WKNC 88.1 FM - North Carolina State University Student RadioRandom sh*t we don’t know where else to put
Anthony Fantanto was asked to leave Pinecrest Elementary School after starting a live stream and loudly shouting that the performance was derivative of the the nearby Westwood Middle School ’s recital.
-Andrew Evans
My first exposure to skate punk was probably the soundtrack of Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland. By the time those games were being released, skate punk was already on the decline. First, what is skate punk? Trying to define musical genres in words is stupid but here I go. Skate punk is just punk music by skaters, about skateboarding, that skateboarders listen to, while skating. Honestly, it doesn’t even have to be about skateboarding. It just has to motivate you to go out and risk life and limb in the pursuit of shredding. And it doesn’t hurt if it has that one-two skate punk rhythm.
In the 80’s, skate punk was super trendy. Everyone was skating, or at least, pretending that they could. The Bones Brigade was in its prime. Epitaph records was storming the scene, releasing killer album after album. Bad Religion’s How Could Hell Be Any Worse was a raging success that raked in a ton of money for the Epitaph label, enabling them to significantly improve their production quality. The new polished sounds of punk records attracted more people to listen to skate punk. Skate punk was a full-scale production now, not just some rinky dink operation out of some guy’s ratty basement. Skateboarding became a popular theme in music videos (the music video for Agent Orange – A Cry For Help In A World Gone Mad is literally the band performing inside a bowl while skateboarders do gravity-defying tricks in the background). The go-to source for the latest, most essential skate punk albums was Thrasher magazine’s skate rock compilations.
At some point, the skateboarding craze faded but the scene didn’t die away. There are new bands dropping skate punk albums all the time. Unfortunately, it’s really hard for these independent bands to gain any recognition when most people are satisfied with just listening to the skate punk OGs from the old days. So, if you want to find new music in this genre or in punk in general, you’ll have to dig a little deeper. It’s not hard though. All you really have to do it go to Bandcamp and type in ‘skate punk’. You never know what gems you will uncover when you go down the bandcamp rabbit hole.
The other day, I found a skate punk band called The Shidiots that really rips. They’re only available on bandcamp; you can listen here: https://theshidiots.bandcamp.com/
Could there be a skate punk revival in the future? God I hope so. We’ll have to see.
(cover art by Carliihde on Deviant Art)
-Safia Rizwan
When I decided that I wanted to take music more seriously and make it a part of my life forever, I decided that I should get to know some other musicians. I only had one problem… I had no idea how to meet musicians. Through time (and a lot of different trials) I found a few things that worked for me, so I’m here to share them for anyone on a similar journey!
Music Clubs/ Orgs – This is a big one for college/ high school students but it’s also applicable to anyone. If you are at a school it’s always a good idea to get to know the organizations & opportunities that you have, specifically in regards to music here. There’s no easier way to meet musicians then at an event or meeting that is aimed toward music. It’s also nice because you’ll usually find more ‘dedicated’ people at these kinds of events, everyone loves music but if you’re looking for people to collab with or share ideas it’s worth finding people who put in that extra effort to get involved too. If you’re not in school then checking out local community groups is a route you can take (especially online and music stores but more on that below).
Social Media – I’m not ashamed to admit that a lot of my musician friends came from Tinder, this is 2019 after all. Self-advertising has always been a thing (ever been to a music store and seen adds up for band members?). While that can still be a good way to get in contact with people it’s much faster to use social media for this, especially with the power of hashtags. You can search for just about anything on just about any platform and find people looking for the same thing as you. It can also be used to promote your work, I have a lot of friends with side Instagrams and other media to promote their music and this can help people find you and make you look a bit more legit. Tinder, and other apps meant for meeting people, is also not a bad place to look since it’s people trying to meet people. People use tinder all the time for business and as long as you make things clear in your bio you have a good shot at finding people this way.
Concerts – Like I said before there’s no easier way to meet musicians then at an event or meeting that is aimed toward music. As an added bonus you already have an artist in common so it’s likely you have a similar taste in music. Especially if you go to a show alone, all you have to do is find someone who’s also alone and say hey, I did this once and met a DJ from UNC. A bonus here is that you’re at a concert so no matter what happens it’ll be enjoyable.
