Confessions Of A Real Life Linus

How I Discovered Music

Beautiful nature

I grew up in sunny Southern California, first living in South Pasadena and then, at around the age of five, we moved to La Canada. This was originally a little hamlet tucked into the foothills next to Pasadena, before they put the 210 freeway through.

At that time, La Canada was a very rural place and, to me, actually quite magical. There were large groves of Oak trees and a wilderness sort of park next to a swamp, which was bordered by the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, or JPL.

It was here that I discovered my intense love of nature, spending countless hours romping through the park or the foothills. I was infamous for carrying about live creatures in my pocket; a legless lizard, a turtle or a frog or two. I would always ask whatever hapless adult neighbor I saw if they wanted to see ‘my critter.’  In the spring, when the tadpoles hatched at the park, my friends and I would carry buckets full of frogs back home. The park has now, alas, become a frisbee golf course and the swamp has been drained.

I was an early reader and had decided that Dick and Jane had no discernable literary motives and had begun to read the works of Jules Verne and Mark Twain.

My father also had a rather neglected record collection, consisting of a mixed bag of classics to popular things like Herb Alfred And The Tijuana Brass. I was actually the only one who ever played the records and, one eventful day, I picked out a record quite randomly. It was in a very plain green album cover and the company was Angel Records.

Well, this happened to be a recording of Beethoven’s 6th Symphony and, if you’re not familiar with it, it’s called The Pastorale because each movement depicts a different scene in nature.

This was a transcendental experience for me. I didn’t need to read the record notes to know what this music was about and this started my long standing love of the classics, Beethoven in particular, since we were kindred souls in our deep love of nature.

A Brief History Of Rock 'n' Roll

The History Of Rock ‘N’ Roll

Excalibur

The Oxford School Dictionary defines Rock ‘n’ Roll as; “a kind of popular dance music with a strong beat, originating in the 1950s.” But let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?

This same dictionary gives two verbal definitions of rock; 1; “to move gently backwards and forwards or from side to side; to make something do this.” 2; “to shake someone or something violently.”

And, in the same book, the first verbal definition of roll; “to move along by turning over and over, like a ball or wheel; to make something do this.”

One could postulate, literally a large rock or boulder, embedded into the ground at the top of a hill and some force comes along to rock it, gently backwards and forwards or from side to side, until it becomes loose and moves along down the hill by turning over and over like a ball or wheel, perhaps dislodging other rocks in its path and causing an avalanche. Movement. Change in the environment.

We’re looking at a catalyst of some kind that causes formerly immovable objects to start to break loose and begin to move. 

One could postulate all sorts of immovable objects; immovable social objects such as wall flowers or hopeless introverts. There could be immovable ideas or attitudes.

Many of these did break free and begin to move in the brief history of what we called Rock ‘n’ Roll. Questions were asked, ideas were challenged. The status quo was questioned.

Perhaps this is why Rock ‘n’ Roll will never die; because we are talking about a social catalyst, rather than a specific person or musical group. These actors upon the stage were caught up in the movement themselves.

When did this movement begin? Oh, much earlier than the 1950s. And it begins anew whenever and wherever Excalibur is pulled from the stone.

Alternative Rock

What Is Alternative Rock Music?

This is a rather interesting case history as Alternative Rock was a direct response to what was seen, at that time, as the commercialization of Rock and Pop music. I have previously posted

articles on this blog having to do with what was originally a counter culture effort being seized and utilized by business interests.

This was simply big business recognising that a market existed in the supposed youth culture and effectively attacking it to the point where the youth culture reigned supreme and other age groups became marginalized.

Alternative Rock can properly be considered a subgenre of basic Rock n’ Roll. It began in the nineteen seventies and became more popular in the eighties and nineties. Some of the groups that got the ball rolling, so to speak, were R.E.M., The Smiths and Nirvana. Wikipedia has a very detailed article about this era. 

In defining what they were doing, Alternative Rock groups introduced different other musical elements into the rock format, stylistic types of things such as Punk Rock, Hard Rock and Folk. 

The basic sound of this movement contained hard driven guitar, experimental kinds of vocals, alternative time signatures and variations on the basic verse, chorus, verse that was the standard song form in Rock and Pop.

As a response to the commercialization of Rock and Pop, Alternative Rock became the new voice of cultural defiance and social commentary.

Equally important was the recognition that, as good as a particular musical movement may have been, there is always a need to move on to something else, rather than keeping on with the same thing. This is the story of music history. Great composers always saw the need to change things up from what was going on previously. Those who simply followed the current trends were quickly swallowed up by history.