(Post #2) Musical Relations/Polo Jeans

My relationship with music tends to fluctuate a lot. I am into a multitude of genres, so I will listen to several different genres at a time. The genres I cycle through the most heavily are rap, rock, alt, indie, electric, and experimental. I enjoy listening to more independent artists in these genres because they tend to have more personal interactions with their fans on social media. There have been a few instances where I have reached out to smaller artists and they took the liberty to respond to what I had to say, which I think is awesome. Otherwise, my relationship with music is quite ordinary, I suppose. I listen to it when I am by myself in public on my ear buds, and I love working out to certain tracks as well. I tend to like my own individual music from my friends because this keeps conversations about our music preferences fresh every time. I have gotten my friends into certain artists over time, and they have gotten me into some of their stuff, too. I actually have a hard time listening to music while studying, which I feel is unlike other people who enjoy music for studying/reading. I feel like I need to embrace music when I hear it, so I do not like being distracted when I listen to it. There are some albums that I enjoy where I have to set aside everything I’m doing in order to be able to fully enjoy it. This usually involves pieces that are more complex both lyrically and instrumentally. If I think that an album is too thought provoking then I am always sure to listen through it once and then come back a bit later to listen to it again. Other aspects of my life that involve music definitely coincide with nostalgia. I always attribute certain Grateful Dead songs to long summer car rides with my dad. When I hear them, I can still smell the warm leather seats and hot summer air. It’s amazing how certain memories live on through music, and new ones can be created just as easily. Overall, this is how I would describe my relationship with music – a source of entertainment, meaning, and memories.

The track Polo Jeans by the iconic rapper Mac Miller marks the third collaboration between the Pittsburgh rapper and fellow ex-Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt. The two exchange lines regarding the harsh underbelly of music critics and how they aim to dehumanize artists in a multitude of ways. The beat is oddly nostalgic. It contains gentle lo-fi chords rhythmically interrupted by the smacking of an 808, which is then followed by a falling noise that trails off into the distance. This gives the track a very unique and catchy chord progression that I have personally never heard before. This only proves that Earl Sweatshirt, who produced the song himself, remains ahead of his time in terms of musicality and versatility. The contrast between the depressing lyrics and calming beat is extremely interesting. It encapsulates the feeling of being sad and tired on a perfect summer day, which is the appropriate tone for a track of this nature due to the gloomy personalities of Mac Miller and Earl Sweatshirt – one is usually more upbeat and filled with youthful energy while the other usually talks about depression, nihilism, and watching the days go by. The chorus, sung by Mac, reflects the depressing undertone of this track as he murmurs “…Broke and crazy, rich and famous doesn’t last long, spent all my cash on a broken dream, weed and liquor to the coke and lean…” which shows how Mac has gone on a downwards spiral towards abusing substances with more harmful and long term effects. This unfortunate curve in Mac’s life makes one ponder if he hadn’t turned towards a more harmful lifestyle, would have produced the caliber of music that he had prior to his death? 
Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qZznSW4kk8

Lyrics: https://genius.com/Mac-miller-polo-jeans-lyrics

(Post #3) To the town of Agua Fria…

As the classic western song by Marty Robbins opens, we hear the iconic introduction line, “To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day…”. This simple introductory line draws us into a western world of the 1950’s that contains one of the greatest conflicts of old country music. This era was generally known as the era of iconic Western guitar tunes, and Marty Robbins was just one of the greats alongside many others in this genre, such as the late Jimmy Reeves and Hank Williams. In Big Iron, the townsfolk are unsure of the stranger’s motivation, as he is known only as the Arizona Ranger, a man who appears to be an outlaw on the run. He has a very intimidating presence about him, as he brandishes a lengthy Big Iron revolver in the holster on his hip. As the Ranger begins speaking to the townsfolk, it is revealed that he is in search of Texas Red, an outlaw on the run. He has taken refugee in Agua Fria, so he plans to take him down. In a classic hero versus bad guy tussle, the Arizona Ranger cleans up the biggest stain on the town, the infamous Texas Red, with the help of his trusty Big Iron and rides off into the sunset. This timeless tale is preserved in the forty-three line time capsule that is “Big Iron”. The song serves as Marty Robbin’s staple on the music industry, boasting a whopping 65 million streams on Spotify alone and becoming one of the most defining features of the popular 2010 roleplaying game Fallout: New Vegas, which is a large factor in the resurgence of the song. Additionally, Western Writers of America placed the song in their Top 100 Western Songs of All Time list. The inspiration from the song can be drawn back to the humbler times of Robbins’ career when he visited the shop of Andy Anderson on Hollywood Boulevard in 1958. Anderson built his very own custom Big Iron revolver with a 12 inch barrel and Robbins’ witnessed Anderson sell the gun to a hefty man who demonstrated effective quickdraw abilities with the revolver despite his size. Robbins was impressed with the man’s ability to handle the gun, and as he watched the man holster the gun once more Robbins observed he carried “a Big Iron on his hip”, thus sprouting the inspiration for the iconic song. In regards to the rest of Robbins’ discography, a song like Big Iron is not too out of the ordinary. He was a fairly renowned country musician prior to the song’s release, as he made the Billboard Top 100 four different times before the release of Big Iron. The song does not have any controversy surrounding it. In fact, it became a sensation upon release. This is proven by its immediate success on the Billboard Top 100 and its long lasting radio presence. Despite the themes of Western violence, the song seemed to be liked by all age groups. Cartoons and television in general involved more violent themes, and the 1950’s as a whole publicized violence, which can be attributed to the fact that this was the post WWII era for the United States. During this time period the American population was exposed to copious violence, which is why something as mundane as a song that conveys a fictional western duel flew under the radar. In regards to themes of fiction, the characters in the song, the Arizona Ranger and Texas Red, are not based off of anyone in particular. If this was in fact a real event, then there would most likely be an annual celebration of the death of Texas Red in Agua Fria each year. Robbins passed away in 1982 due to a drug induced heart attack, however this was far from the end of his presence in the music industry. His classic 1959 Western tune can be seen as a simple, half-century defining masterpiece, sporting a long legacy many years after his death in 1982 and resurging in popularity in 2010 thanks to its reiteration in Fallout.