Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Emo

2007-06-29T15:31:33Z

Guitargirl920: I merely commented that emo music is now quite popular

'''Emo''' is a form of rock music, usually considered a sub-genre of alternative or "indie" rock. It is thought that the term emo derived from the fact that, on occasion, members of a band would become spontaneously and strongly emotional during performances. Emerging in the mid-to-late [[1980]]s as a distinctive form of [[punk|punk rock]], the genre has recently gained popularity thanks to bands such as: [[Fall Out Boy]], [[Dashboard Confessional]], [[Taking Back Sunday]], [[Brand New]], and many others.

=Early Days =

=="Emo-Core"==

In [[1983]], the DC [[punk]] scene began to lose popularity and many of the bands of the [[era]] had started to break up. In [[1984]], the band [[Husker Dü]] began the slow start of the early emo movement with the release of their album, [[Zen Arcade]]. The album featured melodic songwriting, intense vocals, and punkish guitars. Soon afterwards, bands such as =[[Rites Of Spring]] and [[Embrace]] began to perfect the "DC Sound" with their music. Later on, this style of music begins to be referred to as "emo-core".

=="Emo"==

In [[1987]], several new bands inspired by the "emo-core" bands of a few years before began to emerge in several areas around [[North America]]. These bands added their own unique sound to the genre, including softer and sometimes whispered vocals, louder guitars, screaming vocals, and the most recognizable element of the genre, octave chords. The vocal style for this genre could range from normal singing, to screaming and even crying at some parts.

Much of the lyrics for this genre were somewhat abstract poetry which were often inaudible because of the volume of the instruments. When playing live, many bands would keep their backs to the audience while playing the quiet parts and would jump around and knock things over and scream at the top of their lungs during the loud parts.

There was almost no commercialism at all for this genre as most bands did not make t-shirts and only sold records at their shows.

Most "emo" bands would only be around for a short time. Many bands only released their first records posthumously.

In this decade, with the rise in popularity of such bands as Fall Out Boy. Panic! at the Disco, and My Chemical Romance, emo has become quite mainstream, getting as much radio play (if not more so) than hip-hop and "bubblegum" pop.

Source: http://altmusic.about.com/od/genresstyles/p/emo.htm

==Noteworthy Early Bands==

* [[Husker Du]],
* [[Rites Of Spring]],
* [[Embrace]],
* [[Dag Nasty]],
* [[Jawbreaker]],
* [[Moss Icon]],
* [[Shotmaker]],
* [[Still Life]]

=="Hardcore Emo"==

"Emo" played harder, faster and louder beginning in the early [[1990]]s with bands such as [[Mohinder]], [[Heroin]], and [[Swing Kids]].

=References=

1. http://www.fourfa.com/

[[Category:Music]]

South Park

2007-06-29T15:15:41Z

Guitargirl920: I included more about the positive aspects of South Park satire

[[Image:Southparkseason10opening.png|right|thumb|300px]]
'''South Park''' is an animated cartoon series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone that is controversial due to its use of vulgar and obscene language, biting humor, and questionable depictions of religion and other respected institutions. Shows have touched on [[Catholic|Catholicism]], [[Islam]], [[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Mormonism]], [[Judaism]], [[Scientology]], and made jokes about [[Jesus]], [[Moses]], [[Muhammad]] and other religious leaders. Parker and Stone decribe themselves as "equal opportunity offenders" and some shows have made fun of liberal causes, particularly environmentalism.

Of the 1999 ''South Park'' movie, movie reviewer [[Roger Ebert]] said "The film is rated R instead of NC-17 only because it's a cartoon, I suspect; even so, the MPAA has a lot of 'splaining to do," meaning presumably that Ebert believes it should have been rated NC-17. "Waves of four-letter words roll out over the audience," he says.

A frequent criticism of South Park is that it indulges in shock for shock's sake. Ebert says of the film, "All it lacks is a point to its message. What is it saying? That movies have gone too far, or that protests against movies have gone too far? It is a sign of our times that I cannot tell. Perhaps it's simply anarchistic, and feels that if it throws enough shocking material at the wall, some of it will stick. A lot of the movie offended me." However, he acknowledges, "I laughed. I did not always feel proud of myself while I was laughing, however.... No target is too low, no attitude too mean or hurtful, no image too unthinkable."<ref>[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19990630/REVIEWS/906300301/1023]</ref>

However, South Park has been praised for its often blunt viewpoints on many political, moral, and social issues of the day. For example, in "Chinpokomon" (a satire of the Pokemon craze,) the boys learn that blindly following a trend can be dangerous, and that it's best to just be yourself. In "Super Best Friends," we discover that Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha, Moses, Joseph Smith, and Krishna are all friends, even though countries have gone to war over them.

There is a form of anti-censorship conservatives known as "South Park Republicans" and "South Park Conservatives".

==References==

<references/>

[[Category:Broadcasting]]

The Beatles

2007-06-29T15:06:20Z

Guitargirl920: I added to the history of the Beatles and removed the "Bigger than Jesus" section. There's more than enough about that on Lennon's solo page.

[[Image:Beatles,0.jpg|right|thumb]]
'''The Beatles''' were an [[England|English]] Rock band from [[Liverpool]], UK. They were arguably the single most influential rock band of the 20th century, selling over a billion records. {{fact}} The Beatles played and recorded many genres of [[Rock and Roll]] from Tin Pan Alley to [[Psychedelia|Psychedelic Rock]].

