Music & Society Project/Homework

[DeathThrash007]

I have a band seminal project in my music & society class that I pick one band that's influential to the society that's like politcally related, so I chose Iron Maiden for the band. I have to answer these questions and I need good and accurate websites (no wikipedia please!!!) to answer these questions about Iron Maiden. And this project is due on 3/3/2009.
These are all the questions that are asked for my project.

=Historical Context=

1) What was the time frame that the artist the artist entered into? Where?

2) What were major historical and/or political events that shaped the era?

3) What were the values and major conflicts of the time? (those that would influence both the mndset of the artist and how society would react to them)

=Musical History of the Artist=

1) What genres influenced the artist?

2) How are those influences manifested/evident in their music?

3) What was the sound of their music? How/why did it change over time?

4) What was the message of their music (lyrics, tones...)? How/why did it change over time?

5) What impact did they have on future music?

=Audience=

1) Who were the fans? (consider age, ethnicity/race, class, gender, geography)

2) Why did the artist appeal to this partcular group(s)? (consider political & cultural environment)

3) At the time, was the artst considered to be part of mainstream socety, or did they represent a sub/counterculture?

4) Were there any reactions against the artist? Why/why not?

=Economics=

1) What record label did the artist sign to (or not)?

2) How did the label impact the popularity and marketing of the music?

3) How did the label influence the style/ message/ image of the artist?

4) How much control did the artist have over their music? (style and message of music, their image, the marketing...)

5) Did the money/ fame impact the artists' music or image?

 

[waif]

Maiden's website has a lot of info, as do the liner notes to the rereleases of their albums and shit like that.

For the last couple, Maiden formed their own label, Sanctuary, and then recently switched from that to another label of their own creation, Phantom. Thus for number three the answer will be not at all, since they were in charge, and for number 4, they had complete control.

For #1 under audience, you'll find they have a huge following all over the world; South America, India, Japan, Eastern Europe, etc, and that there's no real reason they should appeal to those people in terms of their lyrics or message.

By the way, you should probably put this in GMD/

Two other things.
1, Maiden aren't really influential to society
2, "that's like politcally related"
Come on. People talk like that, but no one writes like that...

 

[genocide roach]

um, maiden had a HUGE influence on society, specifically in the 80s
~gR~

 

[Element_man]

1, Maiden aren't really influential to society

Come on, dude! Maiden are one of the bands that brought heavy metal music to the height of it's popularity in the 80's, and had a huge impact (along with Judas Priest and others) on popular culture at that time. Look around you now, everyone knows Iron Maiden. They're a band that's really engrained themselves into modern culture, like Elvis Prestley, Miles Davis and The Beatles did at their respective decades.

 

[waif]

I don't see how Maiden themselves actually had impact; they were part of a movement that enjoyed brief popularity, and remain popular among a small subculture. But what has Maiden done that has impacted culture? Nothing; a lot of people wore their shirts in the 80s, that's more or less it.

 

[genocide roach]

iron maiden are one of the few bands in the world who can sell out an arena. any band who can do that has had a major impact. not only did they impact america, but the entire world. and they still do today. ever seen the rock in rio dvd? the sea of people is amazing, and thats 20 year after their hayday.

also, they werent just another 80s metal band. they were THE 80s metal band.

lastly, i think the metal culture is larger than you think. its just hidden from society.
~gR~

 

[waif]

Yeah, I know, but you're confusing "impact on society" (getting people to do shit other than scream "IRON MAIDEN") with popularity (getting people to scream "IRON MAIDEN").
Also, 80s metal? In terms of popularity, they weren't the biggest.

 

[genocide roach]

im not including hair metal which WAS a fad. and the fact is, iron maiden helped pave the way for those bands.
~gR~

 

[KingVEE]

Yeah, I know, but you're confusing "impact on society" (getting people to do shit other than scream "IRON MAIDEN") with popularity (getting people to scream "IRON MAIDEN").
Also, 80s metal? In terms of popularity, they weren't the biggest.

in the early 80's, there werent bigger metal bands.

 

[waif]

For one thing, you're forgetting about glam. Dokken? Crue? Also, Priest?
Secondly, what does the fact that they're popular matter? The Jonas Brothers are very popular. Do they have an impact on society? No. Maybe the movement Maiden was part of had an impact on society (and I don't think heavy metal ever really made an impact on mainstream society except with the PMRC crap), but not Maiden themselves.

 

[Kurtz]

as great as Maiden were they had absolutely zero impact on society as a whole. They didnt change the way people thought about taboo topics, political stances, morality or anything else. Yes, there were kids with mullets and denim jackets who wanted to form bands because of Maiden but there are countless bands who have done that. In terms of a specific impact i think youd have to chosse between Elvis, The Beetles, Jimi Hendrix, Sex Pistols and U2. There are more i think but Iron Maiden certainly isnt one of them.

 

[waif]

Okay. I say we stop challenging the premise and start helping him.

1) What was the time frame that the artist the artist entered into? Where?

Maiden formed in about 1975. They didn't release for a while but they were playing shows and were important. There's a great video of a show before the first album where some guy waiting in line says something like "if I had a penny for every time I've seen maiden, I'd, uh, uh, have a bunch of pennies." The show and the details of their early days can be found on the Early Days dvd set. Obviously they originated in England, however for the first album they toured worldwide.

2) What were major historical and/or political events that shaped the era?

Well, I guess the Cold War...check out Live Behind The Iron Curtain, by the way, for the shows they played in eastern Europe and all the fans and shit. Dunno what else.

1) What genres influenced the artist?

well, Steve Harris was primarily influenced by prog rock like Genesis and Yes, but there's also a fuckton of punk on the early stuff.

2) How are those influences manifested/evident in their music?

The punk is pretty clear in the drumming early on, the prog rock themes really came out in the mid-80s with longer songs and experimentation with keyboards and guitar synths.

3) What was the sound of their music? How/why did it change over time?

Dow-dadada-dow-dow-dow-dadow-Dow-dadada-dow-dow-dow-da-dow
They made heavy use of the gallop, and Bruce Dickinson used soaring, operatic vocals, but not all that soaring or operatic really, just high-pitched.

4) What was the message of their music (lyrics, tones...)? How/why did it change over time?

The lyrics were initially vague stuff about horror and action and stuff, but then they started just writing all their lyrics about movies and wars. Lately they've been writing less about movies, more about society and war.

5) What impact did they have on future music?

Inestimable impact on heavy metal, particularly the genres of power metal, trad metal, and melodic death metal (In Flames founder Jesper Stromblad stated iirc that he began playing guitar after hearing Run to the Hills), and also some on thrash I guess (Dave Mustaine likes Maiden, I know), mostly just from being the big metal band when thrash was getting started. I guess in the vocals of some thrash bands like Anthrax.


Of course, I don't think putting in your bibliography "that guy on UM" is gonna cut it.