On the Leeds side-streets that you slip down..

The Smiths

"And if a double-decker bus
Crashes in to us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die" - There is a light that never goes out

This is a close to romance the smiths will get, the song There is a light that never goes out is merely a methapor to a relationship. It's like saying the flame won't go out. His love will never die basically...



"There were times when I could
Have murdered her
But you know, I would hate
Anything to happen to her" - Girlfriend in a coma

Girlfriend in a coma is another smiths song with a romantic basis.
The song is quite self explanatory, the girlfriend is in a coma and although sometimes he wanted to "murder" her he still wants to make sure she is alright.

The Smiths are just one of the bands that have evolved traditional poetry into modern day music.
They're from the previous generation to that we are today, with bands such as Arctic Monkeys and the Streets. Their attitudes are simular and although their songs are very different they have the similar outlooks on the way music is used to portray modern day society and modern realism.

Billy Bragg



"I've had relations with girls from many nations
I've made passes at women of all classes
And just because you're gay I won't turn you away
If you stick around I'm sure that we can find
some common ground" - Sexuality

Billy Bragg is often compared with singer Jamie T
Jamie T has even done a cover of Billy Bragg's A New England .

At 21 Bragg was already looking for a change in the world of politics. He was not going to settle for just any girl.

"I'm not looking for a new England
Just looking for another girl."

This reflects in his lyrics as he vioces his opinion onto the world.

"Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids”

"Imperfectly beheld.

The lady dare not lift her veil

For fear it be dispelled.

But peers beyond her mesh,

And wishes, and denies,

Lest interview annul a want

That image satifies"- Emily Dickinson"

People in society generally agree that this is type of poetry is 'high art'

But what makes this high art and not the music that we hear today?

Does a song by the arctic monkeys class as high art?

Probably not...

I think the time has an effect on this, Emily Dickinson died in 1886.
Her poems therefore were around over 125 years ago.

I also think that class has a huge effect

Emily's family were pillars of the local community, they lived in a mansion in Amherst.

Alex turner was a boy from Sheffield who created a band that consists of his neighbours and school mates.

I think the type of people that appreciate the art determines whether it is seen as high or low art.

Does this then mean that it isn't high art, surely the actual intelligence level should be the determination for whether it is seen as high or low art?

If the intelligence is there why should it matter about how much money that person owns or where their property lays.

But does high art come with time?

People are seen as 'legends' when they die

Maybe the high art like Emily Dickinson's poems where given similar roles in society to how some bands are seen today.

Or it could be age defined, do the older generation see historical poetry as high art, and modern day music as low art?

"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other." -Eric Hoffer

Albert Bandura, Social Learning Theory.

Social Learning theory is a theory by Albert Bandura.
The Social Learning theory is not only one out of many explanations for criminal behaviour but an explanation for many of our behaviours.

Bandura's Bobo doll study 1961Out of the hundreds of studies that Bandura was responsible for, one stood out more than the others.
Bandura set up a psychological experiment to see how influential violence is in young children.
Bandura made a film of a student in a room with a bobo doll, she punched, kicked, sat on, beat up and aggressively shouted at the doll.
Bandura then showed this film to a group of young children.
the children were then put into a play room individually, inside the room was a bobo doll like the one beaten up in the film. the child was free to do as they please.
Predictably the children started hitting the doll, sitting on it and shouting aggressively.
another film was then shown of a student with the bobo doll again but hugging the doll and being nice to it.
against the same procedure was put forward and the children imitated the behaviour.

Bandura's results were that the boys were more psychically aggressive than the girls and girls were more verbally aggressive. The children also seemed to imitate their same sex student more.

Bandura concluded that behaviour shown by adults are likely to be copied. at a young age our super ego isn't always or at all formed making our id take over, feeling the need to imitate is part of our insticts as humans as this is how we learn. Making our morals irrelevant to our behaviour and feel the need to copy what we have just witnessed.

As we grow up our super ego starts to have more of a role in our moral instincts but we still will imitate a wiser 'role model' as we naturally follow others that might impress/ influence us.
This may be done sub consciously or consciously.
you find that sometimes if you spend a lengthy amount of time with someone, that you may find yourself picking up on mannerisms, habits and speech.

