curious george is curious*

[glass_icarus]

What do you guys think of first when you think of "American music"? Artists, genres, top 5 songs; whatever comes into your head.

*(This is only partly morbid curiosity, you understand. The rest of my objective is to gauge how much wtf face I should make. ;P)

eta; also I am spared from making smitten kitchen's salted caramel brownies only because a) I'm scared of making caramel and b) my roommate made a pan of triple-chocolate brownies the other day. >.>

Comments

[alexseanchai]

Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list
The Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist
The eagle will fly and there's gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue


I should've been a cowboy
I should've learned to rope and ride
Wearin' my six-shooter
Ridin' my pony on the cattle drive
Stealin' the young girl's hearts
Just like Gene and Roy
Singin' those camp fire songs
Oh, I should've been a cowboy


"American Ride" in its fucking entirety. I hate Toby Keith. But he's an exemplar of country music, and country music has made a point for years of being the quintessential American music. Heterocisnormative white conservative Christian American music, mind, with a thing for the Wild West and to hell with the Native Americans (and any other brown people, howdy "American Ride"). Country music's definitely part of the push to render anything that isn't heterocis white conservative Christianity into something unAmerican. Drives me up the fucking wall.

[glass_icarus]

Huh, and here I never think of country as the top of my list of "American music"! Go figure. *g*

[musesfool]

American Music by the Violent Femmes. American Pie by Don McLean.

Duke Ellington. The Gershwins. Rodgers and Hammerstein. Ella Fitzgerald. Frank Sinatra.

Chuck Berry. Elvis. The Beach Boys. The Supremes. Motown.

[glass_icarus]

♥ this list :D

[noldo]

no no no no do the brownies

kaberett made the brownies the other day and it was the best experience of our little lives

--also my general idea of "American music" is bluegrass and R&B which um I am not sure what this says really!

[glass_icarus]

.... but N, so scared of caramel. Possibly partly because of my first attempt at bubble tea in which I ended up with a pot of solid tapioca rather than bubbles ahem I mean. What? :P

R&B, yes! That is top of my list too!

[noldo]

hee awwwwwwww, see the trick there is you cook the bubbles without the sugar and then you put them in a new dish and stir in some sugar and everything is beautiful and nothing hurts no I totally understand the scared of caramel! but it will be fine

[glass_icarus]

Haha actually now I think if it, my issue may not be as much the burnt sugar (though that is an issue!) as it is the Epic Ruining of Pots!


... maybe I will attempt with supervision, lol

[kaberett]

We made this the other week! It was my first attempt at caramel, and I was using a shitty electric hob, but it actually turned out fine and was promptly inhaled by the ravening hordes.

[glass_icarus]

Awesome! I am somewhat irrationally afeard of scorched sugar, though.

[fresne]

Sure, trying to think quickly...

Robert Johnson, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash
Blues, Soul, Jazz, Country, Disco
I Love the Night life, Ghost Riders in the Sky, Come on In My Kitchen, I left my Heart in San Francisco, from there I somehow want to list songs that take place in American Cities.

[glass_icarus]

Hee, disco! I didn't realize that was an American thing?

[fresne]

I think it came out of the New York club scene. Hmmm... and now I want to listen to some Donna Summer.

[acari]

Rap, Jazz, Country, Elvis, Madonna.

[glass_icarus]

On my first read I thought you meant Elvis and Madonna were their own categories! *g*

[bobcatmoran]

Country, Blues, Jazz, early Rock 'n' Roll, and John Phillips Sousa.

[glass_icarus]

While I'm being curious- how does one differentiate blues from jazz, do you know?

Also hee, Sousa! :)

[bobcatmoran]

I guess I consider blues a sub-genre of jazz. All blues is jazz but not all jazz is blues.

[busaikko]

The blues, bluegrass, soul, R&B, whatever the genre is that's made up of {Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Melloncamp}.

[glass_icarus]

Springsteen!!! :D

[princessofgeeks]

Jazz and rock.

[glass_icarus]

I should listen to more jazz, clearly. :)

[blueswan]

I think Americana which is an amalgamation of styles: bluegrass, gospel, rock and roll, country, blues and R&B. Artists who are seen as Americana artists (and are among those I enjoy) include Bonnie Raitt, Rosanne Cash, Neil Young, Jason Isbell and Ryan Bingham. If you're at all interested, my last entry included a link to an accoustic set of Ryan's latest album.

[glass_icarus]

Somehow I did not realize Americana was a category! Thanks for the info. :)

[meloukhia]

American like from the Americas? Uh, off the top of my head, jazz, samba, mariachi, steel drums (not at ALL to my taste but, you know, some people are into them), and Native music (which is, uh, kind of a huge category given the vast numbers of indigenous peoples in the Americas).

[glass_icarus]

Mariachi! :D Also YAY for American as in "from the Americas," haha (though for once this was tangential to my reasons for wtf-face).

[yasaman]

Bruce Springsteen, Motown, hip hop, classic folk artists like Pete Seeger and classic American folk songs like "This Land Is Your Land," and "Shenandoah," gospel/spirituals. This is all very obviously US American, heh.

After taking a look at some other responses, I'm surprised I didn't think of Elvis! Or the blues, that really is a super American genre to me.

[glass_icarus]

I like this SPRINGSTEEN contingent, hee! Also, YES to hip hop etc. :D

[crossedwires]

Bruuuuuuuce.

(And the Allegiance Musical because my feelings for that are still ridiculously high.)

Ooh, those brownies look awesome.

[glass_icarus]

Haha, I knew you'd bring the Springsteen. ;D ♥

Must see Allegiance! Someday... *____*

[vi]

The first five things off the top of my head re. USian music: Beyonce, rock and roll, country/western, jazz, Bruce Springsteen. :D

THOSE BROWNIES. Wow. *__*

[glass_icarus]

Hahaha, I was waiting for someone to say Beyonce! xD

Brownies = waaaaant. I find I can be a ridiculous sucker for combinations involving salt and caramel or chocolate!