Janis Joplin was a music performer who played a vital role in the transformation of American society during the 1960’s. She is recognized for having had a tremendously powerful influence on the people of the counterculture, a generation who opposed social norms. This essay uses the humanistic perspective to explain the significant link between Janis Joplin and the effect that she had on the counterculture. By understanding Janis Joplin from an emotional point, one will better understand the reasoning behind her actions and motives. According to Nevid through the utilization of the humanistic perspective “the 1960’s and 1970’s was a time when many people searched inward to find direction and meaning in their lives”(431). Further more, the …show more content…
In her early years as an adolescent, Janis Joplin was known as a rebel in her home town of Port Arthur, Texas. Campbell explained that Janis “‘felt deeply conflicted by her, own desire to “belong” and her equally strong reaction against the values that glued Port Arthur society together’”(par 9). As a result, Janis latter came to the conclusion that she needs to experience life outside her home town and find a place where she could fit in. Meanwhile, the world was beginning to experience a social change in mainstream music. According to Gianoulis one of the authors of St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture “The music of the 1960s and 1970s was one of the baby boomers' most enduring contributions to American culture”(182). Uniquely so, Janis became apart of the music culture that ultimately made her a symbol of the counterculture it self. With that in mind, one needs to ask themselves exactly what was so appealing about Janis Joplin. The the truth was that there was no other person with her talent and charisma, and for a culture that was set on defining social norms, Janis was a rebellious figure that represented the …show more content…
To begin, the first life experiences that shaped Janis Joplin where within her home hometown of Port Arther, Texas. According to the Encyclopedia of World Biography “high school proved a painful period for Joplin”(183). During her adolescent years, Janis earned the reputation as a rebel, and as Gavin James Campbell explains that “Janis also began devouring the insights of the Beat writers about whom she had first read in Time, and who seemed to perfectly mirror her cultural restlessness”(Campbell par. 10). As a result the restlessness that lived inside Janis was the motivation that she needed to express herself through music, and as Jeffrey S. Nevid explains “humanistic psychologist believe that free will and conscious choice are essential aspects of the human experience”(10). As a result, Janis Joplin pursued her dreams, and went to San Fransisco where where career soon
Many RnB singers rank among the highest paid celebrities in the world. This isn’t a surprise, as RnB and its various sub-genres have been leading the popular music charts for decades. Big voices and slick dance moves often translate into successful careers and big paychecks. Here is a list of the 10 richest RnB singers in the world, who have earned extensive success through their music, tours and other various ventures.
Ella was born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917. When alled “The First Lady of Song” by some fans. She was known for having beautiful tone, extended range, and great intonation, and famous for her improvisational scat singing. Ella sang during the her most famous song was “A-tiscket A-tasket”. Fitzgerald sang in the period of swing, ballads, and bebop; she made some great albums with other great jazz artists such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. She influenced countless American popular singers of the post-swing period and also international performers such as the singer Miriam Makeba. She didn’t really write any of her own songs. Instead she sang songs by other people in a new and great way. The main exception
Joan Baez, a famous folk singer, sang her most famous song “Oh Freedom” during the civil rights movement. She expressed her want and need for equality and freedom f...
Rock n’ roll gave people the voice they did not have in the early years. As the genre of music became more wide spread, people actually began to speak out. Altschuler touches on the exploration of how the rock n' roll culture roughly integrated with replaced and conflicted with preceding cultural values. Many of these values were very touch topics. Besides black civil rights, sexuality were one of the most sensitive t...
“You'll never do a whole lot unless you're brave enough to try”-Dolly Parton. Most people only know her because of her music, which is very inspirational, however she has done so much more. She is always looking for ways to give back because she knows what it like to not have much. She loves to help kids in need. Dolly Parton is one of the most inspirational people in the world, and her influence has affected so many people that her legacy will live on long after she's gone.
Nina Simone used music to challenge, provoke, incite, and inform the masses during the period that we know as the Civil Rights Era. In the songs” Four Women”, “Young Gifted and Black”, and Mississippi God Damn”, Nina Simone musically maps a personal "intersectionality" as it relates to being a black American female artist. Kimberly Crenshaw defines "intersectionality" as an inability for black women to separate race, class and gender. Nina Simone’s music directly addresses this paradigm. While she is celebrated as a prolific artist her political and social activism is understated despite her front- line presence in the movement. According to Ruth Feldstein “Nina Simone recast black activism in the 1960’s.” Feldstein goes on to say that “Simone was known to have supported the struggle for black freedom in the United States much earlier, and in a more outspoken manner around the world than had many other African American entertainers.”
In the 1950s rock-n-roll established its own marks in history. It spread throughout the decade in a thrilling, substantial, and even livid to those Americans trying to get rid of all sorts of conflicts and challenges that occurred during this time period. As exciting as this music was, the novel “All Shook Up” portrays how rock-n-roll brought many changes to the American culture and later to the sixties. It expresses many concerns such as race relations, moral decays, and communism, but in ways that are partially true.
Whitney Houston to most was a very amazing and talented person who allowed life and its mishaps break her down. As a young girl she grew up in the church where she felt like it was a sign from God that she should be singing. Freud believes that religion is an illusion, an attempt to gain control over the external world. In his eyes saying that anything is a sign from God depends on how you vision life. There were times in her life where she would produce more music just to get thru the thing that she would be going through. She would use her music as a defense mechanism to get away from all of the abuse, problems with her marriage, neglect, and drugs. Defense mechanisms are ways to distort reality to reduce anxiety: Rationalization is giving a positive reason to a stressor and regression is withdrawing from reality and going to pastime.
The Emancipation Proclamation was written and signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, just five years before the birth of Joplin. Being a member of the first generation of free African Americans in the nation’s history was a positive and liberating notion for Scott Joplin. His father did have to endure the hardships of slavery, so the cruelty of the slave trade was not lost on Joplin. Free to do what he wanted to, Joplin pursued a life of music at a very early age, bringing to his compositions the carefree and jubilant attitude of a nation under reconstruction, even if the country was in the process of rebuilding itself. It was not an easy time for blacks in America, as they had a long way to go before they enjoyed equal rights and freedoms, but the promise of a better life was enough to empower many of them, including Joplin.
The 1960’s was one of the most controversial decades in American history because of not only the Vietnam War, but there was an outbreak of protests involving civil and social conditions all across college campuses. These protests have been taken to the extent where people either have died or have been seriously injured. However, during the 1960’s, America saw a popular form of art known as protest music, which responded to the social turmoil of that era, from the civil rights movement to the war in Vietnam. A veritable pantheon of musicians, such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan sang their songs to encourage union organizers to protest the inequities of their time, creating a diverse variety of popular protest music, which has reached out to the youthful generations everywhere demanding for a revolutionary change. The protest music took the children of the 1960’s to a completely new different level. Musicians of this generation were not going to sit and do nothing while the government lied to the people about what was going on in Vietnam. Instead, they took their guitar-strumming troubadours from the coffee houses, plugged them in, and sent the music and the message into the college dorm rooms and the homes of the youth of America. However, as decades went by, protest music does not have much of an impact as it use to because of the way things have changed over the years. Through the analysis of the music during the 1960’s, there shall be an understanding on how the different genres of protest music has affected social protesters based on how musicians have become the collective conscience of that generation through their lyrics and music and the main factors that contributed to the lack of popula...
The year is1965, 8 years into the Vietnam war and 2 years in the shadow of a presidential assassination, marked the inception of an artistic vision, cut to Vinyl. Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 revisited is a testament to the state of America in the 1960s, using poetic devices, and engaging rock and roll music to capture the imagination of a breadth of people, unwittingly, it would seem, brought change to the minds of Americans. Opening their eyes to what was happening and inflicting a sense of new found justice in their hearts, Living vicariously through Bob Dylan’s intense imagery, due to the events unfolding in that period, People latched on to Dylan’s lyrics and imposed their own expression and feeling onto his songs.
Ryan, John. “The Seventh Stream: The emergency of rock n roll in American popular music,” (Book reviews) Social Forces (1994): March, p. 927. Star, Alexander. “Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music” (book reviews)
Music is an outlet to all aspects of life and culture is a significant way of forming people and the way they live. Although not always seen directly culture has an overbearing influence on the music that is produced and made popular. The political Climate of the early seventies was full of fire with issues such as Vietnam and constant protest throughout the county. Later in the 70’s the end of the Vietnamese conflict brought the rise of the Watergate scandal and Iran Contra. These issues swept headlines and ingrained people’s thoughts. Social issues also played a big role in the developing culture of the seventies. Protests and constant outbreaks about gay rights and women’s rights seemed to overtake the country in storm. Later in the Decade the social climate changed to a celebration of the Past and a can-do attitude. Political and Social climates had an overbearing influence on the attitude that was being developed throughout the seventies. This climate was also transparent in the music world of this decade. In the early 70’s music lyrics were being created that were representative of the popular method of protest and social change. Music is a common way of expression and during this time artist and groups took the most of their popular music by expressing viewpoints on present issues. In the mid to late seventies the birth of new styles that broke from the old seemed to dominate the music industry. These new types of music ranged from disco to television pop. The music of the decade represented the culture and was greatly influenced by events and beliefs of the 70’s. At this time in American history, music and life became closely nit. In the late 1970’s, national issues settl...
The ‘60s were the age of youth, as millions of children’s from post World War II became teenagers and rebelled against the conservative fifties. Denying civil rights to African-Americans and liberation to teenagers in previous decades and Vietnam War, created a vortexes which lead to massive rebellion against the status qua. Music of the 1960s was characteristic of the revolution that was going on during the decade. It was a time of rebellion and counter-culture in which the teenagers and college students were critical of government, business, religious institution and other various aspects of life. Era marked by civil rights movement, Vietnam War, environment of drug abuse and sexual freedom formed new music like: folk rock, soul and psychedelic rock. These genres starkly contrast the teen idol music of ‘50s pop mainstream. Writes John Covach; “World was exploding, and rock musicians were listening more closely than ever.”(Covach, 152) Such stark contrast in pop music directly relay to changing social culture in America, which further echo’s the relationship between music and culture.
Music can be traced back into human history to prehistoric eras. To this day archeologists uncover fragments of ancient instruments as well as tablets with carved lyrics buried alongside prominent leaders and highly influential people. This serves as a testament to the importance and power of music, as well as its influence in society. Over its many years of existence, music’s powerful invocation of feelings has allowed it to evolve and serve many purposes, one being inspiring change. American journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson once said, “Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel. Sentimental people call it inspiration, but what they really mean is fuel.” This fuel is the very things that powers the influence of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society, that author Glenn C. Altschuler writes about in his book, “All Shook Up – How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America.” Between 1945 and 1965 Rock ‘n’ Roll transformed American society and culture by helping to ease racial integration and launch a sexual revolution while most importantly developing an intergenerational identity.