Cultural and Historical Interrogation of Arcades Fire Music - Research Proposal Example

Research Proposal Cultural and Historical Interrogation of Arcade’s Fire Music Introduction Music is an essential feature of culture. This is because it both reflects cultural values and inspires new cultural attitudes. Arcade Fire Music falls within the Rock genre. Indie Rock is an unconventional style that demands critical studies. In addition, the band performs popular music that plays in mainstream media. The band has a contemporary image that is essential in studying the evolution of cultural values and attitudes. Cultural elements include consumption lifestyles, tastes in music, preferences for given types of clothes, and widely accepted norms. The band is entirely a 21st century product that can help trace the development of modern cultural norms. Research Questions 1. What comprises the Arcade Fire’s music genre? 2. Does the given genre project a consistent cultural image? 3. How does Arcade Fire’s music relate to contemporary attitudes? 4. How does the personal image of the band reflect in their performances? 5. What message does the band’s music entail? Research Objectives 1. To find out the distinct genre that the Arcade Fire’s music follows 2. To realize the relationship between contemporary cultural attitudes and the band’s music 3. To find out how the band contributes towards societal transformation 4. To find out a consistent image that the band portrays in their performances Methodology This research will rely on data collection from secondary sources. This, especially, occurs through the internet where there is significant information on the band. The internet is a platform for online magazines that record the band performances and major activities that the band conducts. The research shall also rely on online books that may accord adequate analysis in understanding the cultural of music. Works Cited Beaudoin, Tom. Secular music and sacred theology. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2013. Print. This book tackles music as it relates to the larger outlook of our lives. In this sense, the book helps the audience understand why individuals place considerable attachment to music. In spite of the fact that a significant number of people spend their time consuming music, they cannot integrate pleasure with the real aspects of life. This book will help in fine-tuning the research towards understanding Arcade Fire’s music in terms of spirituality. In addition, the book helps identify the religious connotations in secular music. Rock music is a prime example of a secular influence that drives religion and philosophies of individuals in life. It would be essential to understand the philosophies that Arcade Fire music transmits to their audience. Byrne, David. David Byrnes survival strategies for emerging artists — and megastars. Wired Magazine, December 18, 2007. Web. March 11, 2014. The article analyzes how modern artists explore sophisticated ways of marketing their music. It delves into the details of a complicated market and economic situations that force artists to gain proper marketing skills. The article traces the production of music as a normal good and the respective distribution system that avails musical products to customers. Music is a broad term that encompasses beats and lyrics. This article would help in investigating Arcade Fire Music beyond raw cultural interrogation. In the interaction between musicians and technology, it would be possible to examine the changing expectations of music fans as regards the preferences in music. Besides, the article would help the research analyze musicians interact with their audiences through online platforms. Dawe, Kevin. The new guitarscape in critical theory, cultural practice and musical performance. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2010. Print. This book analyzes Western pop music in cultural terms. The book notes that music closely embeds with contemporary culture. In this position, music receives particular cultural influences. On the other hand, it also influences new cultural attitudes. The book, especially, investigates the evolution of the guitar in influencing live performance music. The book would help in investigating how Arcade band members’ performance connotes unique cultural attitudes. Rock is a complex music whereby the details on how instruments are played serve to define a particular genre. In this sense, the resource helps in defining why Arcade Fire music categorizes as Indie Rock. Edwardson, Ryan. Canuck Rock: a history of Canadian popular music. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009. Internet resource. This book investigates the evolution of Canadian pop music. It also examines how Canadian music relates to music produced outside Canada. In turn, it critically highlights the influence of Canadian popular musicians on the cultural landscape of Canada. The book mentions the different kinds of music genres that have historically dominated Canada. The book will help in examining how Arcade Fire Music influences the new music that Canada produces. By examining the impact of the band’s music in Canada, it would help explain why Arcade Fire has propelled into the global music stage. Furthermore, it reveals how the band incorporates other genre’s elements into their music. In addition, the book will highlight how the band participates in socio-political and cultural issues of Canada. Fulcher, Jane. The Oxford handbook of the new cultural history of music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print. This book views music as an intellectual element. It recognizes that musicologists and historians are sharing converging areas of investigation. This is because considerably intertwines with culture thereby creating a blurry line between the given causal relationship. The book argues that every society has a symbolic realm that art, politics, and social interactions define. This would be beneficial in demonstrating how Arcade Fire Music reflects the socio-cultural perspectives of sub-culture groups. The history of sub-cultures is instrumental in understanding the development of music. This is because music is an inherent form of expression that socio-political groups employ to express their concerns to the world. Works cited Beaudoin, Tom. Secular music and sacred theology. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2013.. Print. Byrne, David. David Byrnes survival strategies for emerging artists — and megastars. Wired Magazine, December 18, 2007. Web. March 11, 2014. Dawe, Kevin. The new guitarscape in critical theory, cultural practice and musical performance. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2010. Print. Edwardson, Ryan. Canuck Rock: a history of Canadian popular music. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009. Internet resource. Fulcher, Jane. The Oxford handbook of the new cultural history of music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print. Arcade Fire is a Canadian-based rock band that comprises family members. The band consists of the husband, Win Butler, and the wife, Regine Chassagne. Other members of the band include Will Butler, Win’s brother, Jeremy Gara, Tim Kingsbury, and Richard Reed. The band, sometimes, includes collaborators and additional percussionists. As an entity that began in 2001, the band has increasingly gained cultural and commercial prominence. Classmates, Win Butler and Josh Deu, formed the band out of mutual passion in music. Although the band began in 2001, their Funeral Album of 2004 thrust their music into the mainstream attention. Thereafter, the band has won awards such as the 2011 Grammy Album of the Year. Other major awards include the Brit Award for the Suburbs Album. It is essential to highlight that the success of the group relies on a cultivated skill of creating, not just sensational single songs, but well-composed albums. The band’s music reflects contemporary cultural attitudes. Arcade Fire revitalizes the essence of live performance in contemporary music. Before DJ’s gained popularity, a live performance was a standard way in which audiences consumed music. It was also a sense in which fans easily connected with their favorite musicians. The live band promotes the one-on-one interaction between musicians and audiences. This form of music is usually described as natural because the audiences receive the raw feel of vocals and instruments. It is essential to highlight that the Arcade Fire band utilizes various instruments such as drums, guitar, piano, cello, violin, xylophone, and harps. The band members possess multiple skills such that they easily switch duties during performances. The Arcade Fire band is renowned for captivating live performances whereby band members erratically change instruments and scramble over one another. By specializing in Indie Rock, the group’s performances highlight the continued historical significance of sub-cultures. Indie Rock emanated in the 1980’s, in the US and the UK. This form of Rock music is exceptionally diverse thereby including sub-genres such as jangle pop and indie pop. This explains why music cultural analysts refer to Indie Rock as Alternative Rock. In as much as this form of Rock music began in the 1980’s, it only appealed to the mainstream tastes in the 1990’s (Dawe 46). Indie’s Rock began as sub-culture music because it broke conventions associated with traditional rock music. The genre would entail combining different elements from other genres with traditional rock music. In this sense, the genre would hail the traditional feel of rock music as well infuse new elements that define fresh states in the audiences. Conventionally, breaking way from traditions takes a considerable period as fans express lagging expectations in music. This arises out of the fact that a consistent genre produces its conservative musical audience. Indie Rock closely relates to the development of Punk Rock. Punk rock developed in the mid 1970’s in the US and the UK (Fulcher 104). Punk music entails short and hard-edged songs and liberal instrumentation. Their themes were often anti-establishment in their aggregate nature. This might have coincided with the growth of the hippie cultures in the 1970’s. Countries such as USA were seeking new meaning that was different from the established order. For instance, the sub-cultures rebelled against the capitalistic competition that non-conformists perceived as constraining freedom. The band has helped towards liberty of tastes in contemporary music. In the current entertainment setup, every individual has almost similar access to every artist, album, and songs. In this sense, genre distinctions are fading. As a genre splits into smaller units, in terms of sounds, it tends to be more ephemeral and less impactful. The band invests in corporate ethics as a means of building their own brands. In the recent times, there has been an increasing awareness on social and political issues. This emanates from the consciousness that individuals should be living lives beyond their immediate selves. In addition, even corporations are inculcating social practices within their core profit-making activities. Consumers of both commercial products and music are keen on the commitment of their brands towards solving inherent societal problems such as poverty and war. The Arcade Fire band has thrived on this consciousness to participate in notable charitable activities. For instance, the Montreal-based rock group has steered fundraising and advocacy campaigns for global health equity. They conduct such campaigns by performing music-free commission. In addition, they organize television advertisements to raise a Global Fund used in fighting Tuberculosis, Malaria, and AIDS. It is crucial to underscore the band’s commitment in promoting the understanding of Haiti’s plight. Regine, Butler’s wife, has exploited the band’s popularity in highlighting the complex emotions involved in being a Haitian (Edwardson 87). In the song, Haiti, Regine portrays how she painfully leaves her wounded mother. Arcade Fire has manifested political consciousness in an open support for President Obama. For instance, the band conducted free concerts for President Obama during the 2008 primary elections. Pain and eclecticism has fueled the Arcade Fire music. There are deep emotions and pain that embeds in the lyrics of the band’s songs. The music seems to reminisce about the past’s idealness in a romanticized sense. The debut Funeral album had songs describing the life of the band’s dead family members. In addition, the songs describe an idyllic past, which is free from modern pressures. In the neighborhood song, the singers lend appeal to a simple life that does entail any hint of modernity. Words such as babies, colors, hymn, heart, and mind give value to an intrinsic lifestyle that surpasses attachments such as wealth (Beaudoin 134). On the other hand, the songs sketch a utopia in which the current world recreates itself to give value to the past life. The neighborhood song describes a scenario whereby snow buries people in a community such that only two people remain in the world to ensure the Earth’s posterity. This plot is similar to the Noah’s story in the Bible. In the Ark story, God destroys the Earth in order to leave a pair of every living thing’s species in the world. In as much as the band revitalizes a vintage attitude in their songs, they have hugely benefitted from the online marketing strategy. Online platforms unify musical audiences since the internet is available to many individuals. Through the internet, Arcade’s fans in far places of the Earth can connect with the band’s compositions. The band’s music is available through websites such as AOL Music Canada videos. This allows for audio and video downloads as long as fans possess internet connection in their physical settings (Byrne 1). Besides, the iTunes MP3 downloads is a key system that the band has utilized in marketing their music. This is an internet payoff system whereby music lovers purchase and download music from the iTunes store. Works Cited Edwardson, Ryan. Canuck Rock: a history of Canadian popular music. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009. Internet resource. Fulcher, Jane. The Oxford handbook of the new cultural history of music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print. Dawe, Kevin. The new guitarscape in critical theory, cultural practice and musical performance. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2010. Print. Beaudoin, Tom. Secular Music and Sacred Theology. Collegeville, Minnesota : Liturgical Press, 2013. Print. Byrne, David. David Byrnes survival strategies for emerging artists — and megastars. Wired Magazine, December 18, 2007. Web. March 11, 2014. Read More