Evolution of the song Sweet Dreams from 1982 to today

By: Fabian Kolly
Sweet dreams: From 1982 to today's house version.

Original: Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams 4:48
Recorded in 1982 and released in January 1983.

It’s the most famous song of the group Eurythmics, the music video for “sweet dreams” was filmed in January 1983, shortly before the single and the album were released. The video received heavy airplay on the MTV channel and is widely considered a classic clip from the early-MTV era. The lyrics are about the people in your live who want to profit from you in every place of the world. The message is to don't care about this people and to moving on.

Sylvie Vartan – Déprime 3:33 

It’s a readaptation of the original song, the melody is exactly the same but the lyrics are completely different and they have no common with the original lyrics. This cover version was wrote in 1983. The lyrics of the french version are about a someone who is in a depression and who's medicament is the love of someone else.

Marilyn Manson cover: 4:39 min
The cover version from Marilyn Manson is the first single from the remix album, Smells like Children. Marilyn Manson added some extra lines to the lyrics that are not present in the Eurythmics version: "I wanna use you and abuse you/I wanna know what's inside you." and "I'm gonna use you and abuse you/I'm gonna know what's inside you".
The lyrics are quit the same than in the original version but they seem much harder because of the video and how the singer sings them.
It’s a much harder version than the original and the clip is very bizarre.
 Recorded in 1994 and released in 1996.

Steve Angello Remix: 5:50
Recorded in 2005, the song is longer and haves more electric components and stronger bass.

Benny Benassi remix: 3:29
 The lyrics are the same and from the same singer but over the normal melody the DJ placed bass and electronic elements.

I also found many other cover versions and remixes, but they are not so important for me because I want to show the evolution from the original song to the electro house version.

If you want to see the list of all the cover versions and remixes please visit: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Dreams_(Are_Made_of_This)_(Lied)

Evolution of house music: Early 1980s - Late 1990s

By: Fabian Kolly

Chicago : Early 1980s – late 1980s

In the early 1980s, Chicago club & radio DJs were playing various styles of dance music, including older disco records, newer Italo Disco, hip hop and electro funk tracks, as well as electronic pop music by Kraftwerk, and recent danceable R&B productions in the genre now known as boogie. Some made and played their own edits of their favorite songs on reel-to-reel tape, and sometimes mixed in effects, drum machines, and other rhythmic electronic instrumentation.
One house tune called "Move Your Body" by Marshall Jefferson made house music known outside of Chicago and was called "the house music anthem" by many, and was featured in the 2005 video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" on the ingame radio station "SF-UR".

Detroit : early 1980s – late 1980s

Detroit techno was developed in the mid 1980s, although Detroit techno is a distinct musical form in its own right, its pioneers were also instrumental in forwarding house music internationally. The two forms of music developed together from 1985 to 1990 and still are genres that often coincide.

Detroit techno developed as the legendary disc jockey The Electrifying Mojo conducted his own radio program at this time, influencing the fusion of eclectic sounds into the signature Detroit techno sound. This sound, heavily influenced by European Electronica (Kraftwerk, Art of Noise), early B-boy Hip-Hop (Man Parrish, Soul Sonic Force) and Italo Disco (Doctor's Cat, Ris, Klein M.B.O.), was further pioneered by Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson the "godfathers" of Detroit Techno.

UK: mid 1980s – early 1990s

Early British house music quickly set itself apart from the original Chicago house sound; many of the early hits were based on sample montage, rap was often used for vocals (far more than in the US), and humour was frequently an important element.
The house scene in cities such as Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester and London were also provided with many underground Pirate Radio stations and DJs alike which helped bolster an already contagious, but otherwise ignored by the mainstream, music genre. The earliest and influential UK house and techno record labels such as Warp Records and Network Records (otherwise known as Kool Kat records) helped introduce American and later Italian dance music to Britain as well as promoting select UK dance music acts.
But house was also developing on Ibiza, although no house artists or labels were coming from this tiny island at the time. In the 1970s Ibiza was a stop-over for the rich party crowd. By the mid-1980s a distinct Balearic mix of house was discernible. Several clubs like Amnesia with DJ Alfredo were playing a mix of rock, pop, disco and house. These clubs, fueled by their distinctive sound and Ecstasy, began to have an influence on the British scene. By late 1987, DJs like Paul Oakenfold and Danny Rampling were bringing the Ibiza sound to UK clubs like the Hacienda in Manchester, and in London clubs such as Shoom in Southwark, Heaven, Future and Spectrum.


