Geomusicology and Punk

In the article “Factory Music” author Leigh Michael Harrison presents the idea of geomusicology, or the study of geography and music.  Specifically, he relates the heavy industrial geography of Birmingham, England and their working class background to the heavy-metal music that bands such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest were making.  “The difficult, sometimes impoverished working-class existence meant working-class children developed aggressive demeanours as a means of surviving the tough physical and social environment of everyday life” (Harrison, 1).  This aggressiveness is clearly sown through their music.  It was said that the term heavy metal was first used to describe Black Sabbath’s music because it sounded like nothing heard before.  In a review of Black Sabbath one reporter wrote: “this isn’t even music, it’s not even heavy rock, it sounds like a lot of heavy metal crashing.”  And that is how the term first started.  This sound can be tied back to the heavy industrial setting in which the members of Black Sabbath grew up. 

I thought it was interesting how the author related heavy metal to the hip-hop scene, giving rise to the “ghettocentricity.”  This link is clearly evident in the songs that these hip-hop groups made.  Groups such as N.W.A. were making songs that reflected the neighborhoods in which they lived.  Examples include “Fuck Tha Police,” and “Straight Outta Compton.”  These songs paint the picture of the injustices in South Central Los Angeles just as Black Sabbath’s song paints the picture of the heavy industry and poor living conditions of Birmingham, England.  See attached YouTube clip of the song “Straight Outta Compton.”

The third chapter of “This Ain’t The Summer of Love” describes the emergence of punk music, most notably with the bands The Runaways and The Dictators.  On one hand, The Runaways were an all girl band from California that sang about their status as young teenage girls.  On the other hand, The Dictators were an all-male band from New York that sang about the youth gone wild.  However, both of these bands represented the start of a new genre of music: punk.  Characteristics of this type of punk included: “young, aggressive, cynical, with music that marked a return to basics and yet pushed those basic elements in extreme directions” (Waksman, 107).  They sang about topics that the youth could easily relate to.  For instance, in the song “Master Race Rock” by The Dictators, they sang about typical teenage life of hamburgers, sports, girls, etc.  It was a way of rebelling against the typical teenage pressures that most people of that generation could easily relate to.