The film Cadillac Records is a biopic that retells the story of a few major R&B artists during the 1950s and 1960s. The film mainly focuses on the characters Muddy Waters and the Leonard Chess. The film later includes other famous artists such as Chuck Berry, Etta James, and Little Walter. It also briefly shows Mick Jagger, from The Rolling Stones near the end of the film, and occasionally Howlin Wolf and Hubert Sumlin make an appearance.
The movie first introduces the main characters. Leonard Chess is portrayed to audience as an ambitious young man. His parents were polish immigrants, and he dreams of being successful and rich. As the movie progresses and he is shown to be a competent businessman; and he also seems to care for the musicians that he works with, especially Muddy. A few minutes later, Muddy Waters is shown. Muddy, whose real name was McKinley Morganfield, comes from a farm in Mississippi. An ethnomusicologist named Alan Lomax appears to record folk music for the Library of Congress, which is how Muddy was able to hear his sound for the first time. From this event, Muddy decides to leave Mississippi and go to Chicago to try and make it into the music business. It’s in Chicago that Muddy meets the angry and bitter, but talented harmonica player Little Walter. Muddy was able to first get recorded after he and Little Walter started a fight in Leonard Chess’s club. Leonard saw Muddy’s potential and wanted to record him. In order for Muddy to be a success, Leonard knew Muddy needed to be on the radio. They drove down to Mississippi because Leonard knew the music would be a hit there first. Once the two of them arrived to the radio station in Mississippi, Leonard had to bribe the radio station, a business tactic known...
... middle of paper ...
... While watching them I am able to learn more about the life an artist had before they became famous as well as their life while they were becoming more successful. These types of films also allow people to have a deeper understanding of the artist’s music. As we saw in the movie, Etta James had a personal connection to the song “ All I do is Cry”, which I would not have known without seeing this film. I think films like Cadillac records allow people to understand musicians a bit better because the audience can actually see what their life was like.
Works Cited
Scott, A. "Got Their Musical Mojo Working." New York Times 05 12 2008, C1. Print. .
Ebert, Roger. "Cadillac Records." rogerebert.com. N.p., 08 12 2008. Web. 11 Nov 2013. .
Debra Rathwell is the Senior VP for AEG Live. Rathwell oversees the active New York office of AEG along with being a force in national touring. Rathwell has more than 30 years of experience in the industry and her dedication inspires me. I know she is well respected in the industry and I think it is impressive that she books on average 800 shows every year. Being a woman in the music industry is a big challenge, but Rathwell proves to me and the world that being hard working will help prove yourself. The first step that really started Rathwell’s career was during her last year at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. Rathwell was Harvey Glatt’s assistant and went on to work as Bass Clef Entertainment, which partnered on shows with Canada’s concert leaders. This introduced Rathwell to the industry and the rest was like a snowball effect, one job led to another. Another step Rathwell took in her career was pivotal was joining Donald Tarlton for 12 years at DKD. With DKD, Rathwell managed a staff ...
The Grateful Dead was a famous rock and roll band throughout the 1960’s. They had a lot of ups and downs during their time as a band together. Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann were all in the band together. The Grateful Dead played a variety of music but mainly they were a rock and roll band; blues, reggae, country, folk, and space rock.
The program hidden Ingredient to a phenomenon success has shown not only long Jeopardy after their Predecessor, yet, it built a reflected type of look at differing identity, lifestyle and fashion, as the instrument demand viewer to stop and pay attention to a different music arrangement this program has, and now in comparison to “American Bandstand,” it would out due its competitor in our home and on a network station. However, this would remind us that dreams and hard work do pay off for the professions. Don Cornelius, (Soul Train) found its way in our homes, and the show serenaded Americans. Yet, the ideal held many glued to the TV and has similarity to the Dick Clark, (American Bandstand), but has a difference in target technique approach
Diana Ross once stated “Instead of looking at the past i put myself 20 years and try to look at what i need to do now, in order to get there then.” Back in the 2960’s, Diana Ross was the lead singer of the female group, The supremes. She foresaw the success that they could gain and had to adapt the way the group performed in ways that were not common back then. The supremes were the most influential music group during the 1960’s, because they were the first all-female group to become successful, they won multiple awards for their music, and they helped pave the way for other future female artists.
There is without a doubt that the 1950s saw the rise of the King of Rock 'n' Roll, known as Chuck Berry. His musical take on rhythm and blues was a large influence on many successful artists that rose the following decade, but most notably The Rolling Stones. This paper examines the earlier musical career of Chuck Berry and how The Rolling Stones modeled themselves upon him and then expanded themselves further.
