Ben's Music Blog

 I interviewed my dad for this blog assignment, he is in his 50's and grew up during the 80's at first when he was old enough to start actually listening to music. He said that he did not listen to basically any music up until he was about 11 or 12. After that, he started listening to rock on the radio or on record with his parents or friends. Shortly after MTV started to become popular. Color TV was a thing and music media shifted towards it, and music videos started to be created. This popularized music in a way that did not happen before, and my dad caught onto it when he was in his teens. He liked rock the most, mostly classic 70's and 80's rock, and the popular bands and songs that were featured on MTV. This includes bands like Dire Straits and the Buggles, and songs like "Take On Me" and "Rock the Caspar." His music taste honestly did not change all that much after that, music changed from the poppy 80's rock scene to grunge during the late...

  Grunge Music - A History and Description Grunge music is an alternative form of rock and roll which started in the late 1980's and and 1990's. This sub-genre of music is a very unique form of rock, one of which broke out in popularity because of its rough, loud, and gritty lyrics. The sound of the genre overall is very stripped down from the classic over-produced and excess sounds of music in the 80's. The very first bands to popularize the genre included Green River and Soundgarden, which were bands that created the first hit grunge albums to break away from the hair metal that was so popular in the 80's. The Pacific Northwest soon became a hotspot for the sub-genre, and its popularity began exploding as soon as albums like Come on Down and the Deep Six Compilation came out of the Seattle area. Grunge takes a step away from the usual glamorous rock scene of the 80's, and delivers a simple sounding, angsty, and alternative view to rock music that is still popular ...

 In my opinion, gender is a factor to music which makes a difference based on many different aspects. I think that gender in relation to music has changed a lot over the years, and is arguably very progressive in our current times. But in the past among ancient cultures, gender has a more traditional role in the way music is played and perceived. For example, in old Europe, men were musicians and played the instruments. Mozart had his piano, Beethoven had his violin, but women were mostly choral singers at that time. Opera was a big thing for women then and was made up of a large female group who harmonized together, while men played instruments. Going back even farther, the Native American unit and Andean unit were great representations of how music and gender culminate. The Andean man plays the harp while the woman makes the beat while singing. Or, the Native man does the fancy dance while the women do the slow methodic dances. I think that these traditions were established over ...

 I have heard a lot of ritual music in my life over the holidays, and on birthdays, and special occasions and religious events. At church or funerals or weddings or even around Christmas. I have never thought of specific songs being part of a "ritual" for certain events or holidays, but  because of the traditionality of ritual songs, it makes them similar to Andean or Native American ritual songs. The first ritual song I am going to talk about is not a common ritual song or anything most people have heard of, but Mexican tribal songs are probably the most unique "ritual" song I have heard before. It reminds me a lot of Native music in a lot of aspects, but also has a few things that are different about it; I saw a bunch of performers doing dances and singing songs that were a lot like this in Cozumel Mexico. This video is the closest I could find to the ritual songs I saw, but some of them are a lot like this but also include singing. The singing is very similar to ...

 Hey everyone, my name is Ben Huston and I honestly have never been a musician or played an instrument before. I am from Charleston South Carolina and I am a swimmer here at Converse. I was born in Houston Texas, and my family moved here when I was about 1. I have been a Charleston native ever since and now I am here at converse to pursue academics and swimming. I have a golden retriever named Kenny and he's better than your dog. (He is). One song that I would consider my current go-to would be "ADHD" by Kendrick Lamar. I would put this into the category of a "go-to" song because it is not a fast or intense song, and it reminds me of back home. It is also a good song to throw on whenever even if its early because it is very chill and helps put me into a postive mood with its catchy and sometimes relatable lyrics. Rap and hip-hop are a big part of the music I listen to because my friends and I always have listned to music like this. But the thing that makes this ...