Record/ Music Stores – This one is a classic. This is a common place for people to put up personal ads and a lot of local stores play little concerts, so if you keep up with that you may even be able to meet small local bands. This is a great way to get involved in your local music scene.
Anywhere – Something important to remember is that musicians are just people and can be anywhere. Recently I was at work, in Carmichael Gym, and a man walked up to talk to me and my co-workers. After a bit of talking he told us he was performing with a local band and that he free-lances as a bassist sometimes. I kept the conversation in music and told him that I’m a DJ at the campus station and now whenever we see each other at the gym we talk a bit (mostly about music). Moral of the story, musicians are everywhere and the more you go out and try new things the better your chance of running into some fellow music lovers
– DJ Psyched
The historic Golden Record sent into space is finally found by Intelligent life. Aliens say “We’re disappointed. We wish NASA would keep their mixes more relevant.”
-Andrew Evans
Recently, I have had multiple friends tell me that they want to start listening to metal. They have asked me what bands they should start off with, and that was a hard question to answer. There is SO much to unpack when talking about metal because you have SO MUCH music from different eras. Everyone has different musical tastes/styles so it is hard to pinpoint which bands I think my friends would like. But today, I will attempt to make a guide for all my normies out there who want to get into something heavier.
· Start off with the basics
The majority of people know the main bands that put metal on the map: Black Sabbath, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Iron Maiden and Megadeth, etc. If people don’t know these bands…. Well…. Where have you been?
The most famous songs are most likely the only ones that people know, but I would suggest listening to their other stuff that isn’t as well known. For example, listen to anything off of Ride the Lightening, Master of Puppets, or …And Justice for All; Metallica’s 2nd, 3rd, and 4thstudio albums respectively.
The bands listed above laid the foundation in which all sub genres of metal are based. Now, let’s get into the fun stuff.
The three main bands that helped me get into metal were Slipknot, KoRn and Pantera. I would say that these three bands really took the sound of metal to the next level (or, as Pantera would say, “A New Level”). These bands opened the door for the bands that I listen to today. I would suggest listening to the first three albums that KoRn released (KoRn, Life is Peachy, and Follow the Leader). I would also listen to any song off of Pantera’s Cowboys from Hell or Vulgar Display of Power. As for Slipknot, they always release bangers so literally anything by them. I personally really like Slipknot’s Iowa, and All Hope is Gone.
When trying to get into metal bands today, it is all about trial and error. When I was first getting into metal, I started off with the bands that my brothers would play and listen to them. Then if I liked it, I would look up artists similar to them and then just go down a rabbit hole.
Here are A LOT of bands to get you started!
· All That Remains
· Hatebreed
· Terror
· Chimera
· Miss May I
· Upon A Burning Body
· Wage War
· Parkway Drive
· Fit for A King
· After the Burial
· Architects
· Volumes
· Stick to Your Guns
· Left Behind
· Knocked Loose
· Detain
· Bent Life
· Kublai Khan
· Varials
· Thy Art is Murder
· Whitechapel
· Cannibal Corpse
· Obituary
· Six Feet Under
· Death
· Morbid Angel
· Dying Fetus
If you listened to and liked any of these bands, look up bands that are similar to the ones that you liked to find more!!
· Go to a show!
The best thing about metal shows is that they aren’t that expensive, the bands have merch that goes hella hard, and you will see some of the craziest shit. You will definitely get your money’s worth! Shows are also a great way to find new bands!!! You also meet people at the show and potentially become friends and then they can also show you music! My friends are the best because we all share what we are listening to on Instagram so it’s a fun, quick, and easy way to discover more music.
Some of my friends have said that they are scared to go to a metal show because they think the people are going to be mean, rude, or scary. But that is far from it! Although there are some people at shows that will be rude towards you, the majority of the people attending the show are really nice! For example, I took my friend (who has never listened to metal and has never been to show) to a house show in some guy’s basement and the people there thanked her for coming out and giving the music a chance. Moral of the story is, we may look hardcore but we are a bunch of softies… unless you piss us off!
