s sweet enough to eat.
But, as it turns out, this pattern of unoriginality during times of suffering is not that unusual.
In Bread and Butter Songs: Unoriginality in Pop, Ann Powers points out that, after the 9/11 attacks, memorial websites played the nap-inducing notes of Enya’s un-astounding “Only in Time” (243) and youth sang to the strong but unoriginal notes and lyrics of Lifehouse’s “Hanging by a Moment” (241). She explains that times of tragedy call for the safe and familiar and “that’s why dull songs mean so much” (241).
So what can we learn from the 1969 Chart-topper Sugar-Sugar? Well, whether we want to consider it “literature” or “good music” is one matter that Ann Powers, music critic, does not feel is especially important; “arguing for its greatness is not the point. Respecting its attractions is good enough” (243). So why is it attractive and who cares?
I think that “Sugar Sugar” was attractive to audiences in 1969 because it was a form of Escapism. I way to take minds off of the war, civil rights, etc and place it on what was familiar and unintimidating. What’s more unintimidating than young love of a sweet girl? We all know that feeling and escape into its warmth and security. The implication that I feel is important here is that that Sugar Sugar being and escapist piece and occurring in 1969 only serves to prove that the general population had much to escape from. That’s right; there’s my thesis right there.
Could we follow “dumb” chart toppers and consistently find national tragedy in its wake? I don’t know, but for 1969, it seems clear to me that the nation retreated into the familiarity of the 1950’s musical paradigm to escape the realities of its war.
David Sanjek, in his article “All the Memories Money Can Buy: Marketing Authenticity and Manufacturing Authorship” makes the argument that even music that seems paradigmatic is often a re-make or a re-make of a re-make, or draws from folk music (160). So perhaps he would argue that even “Hey Jude,” the 1968 chart-topper, was unoriginal… as much music seems to be under close inspection. But to me there is a difference between drawing from roots of the genre and literally stepping back generations to a previously popular formula like we see in “Sugar Sugar.”
If you play “Sugar Sugar” before any audience, asking what era of music it belongs in, I would guess that the vast majority would guess 1950’s, certainly not late 1960’s! I know that this guess would be based on prior knowledge of the “prototypical characteristics” of the 1950’s and its music. To quote Richard Beach, “in studying the prototypical features of […] popular music, students are learning to understand how these features not only reflect historical and cultural forces, but also shape perceptions of these forces.”
“Sugar Sugar” speaks less to the Vietnam War and more to the perception of it… the experience of it. By topping the charts with unoriginal content and years-old style, we can tell that, In 1969, people needed something the escape from.
Rather than pouring out emotion and pain in song, the Archies have topped the charts in 1969 by retreating into a pre-war safety zone happy place where music and the expression of emotion is familiar, unoriginal, and even copies style from generations back.
There is nothing deep or disconcerting about the lyrics, just a guy who likes a gal and thinks she’s sweet enough to eat.
But, as it turns out, this pattern of unoriginality during times of suffering is not that unusual.
In Bread and Butter Songs: Unoriginality in Pop, Ann Powers points out that, after the 9/11 attacks, memorial websites played the nap-inducing notes of Enya’s un-astounding “Only in Time” (243) and youth sang to the strong but unoriginal notes and lyrics of Lifehouse’s “Hanging by a Moment” (241). She explains that times of tragedy call for the safe and familiar and “that’s why dull songs mean so much” (241).
So what can we learn from the 1969 Chart-topper Sugar-Sugar? Well, whether we want to consider it “literature” or “good music” is one matter that Ann Powers, music critic, does not feel is especially important; “arguing for its greatness is not the point. Respecting its attractions is good enough” (243). So why is it attractive and who cares?
I think that “Sugar Sugar” was attractive to audiences in 1969 because it was a form of Escapism. I way to take minds off of the war, civil rights, etc and place it on what was familiar and unintimidating. What’s more unintimidating than young love of a sweet girl? We all know that feeling and escape into its warmth and security. The implication that I feel is important here is that that Sugar Sugar being and escapist piece and occurring in 1969 only serves to prove that the general population had much to escape from. That’s right; there’s my thesis right there.
Could we follow “dumb” chart toppers and consistently find national tragedy in its wake? I don’t know, but for 1969, it seems clear to me that the nation retreated into the familiarity of the 1950’s musical paradigm to escape the realities of its war.
David Sanjek, in his article “All the Memories Money Can Buy: Marketing Authenticity and Manufacturing Authorship” makes the argument that even music that seems paradigmatic is often a re-make or a re-make of a re-make, or draws from folk music (160). So perhaps he would argue that even “Hey Jude,” the 1968 chart-topper, was unoriginal… as much music seems to be under close inspection. But to me there is a difference between drawing from roots of the genre and literally stepping back generations to a previously popular formula like we see in “Sugar Sugar.”
If you play “Sugar Sugar” before any audience, asking what era of music it belongs in, I would guess that the vast majority would guess 1950’s, certainly not late 1960’s! I know that this guess would be based on prior knowledge of the “prototypical characteristics” of the 1950’s and its music. To quote Richard Beach, “in studying the prototypical features of […] popular music, students are learning to understand how these features not only reflect historical and cultural forces, but also shape perceptions of these forces.”
“Sugar Sugar” speaks less to the Vietnam War and more to the perception of it… the experience of it. By topping the charts with unoriginal content and years-old style, we can tell that, In 1969, people needed something the escape from.
Trul de Force!
Where have I been!?
As you probably already know, I am the master of orchestrating a life of three jobs, student teaching, parenting, and college. As a result, I have been forced to abandon my prior life of structured and organized work times for class, replacing it with chaos followed by more of the same! Chaos this week involves the final push for my online class in which I shall go from an F to an A in a matter of days... just you watch!
Are you ready for the madness? Let's do this.
As you probably already know, I am the master of orchestrating a life of three jobs, student teaching, parenting, and college. As a result, I have been forced to abandon my prior life of structured and organized work times for class, replacing it with chaos followed by more of the same! Chaos this week involves the final push for my online class in which I shall go from an F to an A in a matter of days... just you watch!
Are you ready for the madness? Let's do this.
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