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research question part 3 

For this week I will be continuing talking about my research question. I had to be more specific with my final question. Here it is : how does twenty one pilots through their music and the use of social medias create and maintain a bound with their fan base ? 

My primary sources are still the same but here is how I will analyze them : 

I will chose lyrics and link them with fan arts published on twitter which took, with time, a bigger turn. On this « bigger turn »,  I have found articles commenting it so it will be a link to see as well. 

Again, I will chose songs to link them with campaigns created by the fans. 

I will compare the riddle made by the band and posted secretly online for their 5th album with the discovery by the fan base and the theory about it (a whole blog dedicated to it for exemple) 

I will talk about the Tour de Columbus posted on twenty one pilots’twitter to gain free tickets to see the band live in small venues. 

I will finally compare some contests on their social medias and the reaction both from the fan and the band itself. 

I realised that I didn’t mentioned the time period : I will be between 2012 and 2022, so a 10 years period to cover.  Why this period ? Because I will use song that went out started 2012 , and several events that mostly happened after 2015 until now. 

I have found my first academic secondary source ! (And I’m struggling to find a second one) 

As this thesis is based on metaphors and themes that are recurrent in their song and universe (such as concept created, some aesthetics etc…) it will me help to understand deeply how the group works and how people are attracted to their universe. 

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Final project part 2 

I want to talk about (again) my final project this week as I have found its final key question (well, I think). Last time what I had was not a question but rather an affirmation so I changed it to :

how twenty one pilots' music inspires people and how, through it, does it bound the group and their fan base together ?

if my question changed a bit, my primary sources didn't.

I haven't found yet secondary sources but it will be the subject of my next week's blog because I'm not really sure if it will be good enough.

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Tupac Shakur and his activism

As I talked two weeks ago about the birth of rap in New York in the Bronx, today I want to talk about about a legend of rap music : Tupac Shakur. 

Tupac was born in New York in 1971 but will move out during his teenage years to California, where he will begin his career of rapper in several groups before making himself famous by his own talent. He will sign a contract with Death Row Records and will lead a war against the famous East coast label Bad Boys Records. He will die at only the age of 26 of the result of this rivalry which was linked with gangs.

His political activism started in the womb : his mother was an active member of the Black Panther. By his mother’s values, by noticing scenes of police brutality (who often raided his home for information), and by the poverty he lived in, Tupac started to be engaged politically very early on. Before rapping, he associated himself to groups such as New Afrikan Panthers who worked against police brutality and abuse for example. 

In the song Changes, written in 1992 but only released after his death in 1997, Tupac reflects on racism, police brutality, drugs and perpetuation of black poverty. https://genius.com/2pac-changes-lyrics

He also fought for feminism, a rare thing to see at this time in a rapper’s career. in his first album 2Pacalypse now, he wrote and interpreted "Brandy's Got A Baby" In this song, he denounces the rejection from families and friends but also the fact of being a young mother in a poor neighbourhood where the government show a considerable lack of financial support. This song is inspired from a true story that Tupac read on the newspaper. 

Tupac’s feminism doesn’t stop here, he also wrote a song on her mom "Dear Mama" which retrace her mother and Tupac’s life story. Again in this song, he talks about his mom and her strength in rising two kids alone, their fight in poverty, his drugs dealing to survive… This song is not just about his mom but for all mother who are fighting to raise kids alone.

His legacy on political and cultural activism continue through association : Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts and the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, both to help those in difficulty to access health care or cultural things. 

My article is of course related to the chapter Politics. 

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Twenty one Pilots and their fan base

For my final project, I want to talk about a band that changed my life : Twenty one Pilots. I listen to them since 2014 and have been part since then of the fan base called "the Clique". Since then, I have gathered informations and key events that will support my project.

My key question will be : A close relationship between Twenty one Pilots and their fan base : feeling seen and inspired.

My primary sources are going to be :

Twenty one Pilots songs : Guns for hands, Kitchen Sink, Migraine...

Twitter : fan accounts, hashtags, fan projects

Twenty one Pilots riddle for their 5th album Trench http://dmaorg.info/found/15398642_14/clancy.html.

The Clique blog dedicated to the riddle https://twentyonepilots.fandom.com/wiki/Dmaorg.info

Live moments

Articles such as https://www.strifemag.com/artists/twenty-one-pilots/watch-twenty-one-pilots-wonderful-artpia-event/

Twenty One pilots Tour de Colombus

Twenty one Pilots several contests on social medias

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The creation of Hip Hop

In our lastest chapter of the Negus, we have read about the history of rock and roll from its origin to its "presumed death" in 1976. In this post, I would like to discuss the creation of Hip-hop in the same years of rock and roll’s "decline" 

As we saw in the negus "Musical identities are created out of knowledge and experience of the past". This formula applies to the creation of Hip-Hop.

Hip hop was created in the mid seventies, at New York, in the Bronx during underground african-american parties. At first, the music of this new genra was made by DJs who sampled sounds on disco, soul and funk’s vinyls with turntables. As we can notice, same as rock and roll who emerged from taking from blues "blues continuum", Hip Hop started from taking from disco and funk.

But with those sounds, they created loops to keep people on the dancefloor and as long as possible at parties. The first pioneer of this technique is DJ Kool Herc.

Then during those loops, breaks were introduced for DJs to talk to people and later, they were used to introduce breakdancing battles. As this new genra grew, other techniques and manipulations on turntables were introduced such as scratching which was developped by Grandmaster Flash. Then, those parties began to be transformed in musical performance as the celebrity of DJs began to grow but also as MCs (rappers) began to express themselves on those loops. What were simple interventions to talk to people at first became freestyles and rap battles. And what was just a new way of making underground music became soon mainstream. Hip Hop was not just music but became associated with other street codes : new ways of dressing, talking, making art (graffitis) and dancing (breakdance). Hip Hop became a new subgenre. (Negus, chapter one). Only few artists popped out in the seventies, and the first versions of rap and hip hop that became mainstream were more close to disco and funk than actual rap (as the infuences of disco and funk were still strong but slowly in decline)

We would have to wait the mid eighties - beginning of the nineties to have a real diversification in sounds and rapping, with new generations of rappers from New York but also from the competing West Coast.

If you are interested on the subject, I learned those facts from the HBO TV show/documentary Hip Hop Evolution which retrace the full history of Hip Hop and Rap.

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The importance of live shows for Twenty One Pilots’ music

As I explained in my last post their style in term of sounds and lyrics, I will now talk about the importance of live shows as a new way to listen to them.

Twenty One Pilots is a band composed only by two men : Tyler who is the singer and plays also the piano and the bass and Josh who plays the drums. As they knew, a rock-alternative band with only two people on stage is a challenge : they have to put on a show. This band will construct their live shows based on the way they merge with the public and how they create their own aesthetics through their videoclips.

Firstly, the band is very close to their public. They express this close relationship by giving them nickname such as « the skeleton clique » which will be adopted as the name of the fan base by the fans for exemple. This is also expressed by how they are giving themselves to the crowd : at several moment in the show, they will go in the pit. Tyler is often seen crowdsurfing the pit or being held and lift up by the people at the beginning of it, above them, to rap or sing songs such as "Holding Onto You" (see how they make the link between their song and the public in that moment). Josh is not put aside, as a mini drum kit will also be held by the people as Josh will drum above them. Some lucky clique members could even go on stage on one of their tours and could do the famous handshake seen in the Stressed Out videoclip. Also, the two men do meet and greet at the beginning or end or every shows which is a thing that has not changed over the years and popularity. So my first conclusion is that you can have a chance, as a fan, to interact with them verbally or physically. They are accessible artists and they show that during live shows which is a way also of promoting themselves and their music.

Secondly, the band will use the aesthetics of their clips or albums to construct their live shows. Each Twenty One Pilots’ album as an aesthetic but it became clear with their 4th album Blurryface. Tyler will be seen in their videoclips and so later live with black paint around his neck and hands ans often with a red bennie. As for Josh, with red make up around his eyes and a red cap. Since nearly the beginning of their careers, they open their shows with ski masks on (which is a thing that they did first in their videoclips with for exemple "Guns For Hands"). This concept has grown to be very popular among the fan base. They are using in a clever way references front their videoclips to make the fans commit and relate to what they are doing on stage by reproducing their codes (you are lost if you have not seen the clips !). At every shows, you will see fan imitating them and adopt a certain dress code according to the era.

Finally, for my case, I discovered them with the clip Car Radio (see below and skip to 2:30 if interested) and I imagined directly that I could be in that crowd, in their live show, and that must be a life changing experience. It is not only listening to music, it is to feel free while listening to it. And it is exactly the impression that they wanted to convey through it. Once again, what a clever way to bring people into their world and music through their mediation. (and also the mediation of their live shows as you can find them easily on their youtube channel).

here’s some photographs from my own experiences which we really life changing (they were the firsts artists that I have seen live and thanks to them, I’m now ruined as I keep buying concert tickets for every artists that I like)

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Twenty one Pilots criticism of the music industry in their song Lane Boy

Firstly, I would like to explain the spirit of their music for you to better understand why they have such opinions on the music industry.

Their music was made firstly for them to fight their inner demons and mental illnesses. By fighting their demons through music (as they wrote about them) they thought that it could give other people hope and courage to do likewise. Twenty one Pilots slowly gained success in the USA (precisely in Ohio) especially with the youth who finally found a voice to explain and understand how they felt deeply and found a band to rely on. What make Twenty one Pilots even more interesting is that they are not closed up to one style. They are creating their own : their music rests rock based but they easily mix up genra : in one song we can have rock/punk, electro, rap , pop (sometimes reggae)… and it works ! (see the song Car Radio for exemple and of course Lane Boy). It is not usual but it became their signature. To those mixed up styles, they add their lyrics which are deep and meaningful but not everyone can relate to them (but it can sensibilise or procure you emotions).Before Blurryface, their 4th album, the group did not write on the music industry. But with their 3rd album entitled Vessel, they began to be known worldwide so they had a wilder range of listeners

We all know that what is unusual, the music industry does not like it. It rather prefers conformity. In order to sell in theory, the music has to be something that people can easily associate to other sounds or songs, to be catchy, joyful and easily relatable. It is what you will find in the charts mostly.

Twenty one Pilots criticize that in their song Lane Boy, entirely written against the music industry (I suggest you also watch the clip to better understand my further explainations)

"they say stay in your lane boy, but we go where we want to". Indeed, they are doing their signature move : a song made with several styles : rock, rap, electro and with meaningful lyrics but this time about the music industry and their conformity (he also says that because of their usual subjects) Tyler, the singer, rap further : "there’s a few songs on this record that feel common, i’m in constant confrontation with what i want and what is poppin’, in the industry it seems to me that singles on the radio are currency": as being part now without their will of that industry, the band has to draw the line on what direction they want to take : staying original and see what will become of them or conform to usual subjects and sounds and being successful. He reminds himself that he started writing because of deeper things "but i know a thing or two about pain and darkness, if it wasn’t for this music i don’t know how i would have fought this". and so like that, they choose the path of originality and non conformity because they need to keep doing what is healing them and many others "regardless, all these songs i’m hearing are so heartless ". In the clip, you can see two characters following the singer as he raps until he gets to the stage : they are wearing white jumpsuits and gaz masks. Those two characters are the representation of fame and success (as it is written at the end on them). When they get to the stage, Tyler says mutely, on his knees "why do I kneel to those concepts, tempted by control, control by temptation, stay low they say ,they low". Instead of staying low (being part of the mass and not being original) he jumps with the crowd and puts on their knees ultimately fame and success : creativity has finally won over them "my creativity’s only free when i’m playing shows" Shows and fans became the fuel of the band : they can’t also conform because they are the voice of so many of them and the voice of creativity over conformity. Do you know other artists who criticized the industry in a song or clip ? Let me know ! (If you are interested, in that album there are several songs linked to the music industry and success such as Stressed Out, Fairly Local, Message Man, We don’t believe what’s on TV…)

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Arctic Monkeys and the Alternative/Indie rock genre

Arctic Monkeys is an English rock banded formed in 2002 and is composed of Alex Tuner, the lead vocalist and guitarist, Jamie Cook, Nick O’Malley and Matt Helders. The band’s wider international fame came with the success of their fifth album AM, released in 2013.

The band’s genre is known as Alternative or Indie rock which is a sub-genre of rock music that has emerged in the wake of the punk rock movement since the mid 1980s. 

At the beginning in the 1990s, rock musicians who were out of sync with mainstream culture developed a genre known as Alternative rock.

“Alternative” is an umbrella term for underground music with a distinction from mainstream or commercial rock or pop music. This sub-genre is often linked to “Indie” Rock, which comes from independent term describing the small and relatively low-budget labels on which it is released and the do-it yourself attitude of the bands and artists involved.

These labels attempted to retain their autonomy, leaving them free to explore sounds, emotions and subjects of limited appeal to a large, mainstream audience.

The artists’ attitude and ideology towards the music industry differed from the mass production system. 

Pop Rock for instance (with the famous band Queen), is a more commercially successful music that uses elements from rock music with greater emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less on attitude.

However, the growing success of Arctic Monkeys and their new hit songs such as “Do I wanna know?” increased their popularity among the audience.

As a result, Arctic Monkeys made history as the first independent label band with five consecutive number 1 albums in the UK. 

Then, other famous rock artists like them (Pixies, The Strokes) widespread this new sub-genre mostly among the younger generation and made it widely popular !

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Nirvana and the popularisation of the Grunge :

Nirvana was a group formed by firstly Kurt Cobain and Kris Novoselic in 1987 and were joined later by the legendary Dave Grohl (now being the leader of the group the Foo Fighters.) This group from Aberdeen, Ohio in the US is the idea of Kurt Cobain, a fan of punk-rock who dropped of school at the age of sixteen after seeing a live show of The Melvins, a local punk-rock band, to dedicate his whole life playing music. The three men were passionate about music (active listeners) and wanted to live from it, but not at the point of becoming superstars, just to stay in that underground scene and playing for passionates like them.

Bleach was their first album recorded in only four hours in 1989. The subjects of their songs were treating about their local life in Aberdeen or shocking, provacative subjects like in « About a Girl » or non conventionnal ones that testified a new angry and provocative youth. That album was the sketch or first attempts of Grunge which is a genra of music derived from punk-rock and heavy metal that plays on « dirty sounds » with the use of distortion of guitar and bass and the loud playing on the drums. The recording of Bleach in only a few hours is grunge itself as they didnt cared if it was perfect or not (which also relate to the wish of wanting to stay « underground » compared to the mass music perfect production). Grunge is also a way of behaving and dressing which looks like rock-style but in a more casual and younger way (black converse with ripped jeans and loose t-shirt for exemple).

The turning point in their career is their second album Nevermind and the release of the song « Smell like Teen Spirit » which will catapult them into that mass production of music consumed not only by passionates like them but by passive listeners too. They hated that, espacially Cobain who even at the show kicked « fake fan » of that now former underground style.

We can say that this band spoke and still speaks to young generations with the creation of the Grunge subculture