· Listen to The Saw’s Butcher Shop on Friday nights from 5pm-8pm on WKNC’s Chainsaw Rock!!
You already know that I’m going to advertise my show, right? I play all genres of metal in the span of 3 hours!!! This is a quick, easy, and fun way to discover which bands you like, what genres are your favorite, and also what you don’t like.
You can take these tips and tricks and apply them to any genre of music that you want to explore! Remember that WKNC plays Daytime Rock (Indie), Afterhours (Electronic), Underground (Rap/Hip-Hop), and Chainsaw Rock (Metal). We also have some specialty shows that play other genres! There is literally everything for everyone to listen to on WKNC. Take advantage of us invading your airwaves J
What bands helped you get into metal?
Stay Metal,
THE SAW
cellar door’s take on Sampling
In short, sampling is the practice (an art form some may say) of taking a portion of another sound recording, music or not, and reusing it in another sound recording. Samples come in many shapes and sizes. They can be speech sounds, instrument sounds, ambient sounds, beats and even lyrics. Musique concrète, which originated in the 1940s, was a way of making music out of previously recorded sounds. Artists who indulged in this kind of music composition would literally take tapes, cut the audio out that they wanted and then proceed to manipulate them via music technology. The point of musique concrète was to find “music” in everyday sounds by looping them, slowing them down or speeding them up. Now, thanks to some French dudes, sampling was (sort of) born. Of course, artists were borrowing from each other since the beginning of music; sampling is an inherent element in music-making.
In the 1960s, Jamaican dub reggae artists would take previously recorded reggae tracks to create faster songs to dance to and then they would DJ over them, these songs were called riddim (not EDM, though they share the same name). Jamaican immigrants who moved to America shared their practice of sampling and so began its roots in hip hop in the 70s. Sampling is the foundation of hip-hop itself, which is why it’s so widely used in the genre today. DJs would use turntables and loop breaks in soul records from artists like James Brown and use them to rap over for their audiences.
So why do some people despise sampling? Is it because they don’t know about its history and thus make blind assumptions of stealing (yes.)? Or is it because they do know what sampling is and they still don’t exactly agree with the “taking” of intellectual property even if it is manipulated to create another work? I’m not the one to say, but I can say that there is plenty of controversy surrounding sampling in the music world. I mean sure, it is very wrong to literally take someone’s work, copy it, paste it and then call it your own. To me, that’s not what sampling is. Sampling is about paying homage or shouting out something you really like as a music artist and it gives artists even MORE creative room to work with. It gives artists the chance to share something new with their audiences and it sometimes propels the original to new stardom. Sampling also creates a unique space for music to be made of other music which is pretty meta if you ask me. However, running into copyright issues is where it can get tricky and controversial. Of course, nowadays, you hear a lot about artists having trouble getting samples cleared because of how expensive and difficult it is to get through copyright rules. Imagine all of the good, juicy sampled music we could have if these samples had been cleared. Personally, I love sampling. For me, it’s like finding hidden treasure because the original song is ALWAYS better than the song with the sample. It also broadens my musical horizons greatly and gives a song another layer of history. Hip hop and electronic music are my most favorite genres and sampling is at the base of their creation so I am all for it.
-cellar door xx
Obviously, Fake Top 5 Most Shocking Moments in Music History
5. When Ozzy Osborne ate an entire horse on stage
The undisputed king of classic doom has been relegated to docile geriatrics as of late. Following his exploration into reality TV at the turn of the millenium, Osborne has become somewhat of a parody of himself with his cartoonish antics and increasingly unintelligible ramblings. That being said, it’s crucial to remember Osborne as an absolute legend of classic rock. As he popularized playful occultism, sludgy romantic doom, or just general head banging goodness, Ozzy was a key player in transforming rock into a liberated art form. Nowhere is this more clear than the infamous occasion wherein Osborne participated in a horrifically graphic equine feast. While on a solo tour after leaving Sabbath, the band was halted mid-set by their leader; Osborne first looked out into the audience in silence before finally opening his lips. “Bring her outttttttt!” he screamed as Randy Rhoades and company scrambled backstage before bringing out, well, you guessed it. A giant horse. For the next three hours, the audience stood stark horrified as Osborne slowly sliced through the beast and consumed it piece by piece, blood dribbling down his chin and onto innocent concert attendees who just wanted some good-down-to-earth-metal-music-itellyawhat. The show was, of course, cut short as Osborne proceeded to shit himself and die after eating so much raw horse meat. Classic Ozzy, he’s quite a clown, huh?
