This month's newsletter will have links to watch videos of the different types of music and singers.

What happens when you play a country song backwards?

The singer gets his job back, his wife and dog come back

What is the meaning to this joke?

Country songs are usually about bad luck. So when you play the record backwards then the singer will change his luck.

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Bar culture
Welcome to our newsletter for April and the topic is music.
If you can't see the images then click here.
What's the difference between a pop star and a rock star?

A pop star is a singer created by a record company and their sole purpose is just to make money. Pop stars usually don't write their songs or make their decisions. The audience are mostly young girls and many pop stars' careers are very short.

A rock star started with very little money, performed in a pub, writes their own songs and then sign a contract with a record company. Before a record company signs them they must first have some fans.
What's the difference between a boy band and a rock band ?

A boy band is the same as a pop star, created by a record company and the boys only sing. They never met until the were hired by the record company. The aim is for young girls to go crazy in love with them.

A rock band started as a group of friends who can play different instruments and like a rock star they write their own songs. There is usually just one main singer known as the lead singer and not all of them will sing.

Music Festival is an outdoor event with many bands performing and held for over two or three days. The most famous music festival held was in the 60's called Woodstock.

Rock concert is performed in a stadium and performed by one famous band.

Pub gig is when a band that plays in a small venue such as a pub. Gig means a performance.

Garage band is when a band is just new and practices in the garage (车库) in their house. Most famous bands today started this way.

The history of rock music started in the 1800's with the African American slaves. They introduced West African rhythms (节奏), work songs, chants (号子) and spirituals (灵调) to America, which strongly influence blues (蓝调) and jazz (爵士).

In the 1950's a radio DJ called Alan Freed introduced "black music" to a white audience. He changed "Rhythm and Blues" and called it "Rock and Roll."

Rhythm and Blues lyrics (歌词) consisted of sex, hardship and anger as these songs reflected the life of black Americans. This was not suitable for radio and many white Americans were frightened of black music. (Click here to watch a video)

The first white rock and roll stars were Bill Haley and the Comets (click here to watch a video) The most famous was Elvis Presley (click here to watch video)

Guitar Legends

The first electric guitar was made in 1936 by a company called Gibson. There have been many famous guitar players

Jimi Hendrix

Click here to watch video.

Chuck Berry

Click here to watch video.

Eric Clapton

Click here to watch video.

Teenybopper

This is what we call a young girl who is interested in highly commercialized (商业) pop stars. I don't like teenybopper music!

Teeny = teenager

Bopper = back in the 50's a popular dance was called "bop"
This month's vocabulary are the different genres (种类) of music

Gospel derived from the African American churches. Click to watch video.

Soul is similar to Gospel but without any religious lyrics. Most famous soul singer is James Brown. Click to watch video.

British Invasion started in the early 60's with English bands becoming popular such as The Beatles. Click to watch video.

New Wave started in the 80's and was known for creative music videos. Most famous band is Devo. Click to watch video.

Glam Rock started in the 70's and was music where the singers and bands will dress up. Most famous singer is David Bowie. Click to watch video.

Punk Rock started in England during the 70's and is all about rebelling (造反) against society. Most famous band is The Sex Pistols. Click to watch video.

Rap and Hip hop originated in the mid-1970s among black and Hispanic (西班牙) performers in New York City. One of the earliest Rap stars was Grandmaster Flash. Click to watch video.

Break dance also started about the same time as Rap in New York. Click to watch video.

Reggae and Ska music came from Jamaica and the singer who made this popular is Bob Marley. Click to watch video.

Techno came from Chicago and is music made from a DJ. It started with Rap music where a DJ made music by scratching (打) the record to make different sounds. DJ's now produce music entirely by mixing music together. A popular DJ is Moby. Click to watch video.

Heavy Metal is loud and angry music and the most popular is Metallica. Click to watch video.

Country music is about life in rural America and especially about life as a farmer or cowboy. Country singers' have a "twang" 鼻音 in their voice. An example is Glen Campbell. Click here to watch video.

Folk music is similar to country but not about farm life. Most folk singers just play an acoustic (声学) guitar. A famous one is John Denver. Click to watch video.

Gothic 哥特 is a combination of heavy metal and glam rock. It is dark music and usually about death. The most known and controversial (争议) is Marilyn Manson. Click to watch video.

Beatles mania; in the 60's young girls would scream and cry when they watched the Beatles play. Mania means madness so it really means Beatles madness.

"It was Beatles mania at the concert." Girls were screaming so loudly when the rock band played.

"This song is top of the charts"
"This song is a hit 流行 "
"The music kids listen to is just a bunch of noise."
"I don't like this song it's just a lot of racket 乱七八糟."
"I can't get this song out of my head."
"He was famous but now he's just a has been." 过时了