The four Beatles were [[John Lennon]] (1940-1980), [[George Harrison]] (1943-2001), [[Paul McCartney]] (1942- ), and [[Ringo Starr]] (1940- ). Most of the Beatles songs were co-written by Lennon and McCartney. In the latter half of the 1960's the majority of their songs were written individually, but retained the "Lennon & McCartney" writing credit. George Harrison's songs became more prominent on the albums following Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Having evolved from the high school band known as "The Quarrymen," around 1962, the Beatles began playing in Hamburg, Germany, and became very popular there. A year later, thanks to underground radio, they were the biggest band in their native land of the UK. In 1964, the Beatles made their historic trip to the United States to perform on the Ed Sullivan show. To date, this performance is one of the highest-rated television events in history.

As the years passed, the Beatles' sound grew. From an old-fashioned rock and roll sound similar to the Beach Boys and Carl Perkins, the boys put out a much more mature sound on Revolver. They even experimented with folk on Rubber Soul. In 1967, the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band changed music as we know it forever. The psychedelic sound reflected what was going on in the world at that time and also displayed brilliant use of new technologies (such as stereo sound.)

With the White Album and Abbey Road, the Beatles had evolved into hard rockers. The songs had become more personal, and the band was beginning to fall apart. In the late sixties, the Beatles had fallen victim to bad business ventures (namely the Apple company,) and ended up losing the publishing rights to their own music. To this date, the rights are held by recording artist Michael Jackson. Also, creative differences were creating tension among the fab four. After 1970's Let it Be, the Beatles decided they'd had enough and called it quits.

In 2006, Cirque du Soleil opened a Beatle-themed show in Las Vegas, the aptly-titled "Love." The show has been an outstanding success, and so has the album put out of the same name, featuring new remixes of Beatles songs by Beatles producer George Martin and his son Giles. The album also features previously unreleased versions of Beatles classics such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Strawberry Fields Forever."

The Beatles were inducted into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] in 1988. As solo artists, all but Ringo have been inducted (Lennon in 1994, McCartney in 1999 and Harrison in 2004).

In 2004 Rolling Stone Magazine ranked the Beatles #1 on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.<ref>[http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939214/the_immortals_the_first_fifty]</ref>

The two surviving Beatles are: Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney. Both Ringo and Paul have their own side projects. Rumors of a Paul McCartney Summer 2007 tour have been circulating.

{{The Beatles}}

==References==
<references/>
[http://www.delta.ro/beatles/paudi.html Beatle songs and lyrics]

[http://beatlesnumber9.com/biggerjesus.html Transcript of LES Lennon interview]

[[Category:Bands|Beatles, The]]

John Lennon

2007-06-29T14:51:48Z

Guitargirl920: I just expounded on a few things. It was sort of a short page, and I wanted to change that.

'''John Lennon''', full name John Winston Ono Lennon (1940-1980), was a member of the [[Beatles]].

Though none of the [[Beatles]] were as successful on their own as they were as a group, John Lennon was considered by many to be have the most varied talent. He struggled with a drug addiction, however, and several of his songs related to his habit, such as "Cold Turkey."

Lennon was the most outspoken among the [[Beatles]] on political issues, advocating pacifism during the [[Vietnam War]]. At one point the [[United States]] government investigated him.

After a self-imposed break from music to focus on his family and raising his young son Sean, Lennon produced a new album with his wife [[Yoko Ono]] in 1980, entitled "Double Fantasy." Tragically, less than a month after its release Lennon was shot dead by a crazed fan named Mark David Chapman, on December 8, 1980. Fans worldwide went into a profound mourning.

Lennon's most famous individual work is "Imagine", a song that beseeches us to imagine a world not dominated by greed, war, and hatred, but one governed by love, where all people are "living life in peace." At the end of the song Lennon encourages the listener to join him in dreaming of this world, implying that there is hope for humanity to rise above its weaknesses, anger, and hate.

He remains a hero in [[Britain]], where he was ranked in the top 10 of the 2002 "100 Greatest Britons" poll sponsored by the BBC.

Proving that Lennon is still as relevant and important as he ever was, in June of 2007, "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Camapign to Save Darfur" was released. The album, whose proceeds go to Amnesty International's campaign to save the war-torn province of Sudan's Darfur, features artists of yesterday and today, such as U2, REM, Green Day, and Corinne Bailey Raye, covering Lennon's work. Given Lennon's activism and passion for peace, were he alive today, he would no doubt be the champion of the fight to stop the genocide in Sudan.

== Religious views ==

Lennon's famous quote in criticism of Christianity was in 1966:

* Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. '''We're more popular than Jesus now'''; I don't know which will go first — rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.

After Christians worldwide criticized his attitude, quoting him as saying "We are greater than Jesus," Lennon held a press conference on August 11, 1966 in Chicago at which he elaborated:

* I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have gotten away with it. I'm sorry I opened my mouth. I'm not anti-God, anti-Christ, or anti-religion. I wasn't knocking it or putting it down. I was just saying it as a fact and it's true more for England than here. I'm not saying that we're better or greater, or comparing us with Jesus Christ as a person or God as a thing or whatever it is. I just said what I said and it was wrong. Or it was taken wrong. And now it's all this.
[[Category:Musicians|Lennon, John]]