Module 6 - The Mainstream and Underground

I have to say that I greatly enjoyed most of the listening from this module.  It was nearly all music that I had heard people speak about, but I had never actually taken the time to listen to it.  This is the kind of music that would have been popular when my parents were growing up, but my mom really only listened to classical and Christian hymns, and my dad has only ever mentioned liking the Steve Miller Band.

I really enjoyed Carole King's song "It's Too Late."  I only have an association with Carole King because she sang the theme song for my favorite TV show of all time, Gilmore Girls.  I also remember that a friend of mine who was on American Idol was actually kicked off the show because her rendition of a Carole King song was rather bland.  It may have actually be "It's Too Late" that she sang.  My husband, as I was listening to this song, asked if we could get the whole record because its the kind of music he apparently grew up listening to (even though he grew up in the 90s like me, it must be the type of music his parents enjoyed).  I found it to be very easy to listen to, and I liked the aural surprises such as key change from verse to chorus.

Of course, I was very familiar with several of the songs from this week, including Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," "Hotel California," "Stairway to Heaven," and "Love to Love You Baby."  Although I had never actually heard "Crocodile Rock," I did find that it was an excellent reference to much of the early rock 'n' roll music we heard a few modules ago, and I am familiar with a lot of Elton John's working, having gone through a "phase" during college.

I found myself rolling my eyes at "Thank God I'm a Country Boy."  I'm not sure why, but it seemed so typically country that it was almost novelty.  I had trouble taking it seriously, but I am not a huge country fan either.

I also found that, while I have greatly enjoyed every single song as part of the listening assignments up to this point, that this module is where I started to feel more opinionated about the quality of the music.  I did not enjoy Psycho Killer or The Message at all, and had a lot of trouble even making it through the entire song.  It just didn't "speak" to me like so much other music does.

Overall, it is clear that the mainstream and underground during the 1970s were a place where music could truly branch into individually expressive qualities.  Of course, this was always a component of music, but it seems that people listening to popular music were beginning to be more accepting of the "weird" by this point in American history.