Strange Brew: Metaphors of Magic and Science in Rock Music

148 Pages·2013·1.075 MB·English

by  Victor Kennedy

Strange Brew

Strange Brew:
Metaphors of Magic and Science in Rock Music
By
Victor Kennedy
Strange Brew: Metaphors of Magic and Science in Rock Music,
by Victor Kennedy
This book first published 2013
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2013 by Victor Kennedy
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN (10): 1-4438-4846-8, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-4846-6
TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations .................................................................................... vii(cid:3)

Acknowledgements .................................................................................... ix(cid:3)

Introduction ................................................................................................. 1(cid:3)

Chapter One(cid:3)
Is Metaphor the Magic of Music? ................................................................ 7(cid:3)

Chapter Two(cid:3)
How Rock got its Magic from the Blues ................................................... 31(cid:3)

Chapter Three(cid:3)
Magic and the Blues .................................................................................. 37(cid:3)

Chapter Four(cid:3)
Magic in Rock ........................................................................................... 43(cid:3)

Chapter Five(cid:3)
Psychedelia and The Age of Aquarius ....................................................... 53(cid:3)

Chapter Six(cid:3)
Myth and Legend in Song ......................................................................... 69(cid:3)

Chapter Seven(cid:3)
Sympathy for the Devil: Rock Gurus and Shamans .................................. 81(cid:3)

Chapter Eight(cid:3)
Science and Science Fiction in Rock ......................................................... 91(cid:3)

Chapter Nine(cid:3)
Flashbacks ............................................................................................... 111(cid:3)
vi Table of Contents

References ............................................................................................... 115

Endnotes .................................................................................................. 127

Index ........................................................................................................ 133
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 1-1. Siegfried theme ........................................................................... 10
Fig. 1-2. The Imperial March from Star Wars .......................................... 11
Fig. 1-3. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”, arranged for guitar ......... 13
Fig. 4-1. Scale degrees with chords ........................................................... 43
Fig. 4-2. The enharmonic tritone ............................................................... 47
Fig. 4-3. Octaves and tritones on the guitar ............................................... 48
Fig. 5-1. Snare drum from Ravel’s Bolero ................................................ 61
Fig. 5-2. Snare drum from Grace Slick’s “White Rabbit” ......................... 61
Fig. 8-1. Doctor Who theme ...................................................................... 99
Fig. 8-2. Star Trek theme ......................................................................... 100

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Michelle Gadpaille, John Kennedy and Jason
Blake for reading the manuscript and for providing valuable corrections,
comments and suggestions, Simon Robinson for providing ideas and
perspective, and Samo Šalamon for tips on music theory. I would also like
to thank Urška Pe(cid:254)onik and Matic A(cid:254)ko for their help with the graphics,
and Simon Zupan and my colleagues at the University of Maribor for
support and encouragement. Thanks also to family and friends, Bob
Kennedy, Jim and Nancy Hunter, Moira Sadlier, Bill Simmons and Amy
Kennedy.