Music bands and artists have a huge influence on our lives even if we don't want it to or realise that it's happened.
We tend to relate more to artist that we find a connection with.
Either someone we want to be like, or think we are like or someone who's behaviour and morals we take part in.
Pop stars have a huge influence on young girls, pop music is usually intentionally aimed at young girls in particular. This is because the female artists make themselves into an icon for this age group they glamorise themselves to make themselves a role model. Male pop artist make themselves a sex icon to young girls and a role model to young boys.

Indie music has a completely different audience, male artist are often seen as sex icons but in a completely different way to pop artists. In my opinion they are less "try-hard" they tend to be themselves and manage to be sexy, they tend to adopt a cool, casual persona. They tend to be the "bad boys" of the music world.
However, some of the indie bands that are around today often have formed from the former "geeks" of school days into a cool indie band with millions of followers, fans and admirers.

"If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool."

Carl Gustav Jung, 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961 was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker.



Jung had his own theories on the conscious and the unconscious mind.
Consciousness - Mind we are aware of.

Unconsciousness - The mind we can only access through dreams/ trauma.

Collective unconscious - Instincts, cultural aspect that we are born with which is almost instinctual.

Our personality, instincts and behaviour all form from one of these parts of our mind.  

Archetypes

Persona - the outward face we present to the world.

Anima/ Animus - Masculine/ Feminine sides.

Self  - Archetype symbolizing the totality of the personality. Unifying force of your personality - Goal.

Shadow - The dark, primitive source of creativity, The side of our personality which we do not consciously display in public.

Dreams - Specific expressions of the unconscious which have a definite, purposeful structure indicating an underlying idea or intention.


Why do we listen to the music that we listen to?
It helps us create our persona, it helps us to create the 'look' we are interested in.
we find ourselves basing simple things like our hairstyles, clothes and attitude.
we tend to relate to those which have similar interests and similar behaviour and outlooks on the world.
If we agree with a musicians ethos then we tend to prefer them.

Our persona will change as we grow up and our attitude will develop.
We will find ourselves adapting to different groups of friends and finding new music to influence and entertain us.

"Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise"

Sigmund Freud was born May 6, 1856, Sigmund Freud was unanimously named the father of psychoanalysis.
Freud's self concept theory.

Self concept- we, according to Freud have a perception of ourselves of how we see our existence and how we perceive ourselves that is improved only by our self esteem.

Self esteem is how we feel about ourselves.
This is effected by outside influences.

Our self image depends on our self esteem. If our self esteem is up we are closer to our ideal self. Our self image is how we see ourselves and how we want others to see us.
We have an idea of how others see us. If we like the idea of how others see us our self esteem rises.

Music is a personal attribute that adapts to our personality. It's apart of our image like clothes, possessions, and characteristics like our sense of humour and personal taste.
Music is a personal choice, that often reflects on our individual preferences, and personality.
our music taste can reflect how we dress and even how we act.

More of Freud's theory.

Id - Selfish side only thinks of itself.  Primal instinct unconcsious.
Ego - Personality/ Part two judgement. conscious
Super Ego - parents society morals. conscious

According to Freud, we are born with an Id the selfish side of our personality this part is unconcsious. As new born's it allows us to get our basic needs met.
We then develop the Ego, our personality as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop.
The final part of our personality to develop is the Super ego, this is the part of the personality that provides moral part of us. This is the concsious part of the brain.
In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation.

ThreeHundredAndSixtyEight.

Jamie Alexander Treays.
Better known for his stage name as Jamie T.

Is a 25-year-old English singer/songwritter from Wimbledon, South London.

Being a singer from London and all, he is able to have a variety of genre's considering that London is filled with different cultures.

Kings & Queens was Jamie's Second album, the album was filled with fast paced songs mixed with soft ones, and starting live.

"This song is one of our first songs off the new album. It's about punks, skins, straights.
I was walking along the street
Minding my own affair
Suddenly two policemen grabbed me
And I wasn't aware.
They said, "Is your name Mensi?"
I said, "Why sure".
He says, "You're the punk
That I've been waiting for.
You're nicked" - The Man's Machine

Jamie T is a typical "lad" from London.
I find his lyrics clever. They are quick witted, well thought out, yet have a side to them that seems quite effortless. He doesn't come across as a try-hard and has his own persona as a young London boy who smokes and drinks and does whatever he pleases.