US: late 1980s – early 1990s

Back in America the scene had still not progressed beyond a small number of clubs in Chicago, Detroit, New York, and New Jersey. Paradise Garage in New York City was still a top club, although they now had Todd Terry, his cover of Class Action's Larry Levan mixed "Weekend" demonstrated the continuum from the underground disco to a new house sound with hip-hop influences evident in the quicker sampling and the more rugged bass-line. While hip-hop had made it onto radio play-lists, the only other choices were Rock, Country & Western or R&B.
Other influences from New York came from the hip-hop, reggae, and Latin community, and many of the New York City super producers/DJs began surfacing for the first time (Erick Morillo, Roger Sanchez, Junior Vasquez, Danny Tenaglia, Jonathan Peters, David Morales) with unique sounds that would evolve into other genres (tribal house, progressive house, funky house).

Late 1980s - 1990s

In Britain, further experiments in the genre boosted its appeal. House and rave clubs like Lakota, Cream emerged across Britain, hosting house and dance scene events.
At the same time, a new indie dance scene emerged. In New York, bands such as Deee-Lite furthered house's international influence.
In England, one of the few licensed venues The Eclipse attracted people from up and down the country as it was open until the early hours.
The music continued to grow and change, as typified by Leftfield with "Release the Pressure", which introduced dub and reggae into the house sound, although Leftfield had prior releases, such as "Not forgotten" released in 1990 on Sheffield's Outer Rhythm records.
A new generation of clubs like, Liverpool's Cream and the Ministry of Sound were opened to provide a venue for more commercial sounds. Major record companies began to open "superclubs" promoting their own acts. These superclubs entered into sponsorship deals initially with fast food, soft drinks, and clothing companies. Flyers in clubs in Ibiza often sported many corporate logos. A new sub-genre, Chicago Hard House, was developed by DJs such as Bad Boy Bill, DJ Lynnwood, DJ Irene, Richard "Humpty" Vission and DJ Enrie, mixing elements of Chicago House, Funky House and Hard House together.
Towards the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s, producers like Daft Punk, Cassius (Band) ST. Germain and DJ Falcon began producing a new sound out of Paris's house scene. Together, they laid the groundwork for what would be known as the French House movement. By combining the harder-edged-yet-soulful philosophy of Chicago House with the melodies of obscure Funk & Disco music from the 1970s, state-of-the-art production techniques and the sound of analog synthesizers, they began to create the standards that would shape practically all House music that was created after it.

Evolution of house music: introduction

By: Fabian Kolly


Intro

House is a style of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago, then in other US cities such as Detroit, New York City, Los Angeles and Miami. It then reached Europe before becoming infused in mainstream pop and dance music worldwide since the early to mid-1990s.

House is strongly influenced by elements of soul and funk-infused varieties of disco. House generally mimics disco's percussion, especially the use of a prominent bass drum on every beat, but may feature a prominent synthesizer bassline, electronic drums, electronic effects, funk and pop samples, and reverb- or delay-enhanced vocals.

Musical elements

House is uptempo music for dancing, although by modern dance-music standards it is mid-tempo, generally ranging between 118 and 135 bpm. Tempos were slower in house's early years.

The common element of house is a prominent kick drum on every beat (also known as a four-on-the-floor beat), usually generated by a drum machine or sampler. The kick drum sound is augmented by various kick fills and extended dropouts.

Electronically-generated sounds and samples of recordings from genres such as jazz, blues, disco, funk, soul, synth pop are often added to the foundation of the drum beat and synth bass line. House songs may also include disco, soul-style, or gospel vocals and additional percussion such as tambourine. Many house mixes also include repeating, short, syncopated, staccato chord-loops that are usually composed of 5-7 chords in a 4-beat measure.

Techno and trance, which developed alongside house, share this basic beat infrastructure, but they usually eschew house's live-music-influenced feel and Black or Latin music influences in favor of more synthetic sound-sources and approach.

History

House is a descendant of disco, which blended soul, R&B, funk, with celebratory messages about dancing, love, and sexuality, all underpinned with repetitive arrangements and a steady bass drum beat. Some disco songs incorporated sounds produced with synthesizers and drum machines, and some compositions were entirely electronic.

Origins of the term

The term "house music" may have its origin from a Chicago nightclub called The Warehouse, which existed from 1977 to 1982. The Warehouse was patronized primarily by gay black and Latino men, who came to dance to disco music played by the club's resident DJ, Frankie Knuckles.

