Kristen Scudder's Blog

I just took a midterm, and it was fun.  No seriously, 50 multiple choice questions on Classic Rock artists- easy test, awesome subject, couldn’t ask for much more on a college examination.

I’m a Classic Rock music class this semester (MUSC 423), and so far it is probably one of my FAVORITE classes ever.  I was surrounded by a ton of music from the 60’s and 70’s while growing up (thanks mom and dad), and as a result it’s become some of my favorite stuff to listen to.  So this class was something I definitely wanted to fit into my schedule and so far has not let me down.

One of my favorite things that we do is read lyrics and put them in the context of the times.  I found out that one of the songs I’ve known forever as a protest and anti-war song was actually written about a riot at a club in Hollywood.  “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield (Stop, hey, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down).  While the lyrics can be applied to almost any anti establishment and anti violence context, I can’t count the number of times that I’ve heard this song in movies set in the 60’s associated with anti war protest.  It’s funny how songs like this have been used for so many documentaries and films for one purpose, but had very different origins.

I think that’s the glory of music, poetry, and literature in general.  You can read whatever you want into it, and it can have different meanings depending on the reader/ listener.  Does it matter what the artist thought when they wrote it?  It’s all open for personal interpretation.