HEEELLPPP, paper topic help needed!!!

[Mr. S]

Ok, ive still got some time, but I really need to have a paper topic for my History seminar class at school, We need to do a 15-20 page paper by november. Now im not worried about the writing or length as I always work that out. I just need a topic.

I wanted to do something related to music. 2 restrictions I have are that it needs to be mainly american history and it needs to not go past the 1980's pretty much. I dont want to do a typical "rock and roll impact on rebellion in society' kinda deal. Can anyone think of an example, I know many of you are well versed with the great classic bands, and are old enough to remember stories of the day. I kinda wanted to do a history of metal and its connotations in society, but since I cant really step over 1980 too much, I was thinking of metal origins, like from Sabbath and Zeppelin and stuff, and how they were perceived/accepted by the media as well as fans. Just throw out ideas people, any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[Guest SkinsHokie Fan]

Just wanted to get it clear.

Can you not go further past 1980 (i.e you can't look at music in the 1990s) or before (you can't look at music before 1980)

Just wanted to clear it up.

[Ancalagon the Black]

If you wanted to do something really interesting, you could look at the impact of ragtime and then jazz on race relations in the USA. If you're insisting on rock and roll, then you could examine rock's roots in blues and jazz and examine artists such as Chuck Berry. If it's really metal you're after, you might want to consider metal as a suburban phenomenon as compared with punk, which was mainly urban.

I find that tying music to trends in society and culture is really interesting, as you can tell.

[BG]

Maybe a jazz introspective. How it is truely "American" music.

Rock can be debated that, while it's roots are in blues, was progressed upon by many English artists.

You could do the same topic on Blues.

I love metal, personally, but don't know how you can make it an interesting paper. I guess if you involve the roots, anger/agression and some of the mythical stories that go along with it could be cool.

Some of the jazz stories are pretty impressive and all the tales of old NOLA are amazing...

[SkinFaninOKC]

With rap being as big as it is now, you could do one about the beginnings of rap and how it evolved in the 80's. You could even fudge on the rules and include NWA.

[Baculus]

I'd suggest reading "Hammer of the Gods," which is a Led Zeppelin book, if you wanted to do a paper about that band. (Assuming the paper had to be before the 1980's.) This book will give you some insight into that band, though I admit it's a lengthy read. Or how about Mile's Davis influence upon fusion jazz, and other music, when he turned electric during the 1960's? That caused a huge controversy in the jazz world, and definitely influenced a great deal of music since that time.

[Bang]

Why not tie together the roots of blues to the british invasion, which led to the precursors of metal. Can't discuss the history of hard rock and roll without the Yardbirds, who definitely used the blues as their primary influence.

You can draw direct lines between a band like Led Zeppelin, who couldn't really decide if they were a heavy metal and, or a flower child band, or a blues band, to American blues pioneers like Robert Johnson. So they kind of amalgamated all three into the sound that was uniquely their own, but never ever totally lost the influence of American blues.

~Bang

[codeorama]

Originally posted by Baculus

I'd suggest reading "Hammer of the Gods," which is a Led Zeppelin book, if you wanted to do a paper about that band. (Assuming the paper had to be before the 1980's.) This book will give you some insight into that band, though I admit it's a lengthy read. Or how about Mile's Davis influence upon fusion jazz, and other music, when he turned electric during the 1960's? That caused a huge controversy in the jazz world, and definitely influenced a great deal of music since that time.

Beat me to it, was going to say the same thing.

[Mr. S]

To answer skinshokiefan's question, my professor does not really want to have information that is relatively recent, so he wants to make around 1980 a cutoff.

All your ideas are awesome, and I will look at that book. Yeh, I was thinking about studying the roots of rock in blues and jazz as well. The British invasion is definitely a good idea to look into, as they did progress rock into what it is now, and my teacher wouldnt mind me having the British influence in as Sabbath was British and they were one of the more influential on metal.

I mainly just need to solidify a topic and angle. Maybe the roots of jazz and blues, and how it was progressed into rock and metal? IAMBG, I was thinking of the folk and roots of metal as well, partially the whole 'pagan warriors' of Scandinavia and whatnot. I merely see music as an expression, so I feel that it always gets a negative connotation, since this paper does need an argument, maybe I could make that it? Just throw out more ideas, I knew a lot of you were into musical trends and thats something thats interested me recently, hence this paper topic.