4. When Mick Jagger Didn’t Die
How is this guy still alive? Like, I don’t wish ill on him. But it seems like a natural violation that the Rolling Stones are still a thing. I’m pretty sure him and his bosom buddy Richards have done it all: smoked poo skeletons, injected specially radioactive gas poison, writhed around in the River Styx while occasionally shouting “yeah baybay” to each other as their tight leather pants grazed death water. It doesn’t matter, I guess, though.
3. When Billie Idol Invented Punk Rock
When the words “poonk rok” first creep past your ears with their spindly digits, the first images that pop into your whimsical head may be of dingy clubs occupied by New York’s darling quartet of hideous grandmas, but they, sadly, were posers. Wha…? Posers? Posing as whom? Iggy Pop? Nope. The MC5? Nope. Lou Reed?! Nope again. See, they were actually following what could essentially be distilled down to an elaborate marketing campaign designed by one Billie Idol. Idol, originally a marketing consultant for Viacom, spent years researching what could set off what he identified as a powderkeg of untapped teenage angst. Several years of looking at graphs, gathering disgruntled testimony, and co-opting avant-garde aestheticism into white-consumerism later, Idol emerged with the hit single “White Wedding” which fundamentally altered the course of music history. Idol would go on to enjoy a long and successful career as punk’s most vital contributor, eventually giving birth to two sons: Henry Rollins and Ian Mackaye.
2. When The Beatles Headlined Woodstock
Imagine this, Woodstock has already been going on for nine-days, your one pair of super hip homemade jean shorts have been absolutely soiled by mud and human feces, and the acid jell-o isn’t enough to keep you going. It’s about time to leave, the sun is rising, but wait. There’s one more act. Who could it be? You think, lids nearly crusted over from sleep and probably a little pinkeye too, the headliner has been kept a secret from us this whole time. Who is it who is going to come out and end the show. Also, this was New Year’s Day 1970. Then, you see it, a lanky figure with a severely unbrushed beard begins making his way towards the stage. Sunlight is still soft, you can’t see exactly who it is but the anticipation is beating against the inside of your head as another figure steps forward. This time, it’s a greasy guy with no shoes and a round face who is tailed by a guy with an impressive mustache wearing like robes and then another guy. Of course, it was the Fab Four appearing to close out both the now-legendary music festival and the 1960s as a whole. Who could forget their classic renditions of “Hey Jude”, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, “Octopus Garden”, “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road”, or Ringo’s fifteen minute drum solo rendition of the National Anthem. You had to be there, man.
1. When the guy from Def Leppard Grew An Extra Arm to Drum Harder
Deep in the bowels of 1985, Def Leppard was perched gracefully upon international charts and drew tens of thousands of rabid fans who were interested in seeing what was, simply put, the worst band of all time. During one of their famously shitty performances which drew attention from Rolling Stone writers who were baffled at the sheer magnitude of their diarrheal soundscarpes, drummer Rick Allen began to sweat profusely as shapes began to appear in underneath the skin of his sweat-drenched chest. Audience members wretched as the shapes began to take more tangible figures and it became clear that what was being formed was none other than a horrible bundle of fingers. Fountains of bile streamed down the floor of the jam-packed stadium as the fingers flailed helplessly into the air as they were painfully pushed out of the now swollen and putrid body which housed them. Eventually, the arm was fully generated, picked up a drum stick, and laid down the worst drum solo of all time.
