Another Double-Shot of Revisions to the American Vernacular

Over the summer, I posted a double-shot of revisions to the American English Vernacular. They were well received, so I'm back at it. First, a word to be dropped from the lexicon.

Selfie

Selfie is a newish term used to describe a self-portrait taken with a smartphone camera; frequently for the purpose of posting on social media. It has come into particular vogue after incidents such as Ellen Degeneres' mass-selfie-of-the-stars from this year's Academy Awards, and David Ortiz's photo-ambush of President Obama.

I don't like the term 'selfie' because it's pointless Photographic self-portraiture is almost as old as photography itself. This is the first 'selfie' ever taken:

The man pictured is Robert Cornelius. He took this daguerreotype of himself in 1839. When the Oxford English Dictionary named 'selfie' its Word of the Year for 2013, it traced the first known usage to an Australian online forum in 2002. That is a span of 163 years in which no distinct term was needed. What changed?

The obvious answer is social media, which provides an easy outlet for amateur photography, so making self-portraiture a popular form of expression. With popularity comes the desire for contraction, hence 'self-portrait' becomes 'selfie.'

False novelty is one thing. My greater issue with the word is how juvenile it sounds. Anything that ends in a hard 'E' reeks of faddishness. Self-portraiture is a timeless art form, and the language that describes it should reflect that. 'Selfie' needs to go.

A word to be added:

Reaganbeat

This is a word to describe popular music in general which dates to the Reagan Administration. Today it's known as 80's music, but that term is too bland and non-specific.

The foundational artists of Reaganbeat did all their significant work after President Carter left office, but before the fall of the Berlin Wall. This means acts as wide ranging as Madonna, Prince, Huey Lewis and the News, Motley Crue, Run-DMC, Luther Vandross, Whitesnake, Wham!, The Go-Go's, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Duran Duran, Hall and Oates and many others can be considered Reaganbeat.

However, there are artists with a Reaganbeat sound do not qualify. The greatest example is Michael Jackson, whose creative prime ran from the late 60's with the Jackson 5 to Will You Be There? from the soundtrack to Free Willy. For this reason, he transcends the confines of Reaganbeat, despite his deep stylistic influence. Van Halen and U2 are not counted for the same reason.

Despite the current 1989 cutoff, I may yet add the first Bush Administration to the Reaganbeat era. This would include acts such as Warrant, Winger, and Paula Abdul. While most of their success came after the Reagan Administration, their work is based on, and bears no stylistic distinction from those big-haired innovators who composed the score to Morning in America.

This passage highlights the descriptive advantages that 'Reaganbeat' has over '80's music.'

Though once ridiculed as superficial and excessive, Reaganbeat has proved influential on popular music in the last 25 years. Lady Gaga's style is indebted to Reganbeat pioneers such as Madonna, and the Eurythmics, while Bruno Mars owes his vocal approach to SDI-era balladeers such as Peabo Bryson and Terrance Trent D'Arby. On the hip-hop side of things, MC's are rediscovering and integrating the techniques of Reganbeat rhymers like Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, and even The Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff. Though President Reagan is no longer with us, the music of his Administration carries on like a Thousand Points of Light. 

Eat your heart out, Peggy Noonan.

Oh, and enjoy this Reaganbeat classic. 

My Life As a Small-Time Musical Genius: The Quest for Cosmic Bass

The lowest recorded frequency in the universe was observed in 2003 by British astrophysicist Andrew Fabian using the Chandra X-Ray telescope.

It was produced by the electromagnetic rumblings of a black hole at the center of the Perseus Cluster. The 1.6e-15 Hz note is a B-flat 57 octaves below middle C (252 Hz).

That's some serious low-end. As a musician who struggles to find new dimensions of heaviness, introducing black hole bass into my compositions could drop them to a yet uncharted Level of Hell.

Theory has its limits, though. The lower bound of human hearing is about 20 Hz. Frequencies below this threshold are known as sub-bass. Though inaudible, their pressure waves pack a solid thump, which is why they are popular in EDM genres.

Unfortunately for Perseus' prospects as a hit maker, its wavelength is 1.87e+23m. For comparison, the average distance from the Sun to Pluto is a mere 5.91e+12m. Talk about a slow jam...