Music tells a story within a song and this is what Loretta does with her music by singing about her life as a coal miner’s daughter to life as a mother and wife. The movie incorporates these songs to the soundtrack of the movie because it is a film about Loretta’s life and how she became a music sensation in a time when it was harder for a woman to gain recognition for her accomplishments. The underlying music mixed with Loretta’s songs really helps to tell a wonderful story about Loretta’s life and her husband’s life with their challenges and overcoming
Blues as an art form gave Blacks a medium to manifest their feelings. Feelings ranging from humorous to silly to depressed. Fortunately for a entire genre of music, the only way for Mckinley Morganfield to express himself was through song. Morganfield better known as Muddy Waters became a legendary blues vocalist /guitarist. When the Blues industry saw commercial success many of its artists also saw rising fame. Muddy Waters enjoyed success in the industry up until and even after his death in 1983. Morganfield was born April 4, 1915 to Ollie Morganfield and Bertha Jones. He was born in Rollingfork, Mississippi. Near their two room shack in Rollingfork there was a creek, Deer Creek. As a youngster he used to play in the creek and get all dirty and muddy. It was at this point when his sisters gave him the nickname ‘Muddy Waters’. Bertha died when he was about three. After her death he had to move in with his grandmother in Clarksdale. Raised in Clarksdale, he also went to school there. He went to school until he was old enough to work in the fields. Much like all of the other field laborers Muddy Waters hollered in the fields to pass time or just to get things off of your chest. Waters would also teach himself to play instruments. When he was fifteen he knew how to play the harmonica and he would later teach himself the guitar. The young Waters followed in his fathers musician footsteps. He was part of a band at fifteen, with Scott Bowhandle on guitar and Sonny Simms playing the violin. They would play some Saturday nights in downtown Clarksdale and others he would sell fried fish on nights. And other nights he would watch the greats like Son House, Robert Johnson and Charlie Patton were great musical influences on Waters. The main influence on Waters was Son House, although Waters style of play was more similar to that of Robert Johnson. Muddy Waters was first recognized by word of mouth. Alan Lomax of The Library of Congress went to Clarksdale to record Robert Johnson. But to his dismay, he found out that Robert Johnson was dead and had been for two years. The word on the street at that time led Lomax to Muddy Waters. Waters would record two songs with them in 1941, far before he became famous.
...nal Public Radio: News and Analysis, World, US, Music and Arts. 31 March 2010. Web. 31 January 2011.
the history of MGM Records. As proud as he was of being the son of Hank
Examples mostly point to how Berry Gordy manipulated the way things were put out there and how they would favorable to a big audience. The way he told the black artists to do their hair and makeup can be looked at as making them white instead embracing their color. Also when he put records out the pictures were never of the artists always symbols. The reason he did this was so the people could not judge the album before even listening to it. Like everyone says “never judge a book by its cover”, that never truly stayed true for everyone. But by doing this the artist never got recognized by bigger corporations and never got the credit for what they did. Gordy’s style was different from most and some if not most artist really struggled in understanding why he did not use their face or made them look like white people. They were often really offended by it and as were the white people. So there was a push and pull with the people. A give and take with the music, but ultimately the artist sacrificed the fame and fortune to come together for a greater cause and change the country needed. Also later the artists were recognized and appreciated.
But it was the two 1941 solo numbers that would build up Muddy's confidence for the move to Chicago and -- as electric reworkings on Chess -- provide his first hit. In January 1943, Lomax sent Muddy two copies of the Library of Congress that had one of his tunes on either side; Muddy got dressed up and had his picture taken with the disc, something he had never done with either of his wives. Six months later Muddy the tractor driver got into an argument over his wages with the plantation overseer, and armed with his grandmother's blessings, a borrowed suit of clothes and an acoustic Sears Silvertone guitar, boarded the train for Chicago.
The birth of Rock and Roll Music was a mixture of popular music and African American country blues and hillbilly music. However, Rock and Roll music was influence since the 1950’s by two particular African American artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin` Wolf. Through their distinct voices, style, deliverance, and performances that helped the music in the 1950’s give rise to this new style of music genre Rock and Roll. During the World War II era, this style of music was looked at; as traditional music and, through the music people could tell their story, not just about their struggles but the real struggles going on around them, like, isolation between black and white people. Most artists were sharing their values and trying to associate through
...ncestors and why things are different now. People can learn a lot about their ancestors and things of the past through music. Music tells the stories of what happened in the past. It exposes what people have gone through to get to where things are now. Understanding the culture and history allows the people of today to become more appreciative of the things that the past generations have done to make things better. African Americans have endured a lot of hardships throughout history and it is important to know that and realize that people today do not have it as hard as they did. African Americans no longer have to experience things such as slavery and segregation because some of the black people of past generations were courageous enough to fight for equality. Although hatred and racism still exists, it is not as prevalent and boldly shown as it was in their time.
15 Jacques Attali, Noise: the Political Economy of Music (University of Minnesota, 1985, trans. Brian Massumi)
One of the most influential groups of the 20th Century—the Beatles revolutionized rock and roll into what we know it as today. Not only were they great musicians, they wrote and composed each of their songs. The band proved to be popular and exciting causing mass hysteria at each of their public performances. The “Fab Four’s” talent was so great that the phenomenon was termed “Beatlemania” in Britain and eventually erupted in the United States being called the British Invasion of the Beatles (Britannica Online, 2005).