Lyrical themes

House also had an influence of relaying political messages to people who were considered to be outcasts of society. It appealed to those who didn't fit into mainstream American society and was especially celebrated by many black males. Frankie Knuckles made a good comparison of house saying it was like "church for people who have fallen from grace" and Marshall Jefferson compared it to "old-time religion in the way that people just get happy and screamin”. Deep house was similar to many of the messages of freedom for the black community. Both house CDs by Joe Smooth, "Promised Land" and Db "I Have a Dream" give similar messages of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. "Someday" by CeCe Rogers, would move house further into the gospel stream later titled "gospel house". House was also very sexual and had much mystic in it. It went so far as to have an "eroto-mystic delirium". Jamie Principle's "Baby Wants to Ride" begins in a prayer but surprisingly is about a dominatrix who seduces a man to "ride" her through the rest of the song.

Bon Jovi - ... 80s ...

By Shelby

In the mid to late 80s Bon Jovi released 4 albums; Bon Jovi (April 1984), 7800 Fahrenheit (May 1985), Slippery When Wet (September 1986), and New Jersey (September 1988). Their first two albums proved to be big sellers, as they both went gold (500,000 sales). But their big breakthrough album proved to be Slippery When Wet as it went gold and platinum and by the end of the year, had sold over 14 million copies. The hit album was said to be powered by songs such as; "Livin' On A Prayer" and "You Give Love A Bad Name". Then, their next album, New Jersey, proved to be a big hit too. It sold over 7 million copies and included five Top Ten hits; "Bad Medicine" (Number One, 1988), "Born to Be My Baby" (Number Three, 1988), "I'll Be There for You" (Number One, 1989), "Lay Your Hands on Me" (Number Seven, 1989) and "Living in Sin" (Number Nine, 1989). But not only were their albums getting them noticed but they were also opening for bands like; The Scorpions, Kiss and Judas Priest, enhancing their fans base even more because of their powerful stage presence.

Then in 1989, Bon Jovi married his school sweet-heart, Dorothea Hurley, in Las Vegas while on tour.

Bon Jovi - The Beginning ...

By Shelby

From his early teenage years, Jon Bon Jovi was convinced that one day he would be a rock star. Born March 2nd, 1962, Jon grew up in Sayreville, New Jersey with 2 brothers, Matt and Tony. He didn't show much interest in school, but preferred to sing with David Bryan in local bands. His cousin, Tony Bongiovi, owned a record studio where he occasionally let Jon record demos with other musicians. In 1980 Jon had written a song, "Runaway", and was able to record a demo of the song in his cousin's studio. "Runaway" was then included on a local radio's compilation tape where it got serious airplay.

Because of "Runaway"'s big success, Jon realized that if he wanted to go anywhere further with his dreams he would have to get a real band together. This led to the formation of the present Bon Jovi Band which consists of David Bryan on keyboards, Richie Sambora on guitar, Alec John Such on bass, Tico Torres on drums, and Jon Bon Jovi on vocals. Their debut album, Bon Jovi, came out January 21, 1984 an contained songs such as; "Runaway" and "She Don't Know Me".

If you would like to read more on the beginning of the Bon Jovi Band please visit these sites:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/bon-jovi

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/bon-jovi-jon-bon-jovi-biography/62b403840443de26482568700029076d

R.E.M.

Mills, Berry, Buck, and Stipe, decided to drop out of college and focus on their band, now named R.E.M. The alternative rock band quickly developed a following and were soon signed to I.R.S. Records. They are all from Georgia, America.



Members

 

Mike Mills, Peter Buck, Michael Stipe

Mike Mills: He is the chief composer behind many of R.E.M.'s songs. He is a multi-instrumentalist.

Peter Buck: He is the guitarist and co-founder of the band.

Michael Stipe: He is the lead singer and the lyricist.

Past member

Bill Berry: He was the drummer of the band until 1997. But he left the band and became a farmer.


Beginning 

Stipe met Buck in 1980. The two became friends and decided to form a band. They started writing music together. The pair were soon joined by Berry and Mills and named themselves R.E.M., a name Stipe selected at random from a dictionary.

First Song

R.E.M. released its first single, "Radio Free Europe", in 1981.

Popular songs

Discography

The discography of R.E.M. consists of fourteen studio albums, two live albums, nine compilation albums, one extended play and sixty-four singles.