"I take a train again away from shame
And blame a city pained to see
a friend I hadn't seen since I was drinking underage.
I was a ten a day, how'd you say, little shit
White lightning, heightening all my courage, quick wit.
We wore checkered season wallabies
buttoned shirts and whiskey" - Sticks and Stones



"It’s melodies that matter first, rhythm next, and the lyrics are the icing on the top – and that’s what makes Jamie T different. He has the perceptive lyrics of Mike Skinner (better, in my opinion) but he actually bothers to write a tune to go along with it; the instrumentation brings to mind punk, reggae, a tiny bit of hip-hop. As for the voice, think a less irritating Billy Bragg, a touch of Alex Turner.. " - http://www.laurahird.com/

The Irony Of It All.

The streets are again like modern day poetry. The song The irony of it all, i find interesting, the song is about a drinker and a marijuana smoker it's interesting and quite right really..
the song starts with the two blokes introducing themselves.



Basically the drinker is aggressive and a thug, having fights and shouting. but goes on about how it's legal and he abides by the law.


"Hello, Hello
My name's Terry and I'm a law-abider
There's nothing I like more than getting fired up on beer
And when the weekend's here
I exercise my right to get paralytic and fight
Good bloke fairly
But I get well leery when geezers look at me funny
Bounce 'em round like bunnies
I'm likely to cause mischief"
The marijuana smoker however, is quite polite.
he mentions that he is a criminal, although he sits playing PlayStation he's quite friendly, just wants to relax, but in the eyes of the law he's a criminal.



"Um, Hello
My name's Tim and I'm a criminal
In the eyes of society I need to be in jail
For the choice of herbs I inhale
This ain't no wholesale operation
Just a few eighths and some PlayStation's my vocation
I pose a threat to the nation"


Cannabis was going to be legalised, and this brought up quite a discussion in society, when people hear drugs they assume they are wrong and bad for you, but really when you think about it, smoking Tobacco and drinking alcohol is by far as bad as if not worse than drugs such as Cannabis.



Love songs are bought into the streets songs, but not in the same context that they are in most songs. songs in  the charts and popular pop songs about love are usually about a boy meeting a girl and falling "madly in love" or about a being so heartbroken.


the streets take these emotions and put them in a different way, bit more of a way that will relate to people, esspecially young people. The song Dry your eyes is about someone telling their mate to move on.
And then explaining how he feels and whats going through his head.  "Dry your eyes mate
I know it's hard to take but her mind has been made up
There's plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you've got to walk away now
It's over"


The song Don't mug yourself is about a bloke hanging on to a girl, and doing what ever the fuck she says, and a mates saying pull yourself together and don't be a mug, pretty much. 




"I didnt know that it was over
'Til it was too late
But if I ever needed you
Would you be there" - It's too late, The Streets.


A grand don't come for free tells the story of his recent trooubles and triumps. The Story is simple but the narrative is far more cohersive than a string if songs explaning the plot. The stucture of the music as if it were following dialogue.

Riot Van.

"Have you been drinking, son
You don't look old enough to me
I'm sorry, officer
Is there a certain age you're supposed to be
Cause nobody told me"

Whatever people say I am that's what I'm not. This is the name of the Arctic Monkeys first album.
Alex Turner is the lead singer of the band Artic monkeys which first came about in 2002
 Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar), Jamie Cook (guitar, backing vocals), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), Matt Helders (drums, backing vocals) and Hugo Sarmiento as a touring member (keyboard, guitar, backing vocals).
Whatever people say I am that's what I'm not. came out in 30 January 2006.
The album is filled with everyday happenings that Alex (Turner) has created into songs.
His music is like modern day poetry.
the song lyrics above were taken from the song riot van. the song is self-explanatory, it is about underage drinkers caught by the police, and the conversation they are having.

Other songs such as Red light indicates all doors are secured, is about a taxi journey and the events from the night they've just had out.

Arcrtic Monkey's songs are ones you can relate to.
songs that talk about roads that actually exist, pubs that listeners drink in and situations that actually occur.

"Therein lies the secret of Turner's appeal, both as a musician, and a rock star. He takes the world as it is, and describes the world as he sees it. There is nothing in Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not that he did not witness personally, whether he is singing about the inside of a cab or a teenage crush. And his verdicts are delivered in the only way the young Yorkshireman knows how - straight." - The Independent