"Whats Going On"

Marvin Gaye grew up in Washington D.C. and started his career as a doo-wop singer for the group The Moonglows in the late 1950’s. In the 60’s he went into a solo career and signed with Motown Records starting off as a session drummer, but moved through the  ranks to become one of the top-selling solo artists during the 60’s. On June 1^st, 1970 Marvin went on to write “Whats Going On” about his brothers accounts of his experience in the Vietnam War and his disgust of police brutality after seeing anti-war protesters attacked. The album went on to cover issues such as poverty, taxes, drug abuse, and pollution. The album was released on May 21, 1971, and instantly became a success. The album was his cross over between young white rock audiences and his already strong R&B fan base.

Whats Goin’ On

This song is an anti-war song about brothers dying in the war of their time, Vietnam. It was Marvin’s way of saying that words work better then violence. It also seems that Marvin is at a party during this time and you can hear the references towards drugs in some places if you listen carefully. The song also goes on to say that those protesting for peace should not be punished with violence. The song touches many subjects such as, race, equality, political views, and emotions of the people during a time of crisis.

“Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on”

Whats Happening Brother

The song is about a man returning to the women in his life from the war and he is unsure when the war is going to end. He doesn’t believe that the newspapers are right that the war is getting better and coming to an end soon. He also talks about the struggles of returning from the war such as finding a job and money being tight. He also talks about how things have changed since he left; he is asking if people still go to the same club to dance. Then he starts catching up with old friends asking what has been going on.

“Hey baby, what'cha know good
I'm just gettin' back, but you knew I would
War is hell, when will it end,
When will people start gettin' together again
Are things really gettin' better, like the newspaper said”

Flyin’ High

This song is about Marvin Gaye’s struggle with drug addiction. “Well I know I'm hooked my friend, To the boy who makes slaves out of men.” That’s something that addiction would do to a person, really tiring them out as they work and work for no gain. Also you’re under the control of someone or something because of the addiction.

Save the Children

I think this is from the point of view of someone who has done nothing for the world, possibly Marvin Gaye, but it doesn’t seem to be about himself. He goes on to say that we all die sooner or later, as if he has no faith or hope. He says save the children as if to save them from this world of despair but no one really cares or is willing to try.

God is Love

As opposed to the previous song this song is much more upbeat and hopeful, all about his belief and faith in god. He says to love all your family and how god has a plan worked out, he has given us everything.

Mercy Mercy Me

This song is about this changing and how “things aren’t what they used to be”. This is a very sad song about how human beings are destroying their home, Earth. This song also is a warning to human kind, it is warning that Earth will only be forgiving for so long and can only take so much destruction. This song is on an album made over 30 years ago, just showing how ahead of the times and how intelligent Marvin Gaye was.

“Oil wasted on the oceans and upon our seas
Fish full of mercury”…

“Radiation in the ground and in the sky
Animals and birds who live nearby are dying”

Right On

This song is very upbeat and has nice background music, very relaxing and easy to listen to. The song talks about how some people are better at things then other people and how some people are helpers in the world. The song then goes on to thank those people who are helpers and tenders to others cries. The song then goes on to say that no matter what you have in life you need to love and find a way to enjoy the things you have.  

Wholy Holy

This song has a slow beat and I don’t find it all that enjoyable. This song is about using god’s strength and power to come together and support in one another. This song is an attempt to plea to the people to stop the hate and using the lord and love.

Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holla)

This song talks about how the government may be corrupt and how the people, specifically directed towards blacks, are working the money and the government is taking it. Then the song goes on to talk about the issue of blacks problems being ignored by the government. 

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer- songwriter, musician and artist. He has had a large impact in popular music and culture, but his best work came during the 1960’s. At the end of Bob’s freshman year of college he dropped out and in January 1961, he traveled to New York City with the hopes of becoming a performer. Bob Dylan first caught the attention of a producer while playing the harmonica for folk singer Carolyn Hester. John Hammond was the producer and he signed Bob to a contract with Columbia Records. Bob Dylan’s first album came in 1962 consisting of folk, blues, and gospel but making a little impact selling on 5,000 copies his first year. It was suggested by many that Hammond drop his contract after he barely broke even. However, Hammond defended Dylan with everything he could to keep the contract in place. Bob Dylan, while working under Columbia Records was also working Broadside Magazine, a folk music magazine and record label. In 1962 Robert Allen Zimmerman legally changed his name to Bob Dylan, and signed a management contract with Albert Grossman who remained his manager until 1970. Dylan left for United Kingdom in the winter of 1962 and wouldn’t return for a month. During this time he had been invited to appear in a TV drama on BBC Television. At the end of the play, Dylan performed “Blowin’ in the Wind”, one of his first major public performances of the song.  During his time in the UK, he also learned several new songs from performers he had met. When Dylan’s second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, came out in May of 1963 he began to make his name as both a singer and songwriter. Many of the songs on this album were labeled as protest songs. “Oxford Town”, for example, was about James Meredith, the first black student to risk enrollment at the University of Mississippi. Songs such as this questioned morals and protested against society and politic; marking a new direction in what was present day songwriting at the time. Dylan also included a mixture of love and humor in his album, things that were a large part of his life and who he was. Dylan’s rough voice was unsettling to some, but to others was an attraction. Joyce Carol Oates before marrying Dylan said, “When I first heard this raw, very young, and seemingly untrained voice, frankly nasal, as if sandpaper could sing, the effect it had was dramatic and electrifying”. The Byrds; Sonny and Cher; The Hollies; Peter, Paul and Mary; The Association; Manfred Mann; and The Turtles; all had hits with Dylan’s songs in the early and mid-1960s. These artists wanted to have a pop feel and rhythm in their songs, while Dylan and Baez (his wife at the time) performed them mostly as folk pieces. 

Dylan made another album in April of 1965, “Bringing it All Back Home”, and made another change in the style of music featuring electric instruments. The first single, “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, has been described as “both harkening back to the manic energy of Beat poetry and as a forerunner of rap and hip-hop”. Dylan also came up with the idea of throwing cue cards containing key words from the song on the ground, something that is used commonly in music videos and advertisements today. Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” quickly became one of his best-known songs when The Byrds recorded an electric version that reached number one in both the U.S. and the U.K. charts. However in 1965, during his appearance at a Folk Festival he played at the previous three years, he was booed of stage some say because of his transformation to electric. Dylan then went back to the recording studio making songs widely interpreted as Dylan’s put-down of former friend from the folk community. Naming the song “Positively 4^th Street” after the friends he had known in clubs along West 4^th Street. The song had images of vengeance and paranoia in his lyrics and words.

Rock N' Roll

Rock and Roll music is popular genre of music influenced by electric blues, jump blues, Chicago blues, swing, and boogie-woogie. The genre can be heard in country and blues records in the 1920's and 1930's, however, earning its name during the late 1940's and early 1950's. In the early rock and roll styles of the 1940’s and early 1950’s either the piano or saxophone was most often the lead instrument, until later in the 1950’s when they were replaced by the guitar. The beat is somewhat of a blues rhythm and in general has a backbeat provided by the snare drum. Classic rock and roll is usually played with one or two electric guitars, a string bass, an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit. During the 1960’s rock and roll was achieving wide popularity. Its popularity and eventual worldwide view of rock and roll gave it a widespread social impact. Rock and Rolls influence was in this greater then simply music. As seen in movie and on television, it influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, language, and went on the start other various genres.

Rock and Roll began in the Southern United States a region that would produce most of the major early rock and roll acts. The migration of slavery to the north forced a mixture of blacks and whites in communities and after hearing each others music they began to emulate the others fashions. Radio Stations that made white and black forms of music available to both groups developed the spread of styles which were taken up by white musicians. The combination of jazz bands, swing, and jump blues at the time had a strong influence on rock and roll and Chuck Berry who is considered to have developed this brand of rock and roll. Rock and roll was developed at a time of technological change with the development of the electric guitar, amplifier and microphone. The record industry was also undergoing change with the rise of independent labels and radio stations directed at specific audiences. The phrase “rocking and rolling” originally described the movement of a ship on the ocean, but was used by the early twentieth century, both to describe black church rituals and as a sexual analogy. As the phrase became more popular it was being used in recordings and in reviews of what became know as rhythm and blues music aimed at the black audience during the 1940’s. By 1942 Billboard magazine columnist MaurieOrodenker had begun using the term “rock and roll” in descriptions of upbeat recordings. In 1951, Cleveland Ohio disk jockey Alan Freed began playing this music style while popularizing the phrase to describe it. The development of rock and roll was an evolutionary process and therefore no single record can be indentified as “the first” rock and roll record.

Elvis Presley In Theatres

Elvis Presley’s interest in acting started in his youth while he attended Humes High School, where he was the lead role in Shakespeare plays for his English class. His inspiration came from actors such as James Dean and Marlon Brando who he admired long before he ever set foot on a movie set. On April 25, 1956, Elvis signed a contract with Paramount that also allowed him to work with other studios. In 1956 Presley went on to do his first film Love Me Tender, and would go on to appear in a total of 33 films, 31 musicals, and two concert documentaries.

Upon Elvis’s return from the Army in 1960 he stared in G.I. Blues directed by Norman Taurog, this film set the tone for his Hollywood films in the 1960’s. After playing a dramatic role in Flaming Star and Wild in the Country, which were less successful and formulated, his movies were given their own genre, Elvis movies. Elvis movies were, for the most part, poorly received, and were considered to be all the same. Elvis hated many of the songs he was performing in many of his films and found them comical while he was recording them. Critics during the time said that “no major star suffered through more bad movies than Elvis Presley”. However, some blame Elvis for his own downfall, other critics said that Elvis ‘could have demanded better, more substantial scripts, but he didn’t”. Elvis then went on to do a film called Viva Las Vegas, where he worked with David Winters and Ann-Margret. The three went on to make the movie the Presley’s most successful film at the box office, returning more than $5 million to MGM.

 Fans all around the world were watching Presley make his mark. Change of Habit in 1969, was Presley’s final non-concert movie. The hippie movement had developed and groups such as The Beatles, were dominating. At this point in Elvis’s career he was forced back into recording and touring.

Broadcasting Rights

In MLB, where local contracts dominate, all locations get their local team nearly nightly, along with a general interest game a couple of times each week. In the NFL, where there is literally no such thing as a local television broadcast, fans get approximately the same thing (61 The Market for Sports Broadcast Rights). They will see the home team every week, along with a few games of broader interest. The NFL has a national contract of $2.3 billion annually and the MLB has a national contract of $814 million annually. The previous contract for the NFL (1998-2005) totaled $23.1 billion which was 21% more then the current contract. The previous MLB contract was $4 billion which is 42% more then the current contract (81 The Market for Sports Broadcast Rights). The National Media generates more then the local media in 25 of the 32 teams in the MLB and 80% of the teams cover more then half of their player salaries just from the media alone. In contrast, the NFL covers all player costs with the media revenue source alone for every team but the Packers and Chiefs. Although the NFL has so many fewer broadcast slots they make a drastic amount more then the other leagues because they provide a better reach to the important demographic target of advertisers. This money is collected by the media providers and sent through to the NFL. The NFL games are sold through their leagues in the form of a national contract, where as the MLB sells their games by the team through local contracts. 

The beginning of broadcasting problems in the MLB came in April of 1953, when ABC signed three teams. The MLB banned ABC from broadcasting their games within a 50-mile radius of the home teams stadium. Around 1965, ABC paid $5.7 million for the rights to the 28 Saturday and holiday games but continued to black out the games in the home cities of the clubs playing those games. In 1969, MLB had grown to 24 teams and TV revenues rose to $20.7 million, a significant increase from 1950, which had a $2.3 million income. This contract then rose to $72 million from 1972-75 but continued the local blackouts and continued to when the 1976-1979 contract was $92 million. By 1980, income from TV was 30% of the $500 million in the MLB. Then in 1983, MLB, ABC, and NBC agreed to a six-year contract worth $1.2 billion. In 1989, CBS agreed to $1.8 billion over a four-year span, which cost CBS a great deal of money and disputes over the contract with the MLB. The disputes led the MLB to go into the business of producing their own telecasts. Shortly after, the MLB made a new deal with ABC and NBC; they would take 85% of the first $140 million in advertising revenue, then 50% of the next $30 million, and 80% of any additional money. After another dispute in 1994 NBC and ABC decided to cut all ties with the MLB for the remainder of the 20th century. In 1995 Fox and NBC made a deal with the MLB and began it by showing games based on the viewers regions. Then in 2000, Fox signed a six year deal worth $2.5 billion.