Studio albums:

• Murmur (1983)
• Reckoning (1984)
• Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)
• Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)
• Document (1987)
• Green (1988)
• Out of Time (1991)
• Automatic for the People (1992)
• Monster (1994)
• New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
• Up (1998)
• Reveal (2001)
• Around the Sun (2004)
• Accelerate (2008)
• Collapse into Now (scheduled for release in 2011) 

The band has sold more than 50 million albums and is amongst best selling artists of all time.


By Nadine and Corina

"Summer of 69" - By Bryan Adams

 By Shelby

About 3 weeks ago we were told to pick a song that had to do with time. We would then have to do a presentation about our song on how it's music, lyrics, and/or structure related back to time. So ... of course, the first thing i had to do was choose a song, which in itself was a difficult process. I probably listened to every song on my iPod trying to find a good song. I also had my friend, who is a music junkie, help me out and send me a few songs too. But I just wasn't satisfied with what I had found. Then, this morning in the car, this song, "Summer of 69", came on the radio. And I started to tell my host mother about how much I liked it and that's when it hit me. This would be the perfect song to do my presentation on! So here is "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams:

"Summer of 69" Lyrics:

I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it 'til my fingers bled 

Was summer of '69

(0:20 min.)

Me and some guys from school
Had a band and we tried real hard
Jimmy quit and Jody got married
I shoulda known we'd never get far

Oh when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah - I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life

(0:50 min.)

Ain't no use in complainin'
When you got a job to do
Spent my evenin's down at the drive in
And that's when I met you yeah

(1:10 min.)

Standin on your Mama's porch
You told me that you'd wait forever
Oh and when you held my hand
I knew that it was no or never
Those were the best days of my life

Back in summer of '69

 

(1:40 min.)

Man we were killin' time
We were young and restless
We needed to unwind
I guess nothin' can last forever - forever, no, yeah

(2:10 min.)

And now the times are changin'
Look at everything that's come and gone
Sometimes when I play that old six-string
I think about you, wonder what went wrong

Standin' on your Mama's porch
You told me that it'd last forever
Oh when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life, oh yeah

 (2:40 min.)

Back in summer of '69, uh-huh

It was the summer of 69, oh yeah, me n' my baby in 69

It was the summer, the summer, summer of 69

(3:20 min.)

History:

"Summer of 69" is a song by Canadian artist, Bryan Adams, and was written by Adams and Jim Valance.It was released in June 1985 under A&M Records as the fourth single from Reckless. That year it won the BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) Citation of Achievement for U.S. for radio airplay and the following ear it won the Procan Award (Performing Rights Organization of Canada) for Canadian airplay. In recent years the song has been making an effect on music charts internationally. And has been described as: "A most wonderful, straightforward, and unpretentious rock 'n' roll pop song."

Analysis:

In this song the singer is reminiscing on his summer of 69. And he tells us that they were the best days of his life. This song takes place in the present but is mainly about the singer's memories of that summer. We are able to realize that these moments are in the past and are his memories from the phrases highlighted in purple. But if we take a look at the phrases highlighted in red, we can see the change in how the singer conception of time changes. He bases his perspective of time on his summer of 69. In the beginning of the song he states; that summer seemed to last forever and you told me that you'd wait forever. But then as the song changes back to the present we see that his outlook on time has changed. He says, man we were killin' time and i guess nothin' can last forever. He even talks about how the times are changin' and to look at everyhing that has came and gone.  He has come to realize that that summer is in the past and will say there. But even though he has realized this, we can tell he still likes to reminisce on that summer because at the end of the song he goes back to the summer of 69.

Beds are burning - Midnight Oil

by Corina

"Beds are Burning" from Midnight Oil is a political song about giving native Australian lands back to the Pintupi, who were among the very last people to come in from the desert.

Pintupi refers to an Australian Aboriginal group who are part of the Western Desert cultural group.

These people began moving from the Gibson Desert to settlements in the 1930s.

In 1981 they left the desert to return to their own country and they founded the Kintore community settlement.

Today Kintore is a thriving little community with a population of about 400 people.

If you want to know more about Midnight Oil have a look at their official website: http://www.midnightoil.com/

Out where the river broke
The blood wood and the desert oak
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels
Steam in forty five degrees


The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share


The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to them
Let's give it back


How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning
How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning


The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent, now
To pay our share


Four wheels scare the cockatoos
From Kintore East to Yuendemu
The western desert lives and breathes
In forty five degrees


The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share
The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to them
Let's give it back


How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning
How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning


The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent, now
To pay our share
The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to them
We're gonna give it back


How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning