Rock Music of the 70's and 80's

Rock Music of the 70's and 80's

Our theme for the "We Are..." project is rock music of the time period and how singers and songwriters were greatly influenced by certain events during and leading up to those years. The chaotic evens of the 60's, including war and social change, continued in the 70's and were a major influence for rock music. Trends that were present during this time include a growing disillusionment of government, advances in civil rights, increased influence of the women's movement, and heightened concern for the environment. These trends gained a wider acceptance in the 70's and were mainstreamed in culture and life in America. Events such as the Vietnam war and African American rights and rebellion against the government greatly inspired songwriters to reach out to the public through lyrics. In the 70's and the 80's, we see more and more songs with anti-war lyrics and lyrics about civil rights and dreams for widespread acceptance throughout the country.

In terms of choosing our items for the project, we first did some research about rock groups and artists in the 70's and 80's. We created a list of various bands whose music reflected emotions about events during and just before the time period. After choosing the bands we wanted to focus on, we looked for records and albums of the bands. We chose a record for Aerosmith that includes the song "Dream On," and we also printed the lyrics for that song because it shows a significant mind-set that many people had during the time: readiness for change and a closer community. We also chose the record by The Eagles with the song "Hotel California," because the song demonstrates the kind of newfound security that Americans felt in the state of California, and the idea that social change was occuring and allowing people to feel safe in their country. We also chose some other lyrics including those for the song "Born in the USA," by Bruce Springsteen, and "Masters of War," by Bob Dylan. These two songs were influenced by the Vietnam war and the anti-war attitudes of many citizens. "Born in the USA" also touches on the undesirable ways that Americans treated war veterans returning from the Vietnam war. Another set of lyrics we used was "Cult of Personality," by Living Colour, because it criticizes the propoganda of the government and our leaders and other famous leaders in the past. For our other items we chose some more records and albums including that of Van Halen, Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. We chose some articles about the bands as well because they described the bands' feelings and accomplishes during their active years. Lastly, we included the picture of the movie Almost Famous because it is about an American band from the 70's and it tells the story of struggles and emotions of growing artists. We also had a couple of quotes from some of the bands we talked about as well as an article about Michael Jackson and his hit, "Thriller," because he, too, was a major part of changing the boundaries of music and rock during the 70's and 80's.

All of our art was found in our houses or on the computer besides the article about Michael Jackson that Mrs. Sanderson gave to us.

Differently, I would gather more gadgets and fun items to decorate the box, such as mini guitars or colorful cds or something to make it more interesting. We only used objects that were closely related to our theme, and didn't include any fun decorations.

My advice for next year's class is to find a topic that is interesting to you because it's a really fun project and it is cool to see how so many things around the house are actual "art" items from thirty to forty years ago.

Final Project: The Fast Food Industry

Topic: Growth of the Fast Food Industry (1970-1990)
Group members: Tiffany Chen, Brandon Cheung, Jay Dubashi, and Victor Zhu.

Our theme was the development and growth of the fast food industry. We gathered information on three fast food chains: Wendy's, McDonald's, and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). We researched their development from the 1970's to the 1990's (such as mascots and food products), advertising methods, and their growth in terms of number of locations throughout the years. We chose this topic because fast food has become a very large part of American culture (and is expanding to countries around the world).

We decided to make our box in the shape of a retro burger box by manually cutting apart obnoxiously large cardboard boxes, duct taping the pieces together, and then covering it up with white paper. Although it was difficult, the process was fun and definitely required a large amount of teamwork. The box, you could say, was homage to the old style of burger packaging. Old slogans from 1970-1990 decorate the box, as well as pictures/representations of the three fast food chains we researched. Inside the box, maps of the world are on all sides, top and bottom. The maps depict the locations of the fast food chains in the 1970 and the 1990--needless to say, the number of locations of each fast food chain has dramatically increased throughout the years. Also in the box are three burgers (all hand-made from cardboard, construction paper, shopping bags, and duct-tape): one for each fast food chain. The burgers have three layers aside from the buns: cheese, lettuce, and meat. The cheese shows examples of the advertisement advertisements each fast food company used, the lettuce contains pictures of each fast food company along with their mascots, and the meat has a timeline giving important dates and facts that related to each fast food chain.

Our slogans, visual aids, and information were found on various websites--the materials we used were all recyclable material: cardboard, duct-tape, scotch tape, construction paper, and white paper. We gathered the cardboard from multiple stores' recycling bins.

Unfortunately, although there were many sources and documentaries on the topic of the fast food industry available for use, they were all from after 1990, rendering them ineligible to be used for our project. We made due with what we could with limited access to certain items, such as toys, and we are proud of what we have accomplished.

If we could do this project again, we would probably choose a topic that gave way to more 'usable' found art. We would also do more research on each fast food chain, and possible add a fourth. Also, more visuals would be added.

For next year's class, I highly recommend choosing a topic that they are passionate about. I also recommend keeping in constant contact with their group members and planning out every step so that everyone contributes. Also, they should not procrastinate on the production on the box--they get it done as soon as possible so that if there's any last minute changes that need to be made, they can be made with less time pressure. Another good idea is to always have a backup plan: often, things don't go quite as planned. If they're prepared, it'll turn out okay in the end. Another suggestion is to be as creative as possible; just because it's a school assignment, it doesn't mean they can't have fun doing it! They should take bold risks and really make the project their own instead of some copy of someone else's!

- Tiffany Chen

McCarthy's "Witch Hunt"

Joseph McCarthy was an anti-communist activist who was a republican senator from Wisconsin.  He was rather ineffective, so in January of 1950, he realized he needed a "winning issue" to be reelected in 1952.  He decided to accuse communists of taking over the United State's government.  McCarthy began accusing people of being disloyal without evidence.  This is now known as McCarthyism.  He claimed to have the names of up to 205 communists in the State Department, yet he never even had one.  He even accused the Democratic Party of being guilty for twenty years of allowing communists into the government.  Many Republicans turned a blind eye upon his blatant lies because they thought his accusations would help the Republican Party win the presidential election in 1952.  Fortunately, Margaret Chast Smith led six other senators to speak out against him in attempt to stop his unjustified claims.  In 1954, McCarthy made an accusation against the United State's Army.  Consequently, the Senate began to investigate his claims.  After the investigation, the Senate proved he had improper conduct, and he died three years later as an alcoholic. 

Even though McCarthy made false claims, fear of Communism in the 1950's was real.  For example, in 1953, thirty-nine states passed laws that made it illegal to support violent overthrow of the government.   

-Julia K. and Erika H.