In the NFL, all away games are aired in the local region of the away team; this is done because of the difficulty for fans to attend away games. All sold out home games are also aired the local region of teams unless the games do not sell out 72 hours before kickoff. Games not sold out 72 hours before kickoff are in jeopardy to blackout in the local region. Prior to 1973, all home games were blacked out in the local region of the home team, even during championship games. This policy came into effect because the president wanted to watch the Redskins in a playoff game and was unable to because of the blackout. The league commissioner at the time, Pete Rozelle, was forced to lift the blackout under a new law eliminating the blackout under the 72 hour rule in place now. Some NFL teams however have arrangements with local television stations or businesses to purchase unsold ticket. In 2011, only four blackouts occurred and less occurred in previous years, 2010 with only two, 2009 with only 3, 2006 with only one. NBC was the first major television network to cover an NFL game on October 22, 1939. Regular broadcasting of games began after World War 2 and the first NFL championship game to be televised was in 1948. In 1950, the LA Rams and the Washington Redskins became the first NFL teams to have all their games televised, and in the same year other teams made deals to have selected games telecast. The DuMont Network, in the same, paid a rights fee of $75,000 to broadcast the 1951 Championship game across the entire nation, and was the first to do so. In 1953-1955 the network became the first to broadcast live NFL games across the entire nation, and did so for the entire season. NBC, in 1955, became the new home of the NFL championship game, paying $100,000 to the NFL. In 1956, CBS began to televise the selected NFL regular season games. When 1959 came around, big teams had all their games televised but the smaller teams still did not. This was until Pete Rozelle became the commissioner and a goal of his to see that every team got all its games on TV.  In 1987, ESPN became the first to cable network to broadcast regular season games. In 1990, the NFL, from all the combined contracts, was bringing in the largest some in TV at the time with $900 million annually totaling to $3.6 billion.

Graph of media revenues for NFL 

 

  Sources of Slavation

Many of the nations greatest African American athletes are seen today as children who are consistently finding themselves in trouble, a lot of which having to do with their fame and money. African American athletes such as Jim Brown, Arthur Ashe, Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, Julius Erving, Reggie Jackson, Hank Aaron, and Bill Russell are a few athletes that have proven to have a great deeper purpose then sports heroes. These athletes were assistants to Martin Luther King in his attempt to achieve “The Dream”, each of these athletes were seen as sources of salvation mostly by black folks in America.

Jim Brown in 1988 founded the Amer-I-Can Program. He currently works with kids caught up in the gang scene in Los Angeles and Cleveland through this Amer-I-Can program. It is a life management skills organization that operates in inner cities and prisons. While also working to get other great athletes involved in communities and sponsored programs.

Arthur Ashe was diagnosed with HIV during blood transfusions he received after ending his tennis career. Ashe went on to call the attention of the world to AIDS. Two months before his death he founded the Arthur Ashe Institue for Urban Health to help address issues of improper health care.

Jackie Robinson chaired of the NAACP million-dollar Freedom Fund Drive in 1957, and served on the organization’s board until 1967. Robinson also helped found Freedom National Bank, a black-owned and operated commercial bank in Harlem, serving as the bank’s first Chairman of the Board. Robinson also established the Jackie Robinson Construction Company to build housing for low-income families. 

 

Jesse Owens was appointed as a US goodwill ambassador by the government and traveled the world speaking to many companies such as Ford Motor Company and the United States Olympic Committee.

Joe Louis was approved for the Congressional Gold Medal given by the U.S. legislative branch stating that he served as a symbol of strength for the nation. Joe Louis became the first boxer to be honored on a postage stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

 Julius Erving following his basketball career became a business man, owning a large portion of a Coca-Cola bottling plant. He also became the first minority owner of a NASCAR racing team as an attempt to involve the black community in NASCAR. Erving also served on the board of directors of Converse, Darden Restaurants, Saks Incorporated, and Sports Authority. 

 

Reggie Jackson, Mr. October, worked as a field reporter and color commentator for ABC Sports. Jackson also was a popular actor following his career, he stared several major films, even as a host for Nickelodeon.

Hank Aaron served as the Braves vice president and director of player development, one of the minorities in MLB upper level management, and served as a senior vice president assistant to the Braves president. Aaron also was the corporate vice president of community relations for TBS. Aaron was also presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President William Clinton. Then later on went to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom given to him by George W. Bush. Hank Aaron also owns Mini, Land Rover, Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda dealerships throughout Georgia.

Bill Russell wrote a book on dedicated to the victims of racial abuse called, Go Up for Glory. Russell also was active in the Black Power movement and supported Muhammad Ali’s decision to refuse to be drafted. Russell’s life was marked by a battle against racism as he was a frequent first hand victim of racism.

Each of these athletes has had a greater purpose then the simple sports heroes they were portrayed as. They were seen as sources of salvation all across the United States, sports wasn’t something these athletes did for exercise or entertainment, sports was a component for freedom. “Its been the voice we’ve found through our arms and legs when our mouths have been silenced.(3)” The job these athletes carried was much more significant then what they were doing in their sport. These athletes were the beginning to change in America and represent a coming of African Americans in America.