EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
History of Rock, 1970-Present
John Covach, University of Rochester
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E Madonna as Disruptive Shock Artist Notes taken on March 31, 2016 by Edward Tanguay |
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Michael Jackson and Madonna helped define
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what MTV was going to be
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how successful it could be as a force in the music business
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a tool to bring artists to their audiences
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both were very popular
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both benefited quite a bit from MTV
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both depend to a large extent on the physical presentation
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there is a certain amount of theater and live performance
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you've got to see what they are doing
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you've got to see how Madonna is juxtaposing images
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you've got to see how Michael Jackson is doing with this dance moves
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their music depended on dance beats and hook-laden melodies
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both Michael Jackson and Madonna arise out of the disco scene
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disco began to fade at the beginning of the 1980s
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but the idea that songs would be produced mainly for dancing continued to play a big part in the pop music industry
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the idea that having music that was particularly good on the dance floor was good for business
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Michael Jackson
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originally from Gary, Indiana
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a child star with the Jackson 5
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moved to a new label and renamed themselves as the Jacksons
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Michael Jackson launched a solo career as an adult
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1979 Off the Wall
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first album
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teamed up with Quincy Jones
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two big singles
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Rock with Me
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Don't Stop Till You Get Enough
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one of the most successful disco albums
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1983 Album: Thriller
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#1 in the USA
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#1 in teh UK
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many singles that make the top 5
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most important single: Billie Jean
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MTV launched in 1981
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Jackson played Billy Jean in 1983
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18 months of MTV playing to a Wayne's World type audience
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before Michael Jackson's hits
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Michael did the Moon Walk on public television
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people wanted to see it on MTV
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other singles
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Want to be Starting Something
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Human Nature
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Pretty Young Thing
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understood how to reach out and cross over to a white audience
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duet with Paul McCartney: The Girl is Mine
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Beat It
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Eddie Van Halen appears in video
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single: Thriller
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the ambition that is starting to make its way into MTV
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record company spent $500,000 to make the video
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runs 10-12 minutes
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directed by John Landis
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did Animal House
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it becomes more than the song
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the video itself is what you had to see
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here's where the hippy aesthetic comes back
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the way we present these things as video
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1987 Album: Bad
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seven hit singles
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five of which went to #1
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"Bad"
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"Man in the Mirror"
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the 80s were in many ways the decade of Michael Jackson
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his later tragic death and the scandals that swirled around him may take our attention away from how big, important and popular he was in the 1980s
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he was to the 80s what the Beatles were to the 60s
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Madonna
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born and raised in Michigan
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not too far from Gary, Indiana where Michael Jackson was born, 3 hours away
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went to the University of Michigan
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dance scholarship
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didn't finish
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moved to New York to be a dancer
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worked as a waitress
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tried to get into various Broadway shows and productions
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had more success with bands and groups pursuing music
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album: Madonna (1983)
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not so bad
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"Holiday"
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"Lucky Star"
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produced by label: Sire Warner Bros
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had produced records for punk and New Wave bands
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early 80s post disco
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you don't hear the edginess of what Madonna would become with the next album
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happy on the dance floor, girlish voice, no sense of danger, a lot of fun, no sense of confrontation
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album: Like a Virgin (1984)
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Madonna doesn't just want to be a great dancer for AM radio and dance clubs
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she wants to challenge and she wants to shock
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shock us out of our complacency
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subverts what people think women should be in our society
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disruptive shock artist
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lots of hits
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"Material Girl"
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"Angel"
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"Dress You Up"
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her performance of Like a Virgin at the MTV Video Music Awards (1984)
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starts out atop a wedding cake
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she comes down off the cake
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becomes a type of pole dance, extremely sexy, sensual and provocative
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juxtaposed the virginal bride and the sexual woman
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challenging men's expectations of women
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good mother
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in bedroom a sexual animal
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it launch Madonna as an artist of some controversy
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album: True Blue (1986)
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"Papa Don't Preach"
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album: Like a Prayer (1989)
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controversial video
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stigmata on hands
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burning crosses
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fantasy sex with a religious icon of a saint
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juxtaposing sex, guilt, the body, religion, spirituality
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movies
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1985 Desperately Seeking Susan
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1990 Dick Tracy
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opposite Warren Beatty
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was a role model for girls during the Like a Virgin era
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more importantly, she became a role model for women artists
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she took control of her career
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delivered the message that women could not only be participants in the music business
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they could be controllers and decision makers
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casts a long shadow for women after her
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she was a smart women who got us to think about some of our assumptions at a time when the culture really was changing in many ways
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pop music can be important in this way since it brings a message to a large audience
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and it can be entertaining as well
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so in many ways, Madonna was a pivotal figure