– Cliff Jenkins
Top 5 Class Rock Bands
I get it, it’s exhausting listening to the most cutting edge music 24/7 on two simultaneously spinning student-run radio stations. Sometimes you just gotta throw on some 100.7 and let your brain mush take in the vibes of a land long gone to the passage of time. But we can’t forget that these bands and musicians are our forefathers, and that they deserve the utmost respect from the new guard of…ahem…coolness. For this reason we’ll be going back in time today to take a look at the most essential bands that ever existed and fully analyzing what about them made their impact so durable.
5. The Rolling Stones
Formed in 1945 by best friends Mike Jagger and Keith Richmond, the Rolling Stones became a virtual overnight success due to being an anomalous sexy band from England. Their 1984 single “Miss You” put the band on the map with its sexy combination of sexy guitar, sexy vocals, and sexy drums. Around this time Mike, who had reached an emotional pitfall due to his drug use, underwent a special therapy where all of his blood was replaced with more sexy blood. Following the procedure, Mike’s sexy levels were so high that the United States government (still being led by President Richard Nixon) barred the Rolling Stones from entering the country. To combat the low album sales that naturally follow being left out of the American music market, Mike Jagger and Keith Richmond went undercover in the CIA for over thirty years to destroy the system from the inside, accidentally setting forth a series of convoluted events which ultimately led to Donald Trump being elected president. To retaliate, the CIA was ordered to murder one of Mike’s closest friends: David Bowie, which was then framed to look like illness. In an unprecedented deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Rolling Stones were spared capital punishment on the condition that they tour forever until they die.
4. The Beach Boys
Oh boy, where to even start with the Beach Boys. Well to begin with a little fun fact that few people know, the band’s name is actually derived from the surname of all of its members: Bechbou. Emigrating from Germany in 1890, the Bechbou clan first established itself in Des Moines, Iowa as a circus act consisting of 15 identical children singing the same note so loudly that they would begin to hover six inches above the ground. This was not a good idea. Frightened Iowans exiled the Bechbous from Des Moines and the family had no choice but to wander the Midwest until they reached a promised golden paradise: California. By no means was the trek easy. Though in 1932 the Bechbous had reached Los Angeles, half of the children had died by means of natural disaster or cannibalism. Now a disgraced, broken clan, each of the Bechbou boys had ten more identical boys who they subsequently trained to be even better circus performers as themselves. Twenty died during the brutally strict singing regiment. Still, this left 50 members, most notable among them being Huey, Louis, Dewey, and Charles Manson. Renaming themselves to the more anglican “Beach Boys” the band erupted in the West Coast American rock scene after the release of their 1975 album “Rumors”. However, their bitter rival, the Beatles, figured out that, due to the band’s insane musical training for their entire childhood, they could be activated as super soldiers if the right song was played for them. Needless to say, 1980’s “Helter Skelter” ripped the band apart. Charles Manson was the first to be activated, turning into a high powered psychopath while Huey, the band’s leader, went bananas.
3. The Beatles
Possibly the most famous band of all time, the Beatles were formed in 1989 by spirit brothers John Legend and Rob McDonald. Both being from recently divorced parents, the duo began their career with busking on the streets of their hometown: Seattle. In a time where Michael Jackson was ruling the Billboard Hot 100 with a bedazzled fist, the Beatles were dead set on dismantling popular music in its entirety. At first, the King of Pop didn’t pay much attention to Legend and McDonald. However, as spray-starched hair began to fall out of fashion with a youth obsessed with being disaffected, the freshly-born MTV recognized extreme potential in Lennon and McCartneys supremely unkempt chic. After releasing 1991’s “Revolver” to critical acclaim, Legend grew noticeably distant from his musical partner. Walling himself in his Northwest fortress which he custom built to look like a medieval castle, he and his new wife, Joan Jett, notoriously indulged in month long benders while recording unlistenable noise soundscapes. In early 1993, at the pit of this illness and while the Beatles had taken an indefinite touring hiatus due to hysterical crowds, McDonald was forced to slap Legend several times in the face and subsequently bring about his sobriety. With a full functioning creative engine again in place, the Beatles recorded their sophomore record “Under the Bridge” during the Fall of 1993 and began plans for a world tour the following year. Sadly, these plans were never actualized. In the Winter of 1994, Michael Jackson silently moonwalked into Legend’s ridiculous cartoon castle house while he was sleeping and bludgeoned him to death in his sleep. Though McDonald continued on to a profoundly successful solo career which still thrives today, the story of The Beatles is one which undoubtedly ends in tragedy.
