Melinda Newman in her article "The show goes on: New sets due from Sublime, Nirvana; Pumpkins tour continues" argues that after a artist dies his music becomes more popular and meaningful. After Brad Nowell's death his band Sublime payed a tribute to him by using his tattoo as their album cover. A vast majority of music listeners had not heard his name until they learned that he had died. Most bands would pay tribute to lost members but sometimes it's too painful. Such as Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was not given a tribute because the other members thought it was a too painful to go back to his old work. We were convinced by the article because the majority band members like to honor their lost band members.
In "The Art of Dying" by Graeme Thomson we learn that the author feels that death songs should not only be about death because it becomes suffocating and grim listening experience. He feels that artists who specialize in metal genres feel stuck, and can only offer the darker side of music. He mentions how there have been great pop songs that have faced up to death with a combination of humor, humility, fear, or beauty. He addresses the fact that anyone can create music about death. There are songs about death that are not as grim such as the infamous Michael Jackson "Thriller" which embraces death. He does add that as the time of death approaches artists begin to tie death into their music which he thinks that this takes there writing to interesting places such as with Richard Thompson and David Bowie. We agree and have noticed that songs about death have a dark feeling to them. We believe that there could be more songs like "Thriller" which address death without being too dark.
James Sullivan in "Dead, Ahead" discusses how technology helps artists keep a self-preservation. Jeff Buckley released only one album when he was alive, but since his death fans have been able to enjoy everything he has worked on from live performances to late demo collections because of technology. However, artists are unable to live on if the person in control of their music does not release it. An example of this is after Kurt Cobain's death his widow Courtney Love fought for the rights of the song leaving the band with only a minor cut. We are convinced by this because we have seen many times that the work of an artist can become more popular after they die.
"Death" Playlist:
Remembering Sunday by All Time Low
Circles by All Time Low
Adam's Song by Blink 182
One Step at a Time by Four Years Strong
Lie In Our Grave by Dave Matthews Band
Cemetery Weather by Isles and Glaciers
No comments:
Post a Comment