Blog Assignment 1: British Musical Experience

The British Musical Experience was just amazing! Still, I cannot believe the things that I am seeing. What I really loved was the actual lyrics that the artists wrote for some of their most famous songs, such as Yellow by Coldplay. That is my sister’s and my favorite song, so seeing the actual hand written draft of the lyrics was fabulous. Unbelievable, really. All of the outfits that people like Amy Whinehouse, (whom I have come to conclude is way more famous in the UK than in America) and Adele were in glass cases, which was pretty cool. Something that I have noticed is that most of the guys, especially rock stars, are so small! At least judging by their costumes…maybe they were just pulled back on the manikin. Anyways it was so much fun. Mathea and I made an album, and I learned some guitar! We also did a disco and some other dance that I didn’t recognize or remember. It was recorded and we could look it up online, if I didn’t leave my ticket in the gift shop…darn. Oh well! I got gifts for people J I wish that I could have taken pictures, but we were not allowed to. I would have taken pictures of the crazy guitars and the amazing outfits. Especially Boy George’s because they were some of the best. I think my favorite room was the 1962-1966 room. It was pretty psychedelic. There were the classic groovy flowers all over the place and it seemed like that era was a good time. This was also the era of the Beatles! Man, were they famous…there was a mural of all of the screaming girls on the walls for them. It was crazy. I hope that America develops something like this because it was worth it.

So, the trend that I followed throughout the musical years was the role of women and how they impacted and influenced music. Also, what personas did they tend to take on throughout the years? Starting from 1945-1962, there were not many women that were musically famous, at least not from talent. Marilyn Monroe was really the only hugely popular woman that I could find and she wasn’t even in any displays. Marilyn was talented, but for her looks and incredible sex appeal. It is clear that women were not very credible for anything more. This is the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s where women weren’t even allowed to be educated beyond house chores. Elvis started coming up in this era, introducing more sex to the picture.

The next era is from 1962 to 1966. Interestingly, there were some musical stars that were women and were displayed in the glass cases such as Dusty Springfield, Lulu, Sandy Shaw, Lilla Black, and Twiggy. Aside form Twiggy, I noticed that these women’s’ outfits were nothing special or outlandish. It was not expected of women to be outlandish or be creative. I was not able to listen to their music, nor have I heard of these women, but I suspect that it was nothing special with no real message or about anything too important. Women weren’t allowed to think really. It is an interesting contrast to the musical revolution that was also going on around this time with men. The Bealtes, The Who, and The Rolling Stones have come into the picture. This is a triple whammy with male rock stars. New music styles were being introduced that were risky and brand new. Men ruled the industry it seemed, and a woman couldn’t compete because she wasn’t allowed to top something like the revolutionary Beatles. The Beatles really changed music in general for women and men. From what I have noticed, besides Elvis and Frank Sinatra, The Beatles drove young girls absolutely nuts. They made it okay to fall in love with a superstar and scream at the top of your lungs instead of tap your foot politely. Elvis started the screaming girls, but the Beatles opened the door of people being injured at concerts because there were so many people. Also, assassinations of superstars came into the picture.

1966 to 1970 is when the chill music came into play when Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd introduced just rocking out on your guitar for ten-minute songs. Cream and the Rolling Stones were still big, but it was a male ruled era, once again. The only females that I saw, and none of them I recognized, were Raquel Welch, who was a model and Abba. Abba does sound familiar, but there was nothing as significant as The Rolling Stones.

1970-1976 had literally no women in it that I found. Not in the glass cases or the screen with the information about important people for every year. How sad. The important men were some rockers like T-rex (he has cool clothes), David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Who, Elton John, and Pink Floyd. These are some pretty incredible and impressionable musicians that are still well known today.

1976 to 1985 had the tough girls in it, finally. I think that women were allowed to come out of their shell, but the only way that society would let them so that is if they were rebellious and did not follow the rules at all. All that you could be was a mindless teenybopper who sang about nothing that had a cause, even if you were talented. There was no in between, but two opposites that would work in the music industry. One was teenybopper and one that was a rebel. These rebels that I found were Blondie and Siouxse Sioux. These women clearly stepped out of the boundaries and broke the mold. The Runaways were part of this era as was, although I did not see anything about them. I might have just not looked hard enough.

1985 to1993 had two women that were of importance and they were Kate Bush, who had been around for a while, and Madonna. We all know what Madonna did for the industry, and it was amazing and desperately needed. She let the floodgates down for other women to be talented and show it off the way that they wanted it to.

            1993 to 2009 is the last few decades that The British Musical Experience addressed. Here come the many women stars that we know! In fact, I would not have been surprised if there were more women being displayed than men. Amy Whinehouse, The Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Adele, Kate Bush, Duffy, and Estelle. Keep in mind that this is Britain’s take on superstars, so some of them I did not recognize because they were not introduced to the states. All of these women exploded and were liked by boys and girls. The music industry has opened up to anything, especially with people like Lady Gaga. Anything is possible no matter what your gender is. Of course there are men that are popular, but it is no longer a male dominated industry. I think that cultural and social influence has everything to do with how many women, what they dress like, what they sang about, and how they were portrayed as musicians. As time has gone on, women are more accepted as having brains and having something worthwhile to say with their own independent thoughts.