2. AC/DC
We all know AC/DC as the vessel by which rock and roll most quickly enters our bloodstream. But what I bet you didn’t know is that AC/DC is actually just five dogs sloppily dressed up as people.
1. The Beatles Again
I’m so sorry. I forgot to mention Sgt. Peppers. When I first heard Sgt. Peppers, I punched my own mother in the face because I didn’t know how to react. The minute the soundwaves emanating from “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” stroked my face the spongy material in my brain signaled me to go full force berserk mode. I ripped through my shirt and first two layers of epidermis, I drove my car into a wall, I burned off my own foot with a flamethrower because it was the best music I had ever heard in my life. As I lay there bleeding on the ground, I was struck by maddening inspiration. Formulas, formulas, formulas, and Bam! I had invented the time machine. I traveled back to the days of Mozart and sliced his head off with a machete. How dare he try and remove the crown of best musician from atop the collective mop-topped heads of the Beatles. This man has never come close to writing the majesty that is and was “A Day in the Life” and he should be ashamed to ever even venture into the territory of musicianship. I will call the police on any person who does not get the album cover of “Sgt. Peppers” tattooed on their chest.
Moms everywhere often criticize hip-hop for its often blunt and uncensored language specifically as it has made its way into mainstream pop culture.
This unfiltering is seen in every aspect of the genre from obscenities in music videos to cut-throat lyrics, but why?
For starters, hip-hop rooted from the underground, underrepresented, under-resourced slums of New York City. It started on the streets, literally. People would come and have what is now known as cyphers to provide the neighborhood with an outlet of expression. MC’s or rappers at the time would “tell it like it is” through relaying rhythm, rhyme, and humor, over a live beat from other members of the community.
Through this, the underrepresented were finally given a voice to speak about the struggles of their community, their lives, and America as a whole. When hip-hop went commercial, this did not change much.
Aside from rappers under major labels and hip-hop figureheads of pop culture, most hip-hop music is still raw and unapologetic. The mass of it still comes from the same marginalized groups of people as they continue to tell the struggles they have faced in their community and their lives. I will admit, some rappers do cap (lie), and amplify their past a bit, but in all, the culture persists.
Hip-hop was founded on unfiltered authenticity. All of the seemingly overt uncensoring is really just a result of the basis on which it was founded. So, next time your mom asks you; “Why they always gotta cuss so much?” tell her it’s for the people.
-Lul Bulma
Grime is a variation of hip-hop that was born in the UK and is inspired by the Garage scene of the 90s (much like the Underground scene of the 90s in the U.S), Dancehall, Jungle (a type of electronic music), and Reggae. It developed from the inability of artists to be fully accepted into any of the various music scenes from which it was inspired. Characterized by fast, syncopated breakbeats, jagged electric sound, and lyrics of which revolve around the grime and grit of urban life, Grime changed the rap game forever.
It rose from the Underground into the light around the mid-2000s, after being featured on pirate radio stations (radio stations that broadcasted from ships in the 60s because of censorship) and essentially engulfing the Underground Scene.
Rappers like Skepta, Dizzee Rascal and Wiley have been a big part of the Grime movement. To you, these names may not ring a bell but in places like London, these names are as iconic as A$AP Rocky.
Grime has furthermore filtered itself into fashion. London Fashion Week this year was filled with streetwear. Though this has a lot to do with Hip-Hop’s influence in pop culture in general, a lot of it is specifically due to Grime influence. Brands specifically are beginning to embed streetwear with a y2k influence which can all be thanks to Grime.
America definitely needs to hop on the Grind bandwagon because though Grime is technically hip-hop, it is also technically electronic music, meaning raves. Imagine raving to rap music? Sounds sick right?
Check out Skepta’s new single and hear the Grime influence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwJXDrBik4I
Lul Bulma