The evolution of ska: genre crossover and race in ska music

Looking at the history of ska music, I will outline ska's origins in Jamaica and follow it to Two Tone ska in the UK, as well as Third Wave or Ska Punk in the US. This evolution of ska will indicate several levels of crossover in genres, as well as a history that is strongly tied to race and the movement to resolve many race issues. The songs featured in my mixtape project will be an array of ska music that will show a chronological evolution of the music and the changes it experienced over time since the 1920's (it's origins in Jamaica; the incorporation of reggae, rock, punk, etc; interracial bands; common racial issues as subjects for songs; ska inspired rock/reggae/punk bands, etc.) Some important ska artists that I may include:

Skatalites

Prince Buster

Duke Reid

The Wailers

Desmond Dekker

The (English) Beat

The Specials

The Toasters

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Rancid

The Pietasters

Reel Big Fish

Streetlight Manifesto

Save Ferris

Mustard Plug

Rx Bandits

Sublime

No Doubt

Female Figures in Queer Culture

With this project we are hoping to highlight a number of strong female artists that have had major impacts on and within the queer community. Also we are addressing why these women have acquired such a following as opposed to their other female counterparts. We will be focusing on: Madonna, Cher, Lady GaGa, and Janet Jackson. What was it about these women and their music that really sought to challenge normative society? In what ways did their lyrics, concerts, and public perception help to define a generation of LGBT people?

Tim Thompson/Joshua Carter

Gender Stereotypes in Disney Music

For our mixtape project we have decided to examine gender stereotypes in Disney music. We have chosen to focus on how gender stereotypes are portrayed in the songs associated with the eight definitive Disney princesses: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Mulan. We will discuss our findings from the princess music in chronological order, showing how both femininity and masculinity have progressed through time. We will also address how the changing social context affects the music of each princess. The following is a list of songs we have chosen to investigate and analyze:

• “Some Day My Prince Will Come” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• “So This Is Love” from Cinderella
• “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from Cinderella
• “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty
• “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid
• “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid
• “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast
• “Gaston” from Beauty and the Beast
• “Something There” from Beauty and the Beast
• “A Whole New World” from Aladdin
• “One Jump Ahead” from Aladdin
• “Just Around the Riverbend” from Pocahontas
• “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas
• “Reflection” from Mulan
• “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan
• “A Girl Worth Fighting For” from Mulan

Soul Music - Gender, Perfomance, and Content

Our project seeks to explore Soul music of the late 1950s into the 60s, particularly Motown soul, and to examine issues of gender and how that has affected performance styles and music content. We will then compare the 60s to subgenres of Soul: Psychedelic Soul and Neo Soul, which emerged in the late 60s and early 90s, respectively. Lastly, we will comment on how these genres made soul more equal, gender-wise, and have allowed for more freedom of expression in terms of performance and song topics. Our project will explore artists such as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Betty Davis, The Undisputed Truth, Jill Scott, Lauryn Hill, D'Angelo, and others.

By Tomi Ogunwumiju and Mersedes Sweeney

Gender & Sexuality in Dancehall Reggae

Our project seeks to explore the perception of gender and sexuality in Dancehall, a typically male dominated sub-genre of Reggae.  How does this genre express gender and sexuality through its lyrics, language, performance, and music videos?  We will explore artists such as TOK, Vybez Kartel, Tanya Stephens, and the like. 

~Keturah Carr, Amanda Oakes, & Tashima Lambert

cross-genre collaborations of the 21st century

We want to look at cross-genre collaborations of the 21st century with a focus on popular music/top 40. In this category, we will analyze musicians from different genres who collaborate together for social, economical, political, cultural gains. The economic analysis will be achieved by observing the audience and the fan base of the artists, their fame, market production, and supply and demand. We'll also observe the historical, social, and cultural context of their songs -- and the influence it has on the 21st century -- by looking at music and lyrics, music videos, performance venues, etc. Some artists include David Guetta/Akon, Jay Z/Linkin Park, Jay Sean/Lil' Wayne, etc.

--Tiffany Hope & Sheetal Patel

Celtic Folk Revival

Gillian Douple and Kelly Camp

We plan to analyze the revival of Celtic folk songs, particularly Irish drinking songs, that have been written prior to the 18th century. These songs have then been covered by bands such as the Chieftans, who adhered to traditional means and began the revival movement, and the Dropkick Murphys, who have changed the presentation by applying certain punk techniques. Other notable Irish bands such as Flogging Molly have certain songs that resemble folk drinking songs but are original and were created in the modern era.

Squeaky Clean?!

Challenging Social Perceptions of Country Music
By Sarah Elaine Hart and Grant Johnson

Country music has a reputation for being more innocuous and wholesome than rock or rap, yet this is not always reflected in the genre's most popular songs. Our project will examine the messages and meaning found in the lyrics and music videos of popular country songs. Our analysis will focus on songs that reference and even celebrate unwholesome topics such as teen pregnancy, premarital sex, drug abuse, and threesomes. Songs we will look at include "Indian Summer" by Brooks and Dunn, "As Good as I once was" by Toby Keith and "Getting You Home" by Chris Young. By analyzing songs from the Billboard Top 40 country chart over the past decade, we will determine whether or not country music is less misogynistic and overall "cleaner" than other music genres, as is popularly believed.

Music Used in Product Placement

Age, Class, Race and Gender in Commercials from 1990-2009

By Ashby Stancill and Elizabeth Manley

Our mixtape project will explore age, race, gender and class in commercial marketing. We will not be including jingles created to promote a product, but music from the past and present used in commercials. For example, iPod commercials use popular songs like “Jerk It Out” by the Caesars in their advertising campaigns to reach out to the 18-25 age group. Another example is the Swifer commercials featuring “Baby Come Back,” a song covered by several bands including No Mercy and Hall & Oates. This commercial is marketed toward busy, 35+ year old housewives. We will also explore the thematic editing done by advertisers since they will often take a well known song and edit it to emphasize a particular message. Covers and genre origins will also be explored for each song.

Family Dynamics in Bands By: Asia Johnson & Jordan Adams

Topic: Family Dynamics in Bands

We want to compare the differences found between the Jonas Brothers and The Jackson 5. We will do this by exploring topics such as; race, lyrical content, genre, decades, audience, and emphasis on different members of each group. As, for the family dynamic aspect we want to look at the way the groups were founded. For members of The Jackson 5 they were forced to play music to make money. They grew up poor and their father was abusive and they ended up breaking up. The Jonas Brothers play their music for fun because they grew up in a middle class neighborhood.