Island in the Sun

            In the show Survivor, the game is played to see who can outsmart and outlast everyone the longest.  To be successful, the player either needs to be the absolute best and win every challenge and gain immunity each round or sit back and not say too much and hopefully slip under the radar of the other players.  Is someone is seen as too strong, but fails to win the immunity challenges; it is possible that person will be voted off the island and out of the running for the million dollar prize.  This is probably the shortest way to summarize the show Survivor, but it is simply to be familiar with the idea of the show that dominates prime time television.

            There is so much appeal to this show because of the simplicity behind it.  The cast is packed full of everyday people from all walks of life that come to compete for a $1M grand prize.  This season alone there is an ex-CIA agent, two ex-football players, a girl from Acton, CA, and a farmer.  This eccentric cast proves that anyone can land a spot on the show and win 15 minutes of fame; all someone needs to do is submit an audition tape and hope to get picked.  The challenges for immunity from being voted off the island are simple enough that the viewer at home sees the challenges as something that he or she could do (usually better than the players) but tricky enough to actually be a challenge and create entertaining television.

            The venue for the show changes each season, but the one thing that is held constant is the fact that the competition is held on an island.  This is most likely due to the fact that viewers (males) would like to watch the female contestants run around in bikinis rather than parkas and hoodies if the show was filmed in a colder climate.  The location of each season is selected carefully to make sure that there are places to make adequate shelter for both the contestants and the crew, food is somewhat plentiful, usually fish and small game, and there aren’t too many natural or native dangers waiting to overtake the people involved in the show.

            Americans love to watch the show because of the challenges for immunity, the locations, and the drama, for some reason, we love drama.  The challenges are interesting to watch, as there are usually multiple plans of attack that would work to complete the task, but it is interesting to watch the different ways contestants play the game.  The locations, as I have mentioned before, are beautiful, the beaches, the wildlife, the natural beauty of the whole thing can be breathtaking.  And then there is the drama.  This season alone there have been attacks on intelligence, and physical capabilities, and non-racist remarks taken as racist.  None of this talk and drama is off-limits though, as it is part of the game; it’s even right in the slogan of the series: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast, this is Survivor.

Cross Town Traffic

            Crossover appeal can mean a number of different things when it comes to music.  It can stem from the style of music that is played to the race of the fans, black and the white, red and the brown, the purple and yellow.  In this blog I will be discussing how the actually style or genre of the music that is played by an artist can open up more fans to the artist.  Clapton is probably one of the most well respected guitarists of our era, if not ever.  He is able to play everything from blues, to rock, to country and does it all so effortlessly.

            The original fans of Eric Clapton will remember that he was originally the guitarist for the group the Yardbirds.  This single group started the careers of guitar greats Jimmy Page (future guitarist of Led Zeppelin) and Jeff Beck.  This was a very early version of rock and roll, mostly based on blues riffs that took over Europe and trickled over to America.  A popular song that you may know from this group would be “For Your Love.”  This was a big hit for the group that got the name out there.

            Then came the Cream years, with a little more blues, which was Clapton’s idea as he left the Yardbirds due to the creative differences.  Some of the songs that became hits for the group were “Crossroads,” “I Feel Free,” and “The White Room.”  I have yet to meet anyone that listens to music that has not heard at least one of these songs, even if he or she cannot name the song, the song is familiar.  Something to keep in mind however is the fact that “Crossroads” is not a Cream original, it is actually a re-imagining based of the song “Crossroad Blues” by Robert Johnson, first recorded in the late 1930s.  So far, Clapton has acquired fans based on the Pop section of music with the Yardbirds, and the immense Blues fan base from Cream, but there is still a whole other section of his musical career.

            This brings us to the solo department of Clapton.  This time brought us hits like “Layla” and the “country-inspired” song of “Lay down Sally.”  This time, Clapton had hung up Blackie (his favorite Fender Stratocaster electric guitar) for a bit of time, and start strumming on the acoustic.  This single step allowed him to write songs with more feeling, and a more intimate approach that connects the writer and the listener with a lack of cables and amplifiers; it is just the singer, the guitar, and the listener.  This may be the style that most people today know of Clapton without really looking into his musical career, which would be a grand mistake.

            With all the different styles of music that Mr. Clapton has played throughout his life, he has been able to rally fans of blues, popular music, country, and good ole acoustic genres.  But the thing to remember is that Clapton did not simply move on from one style to the other, he continued writing and playing songs in all the genres, and this is what has given him the crossover power of drawing a fan base from all walks of life with all types of musical preferences.

The Danger in Starting a Fire

Not all lyrics are based in reality.  There have been some really great songs that have lyrics based completely in fiction; “Fett’s Vette” by MC Chris is a good example.  But for the most part, I feel that in order to dictate a strong message, the lyrics need to be based in reality.  Nothing can make a stronger connection between the artist and the listener than lyrics that are both true and meaningful.  Telling a story that the listener can relate to is a good way to show that the artist is a real person, just as you and I are.  Many listeners take the lyrics to heart and apply them to situations that they have personally been involved in at a prior time, so hearing that someone else has been through the same situation can become a form of therapy in a sense.

            This is not to say that all songs need to be written about real-life situations.  I just personally believe that fictitious lyrics usually lack a certain amount of meaning.  In “Fett’s Vette,” for instance, MC Chris sings about the character Boba Fett from “Star Wars” movies and it is meant to be comical.  Even some of my favorite bands use fictional stories as bases for songs.  Senses Fail had a hit song titled “Buried a Lie.”  This wasn’t a fact based song, but it did display the creativity of singer Buddy Neilsen.  This song is all about a girlfriend that was poisoned, with the murderer covering his tracks well enough that the police wrote it off as a suicide.  The greatest fictional stories by artists are the ones that listeners question and assume are non-fiction, such as “Buried a Lie.”

            But in order to really make that strong connection with the fans and the listeners, I feel that there needs to be an amount of truth behind the lyrics.  I am not saying that every word needs to come from an exact happening, but if at least a portion of the song’s lyrics can be based in reality, that will help the listener connect with the artist.  The group A Day to Remember has a firm hold on the metal/hardcore scene and I believe that is partially due to the fact that the sings speak the truth.  ADTR opens up their newest album with the lines “I am fueled by all forms of failure/ I’ve paid the price so I’ll take what’s mine.”  This can ring true for everyone that has the strength to get back up after falling; even those that have never heard the song, but have only read the lyrics here can take those few words as inspiration.  Just about everyone has had at least one moment in life when things did not fall into place as they should, but failure is just an event, not a person, so it is all about getting back up after the fall and pushing through.  There can be so many other lyrics that become more powerful and meaningful if they are known to be true, from falling in love, to moving on after heartbreak, to proving oneself to friends (or the world).  If we knew all these lyrics that we connected with turned out to be lies, would we even listen to them anymore?