The good news for terrestrial musicians is that bass is more than just pitch.

Take a close listen to this Motown classic for an example of how bass changes everything, even in a light number.

This super-funky bass line was laid down by Motown session ace, James Jamerson. Considered one of the greatest electric bass players of all time, Jamerson's playing was fearless and inventive at a time when common practice was to turn it down and sheepishly plug away on roots and fifths.

Unfortunately, the legacy of James Jamerson is hard to find on the charts today. Derivative four-on-the-floor rhythms rule Top 40. Modern rock bass is watered down to: 1) Buy a 5-string. 2) Tune it down. 3) Sling it low. 5) Bang away like no one can here you (because they can't). Musical sophistication in hip-hop and R&B has been undermined by decades of sampling, and the emergence of crude 'beats' over real instrumentation.

At this point it's only fair to mention the exceptions. Here is a list of some great contemporary bass players who make the last paragraph look stupid: Victor Wooten, Billy Sheehan, Gary Willis, Richard Bona, John Myung, Sharay Reed, Bryan Beller. There are many others, but this will get you started. No Stu Hamm and Marcus Miller, you don't make the list, because bassists with shaky timing are useless. 

All this said, I still haven't solved my original problem: how to develop heavier music. Bass guitar isn't the only route. As a natural baritone, my own voice presents an answer, but my limited vocal fundamentals make for erratic results.

My working hypothesis is that the answer is in rhythm. Much as James Jamerson countered Little Michael's high, smooth vocals with churning eight and sixteenth notes, my own goal as an arranger is to flesh out the rhythmic spaces in the song, and the let the harmonies develop from there. It's not a new insight, but pulling original jams from ancient ideas is the backbone of great music. At least until we can harness the power of a black hole.

If I ever do record the heaviest song ever, you, my readers will be the first to hear it.  

PT's Pick for Throwback Jam of the Spring

As the weather gets warmer, the hype grows for this year's "Summer Festival Season." Anchored by events such as SXSW, Bonnaroo, Coachella, and Lollapalooza, SFS is an old-fashioned way for musicians and their labels to profit in an age when all the good songs are on YouTube for free.

As the music industry has grown more seasonal, content producers and consumers alike have become fixated with what this year's "Song of the Summer" will be. Traditionally, this is an upbeat, light-hearted arrangement, with a rythmic, sturdy hook.

Of course it is. Summer is a simple season of simple pleasures and has songs to match. 

What interests me is why other seasons don't have "Songs." Winter is the closest, but usually it's a novelty track from a celebrity Christmas album. Picking songs for the other three seasons is difficult, which is why Psychoeuphorology Today is taking up the challenge.

After all, no gets Michelin stars for cooking a nice ribeye.

For spring, I've chosen to go with a throwback jam. After all, most of the recent releases have summer in mind.

I've picked the 1998 classic, Back That Azz Up by Juvenile.

Like spring itself, the song is subtle and forward-looking. It marks the first significant exposure for a teenage Lil' Wayne. Furthermore, the video is prescient in understanding the democratization of music which would mark the coming decade.

By setting it at a local New Orleans-area concert, it anticipates the renewed emphasis on massive live spectacles that underpin the festival concept.

Furthermore, though Back That Azz Up was released in during the Golden Age of Video Ho's (1915- Present), the video features local women of varying attractiveness in street clothes, united in their desire to Back That Azz Up. Furthering Juvenile's feminist heroics is his use of consensual syntax. He asks of women, "won't you back that azz up?'

This aspect is poignant on the heels of Blurred Lines, in which Robin Thicke suggests he likes to date-rape models.

Back That Azz Up is a song for today and every day. Oh, and in case you missed this in all the high-mindedness, it's kind of a banger.  

The Huskies Win!/ Were Karmically Rewarded for Honestly Reporting their Academic Shortcomings.

During the post-game celebration last night, University of Connecticut point guard Shabazz Napier caused a stir by announcing to the crowd,

"Ladies and gentlemen, you're looking at the hungry Huskies. This is what happens when you ban us. Last year, two years, we worked so hard for it..."

