The first electronic device that I had that changed my perspective on music is not the TV with my MTV channel, it was actually my playstation portable, or better known as the PSP. I had a disk that consisted of 5 music videos from each popular genre: rap, alternative rock, heavy metal, Reggaeton, and jazz. I remember how cool I felt because this was the closest thing I had to an iPod.

Although the PSP’s sole purpose was not for music, it worked for me, but It did introduce me to acquiring and experiencing a portable way to listen to music. Alt’s passage on the SONY walkman also demonstrated a similar feeling to the portable world. Like myself, the PSP was able to fit in my pocket while I listened to all 5 songs. It was revolutionary.

In Oliver Sacks “A Bolt from the Blue” and Ellisons “Living with Music”, the concept of identity and music are shown to be symbiotic. In other words, music is a way to not only explore your identity but there is also a science behind it. It is combination of brain activity and your personal experiences and culture that change your behavior. “In those days it was either live with music or die with noise” (Ellison 1). What Ellison meant by this is that we make up the choice of how we interpret music. For some, its just sounds mixed together, but for others, it is their whole life. You can definitely see the difference of both behaviors from the brain activity.

Disco inspired the social liberation of gay culture. Back then men weren’t permitted to dance with each other and represent their sexual identity. Disco offered that opportunity of freedom of expression. Songs like “Come rain or come shine” by Judy Garland, helped resonate with queers due to their passion and emotional gravity. 

A style that “pops” into mind when considering this specific kind of topic is Pop music.  

For me, Pop music often focuses on themes like love and romance. It helps draw people together due to the sense of familiarity for their listeners. A specific song that helps support this claim is from Lady Gaga’s, “Born This Way”. This song shows that regardless of what you look like, who you choose to bear your love to, where you come from, everyone is their very own person. To accept yourself and not change yourself to fit in. We choose what decisions we make and we shouldn’t be ashamed to express that. This displays similarity to Walters’ statements, as disco helped represent sexual identity.  They made people feel welcomed for who they are. The difference is disco was more targeted for gays while Lady Gaga revolved around any kind of sexuality, gay, bi, straight, lesbian, trans, etc.  Another style that I believe is similar that helps express one’s freedom is tango. Tango helps celebrate people’s life, glorify their success, show off their style and display their egos. It helps people build confidence in who they are and what they are. Have no fear expressing their beliefs and what they represent.

I feel like the only thing that could easily be compared with what Hughes was telling us about must be rap music. Not only rap music became very controversial but also the way people respond to it is very diverse. Obviously no one can tell us how to interpret music because it is in a way like art, meaning that everyone can have a different opinion about it and understand it in a different way but there is something about rap that I associate with what I just read about. It happened that gay people find a way to express themselves through disco music but I feel like there are many more people who would somehow connect their lives with rap music as there is no taboo topics now and especially nowadays rappers talk about everything. This also creates large communities of people who struggle with similar problems. Similar music taste often means similar lifestyle or even the way we dress and I think it is impressive how music influences us. The easiest way to see the difference between this particular community would probably be going to the Chainsmokers concert and then someone like Pop smoke who is extremely popular nowadays. The arena would probably be full of people wearing black clothes that are under the influence of many different substances wearing golden chains and moving their arms to the rhythm of music. Simple as that, it creates this whole lifestyle and many people like that and that’s why those communities are so big now.

Diana Ramlal

07-21-2021

Blog Post # 3

            In the essay “In the Empire of the Beat”, Hughes describes disco music as a way for gays to express themselves freely. The beat of the music, the lyrics of the songs and feeling that comes over them helps to feel like they belong and identify with their fellow peers alike. Thinking back to Hughes defense of Disco another type of music that came to my mind was pop, and to be more specific the song that kept replaying in my mind is “it’s raining men” by The Weather Girls in 1983. This song was specifically directed to the gay community and was quickly embraced in gay dance clubs. Like “Y.M.C.A.” by The Village People, it became a gay anthem and later, a mainstream hit. Even though the song was sung from the perspective of women, it objectified men in a way that was rarely heard in popular music. This message was not lost on gay listeners who heard it as a celebration of their culture.

Disco was the music genre that reshaped the culture during the 1970s. The innovative seductive techno yet mindless sounds captivated people. The lyrics told the stories of the era political like Bee Gees Stayin’ alive, Gloria Gaynor I will survive break-up anthem to party song Michael Jackson Off the Wall. Disco was about liberation, freeing oneself from the constraints of social constructs. Dancers submitted to the disco sound-producing a free-flowing art form. People would let the music dictate their body movement, which lasted for hours on end, as seen in Studio 54 and Soul Train. Salsa is similar in this regard; the sound of the drums, plena, and guitar takes over our body. The power of music immerses the dancer is the moment to point where time is lost. The seductive yet structured moves give the music power and more meaning. Both salsa and disco require one to lose their inhibitions to feel the music truly.

Life as a new yorker is synonymous with music. Music is part of our environment, from the music blaring from the passing car with the overused base, the music from the storefronts, and the train performers. The city has a soundtrack that was made possible only through innovative technology. The headphones are a New Yorkers’ tool of escapism.

Coming from a large musical family, gathering around music has always been a norm from my grandfather’s old records playing to my uncles’ breakdancing battles with the boombox; if the music was playing, it was a family event; however, with the daily use of headphones gathering around music doesn’t happen as often as Alt points out stating music was primarily a shared experience, but now music is experienced alone. It is possible that the former social experience turned solo has contributed to our new norm of isolation. Although headphones certainly allow us to escape from the overwhelming chaos of the city, they can be dangerous, as Krukowski highlights in the opening of headspace with the woman who was listening to music via headphones and fell off her bike. Innovative technology like the iPhone has evolved our music experience using headphones and access to thousands of song selections. The sound quality of the headphones impacts our experience, especially with noise-canceling headphones like Beats by Dre.