Speak for New England, Shabazz!

Thought his boldness can be written off as empty emotion, what Napier said summarized the anger, and now vindication that the University of Connecticut and its fans have felt in the past two years.

Last year, Connecticut was banned from the NCAA tournament due to its poor Academic Progress Report (APR). This metric aggregates classroom performance and graduation rate amongst a program's athletes to judge whether they're meeting off-court standards.

It was an embarrassment for a state the values education, and a university with a strong academic reputation. 

Connecticut deserved the sanctions. However, those who follow college basketball tend to ignore the deeper implication: The University of Connecticut is an honest when it comes to its athletes.

By now, its an open secret that big-time college basketball programs take advantage of lax regulation and complicit faculty to boost the grades of middling students. In the past month, the University of North Carolina has come under scrutiny following the release of a juvenile, 146-word 'essay' on Rosa Parks, which contributed to one student-athlete receiving an A-minus for an introductory course in African-American Studies. 

In fairness to the NCAA, it did drop the hammer on UNC's football program in 2012. Though the salient violations were for impermissible benefits, they did include one count of academic fraud.

The program was not punished for poor grades; it was punished for lying.

In a twisted way, Connecticut was punished for telling the truth. Rather than create an academically bankrupt program meant to perpetuate the NCAA's myth of the student-athlete, UConn held its players to real collegiate standards. Connecticut does things the right way, even when that means admitting wrongdoing. Its players are real students, and for this reason, it is a worthy champion of college basketball.

Shabazz Napier was hit hard by last year's sanctions, but that frustration fueled him to work harder. One year later, he has a second national championship, and a legitimate degree in Sociology to show for it.

Can the Uconn Huskies Really Win This Thing? Yes!

Despite being an imbalanced, undersized team that over-relies on its best player, the University of Connecticut Huskies are only two wins away from their fourth national championship.

Coach Kevin Ollie has done a fine job playing to his team's strengths. The Huskies have fielded a strong defense all season thanks to the rim protection afforded by the center tandem of Phillip Nolan and Amidah Brimah. Having an athletic 7-footer on the court for most of the game allows an otherwise small team to pressure the ball, and disrupt plays before they develop.

On offense, the versatile scoring of DeAndre Daniels and Ryan Boatright, and underrated facilitating from Niels Giffey have made it difficult for opponents to key in on the team's centerpiece, point guard Shabazz Napier.

On top of this, the Huskie's superior foul shooting makes them a tough out late in games. Several years ago, the coaching staff adopted an unusual approach towards practicing free throws, inspired by Steve Nash. In their last two games against Iowa State and Michigan State they are 41-44 from the foul line. That comes out to 93%, right around the 90% career average of the Greatest Living Canadian.

How do you make the Final Four against heavily favored opposition? Just learn to do this. 

Though these factors contribute, the Huskies will win a national championship because of Shabazz Napier. Just not for the reason everyone thinks. 

Though Napier's scoring has carried the team, he is an imperfect offensive player. He is still developing as a passer, and sometimes forces plays that aren't there. His lack of size and athleticism makes him inconsistent around the rim, despite his long highlight reel. In an eerie parallel with Kemba Walker's championship season (2010-11), Napier only shoots 43% from the field.

What Napier really brings is confidence and maturity. At the college level, mental discipline is a premium skill, most common in third and fourth year players. Observers chalk this up to experience, but the cause is more profound than that.

Players undergo tremendous brain development from their late teens to their early twenties. By their senior year, many players have acquired advanced mental skills such as foresight and impulse control that are well beyond those of even the most talented freshmen.

In this regard Napier is a superior player. His approach is consistent, regardless of the score, or his own performance. He attacks the rim, because drawing fouls has an impact beyond one possession. Most of all, he sets an example that his team can follow.

Upperclassmen like DeAndre Daniles, Niels Giffey, and Ryan Boatright are not as consistent scorers, but they don't let cold shooting take them out of their game. More importantly, it does not deter them from playing tough, active defense, often against larger players.

This is the Shabazz Napier's biggest impact. Like Kemba Walker before him, he has his team playing like young men, not jittery teenagers.