CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Many sources, musicians and authors have defined differently the term rock music, because rock itself has many sub genres, such as alternative rock, indie rock, pop rock, and so on. That is why no one has got satisfactory answers on what rock music is. Indeed, people have different opinions and perceptions on this matter. Based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock the term “rock music” can be defined as a general genre of styles of popular music evolved from rock and roll. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/rock%20 defines rock music as a genre of popular music originating in the 1950s; a blend of Black rhythm-and-blues with White country-and-western; "rock is a generic term for the range of styles that evolved out of rock'n'roll."
Nirvana, one of the biggest bands in the world in the 90s which was from Seattle, America, had their own ways to appreciate their music that became a legend until now. Especially for Kurt Cobain, the guitarist, vocalist and the leader of Nirvana, playing rock music was just the way to get satisfaction. That was why on every Nirvana’s performance on stage there were thousands or million people there. There were several reasons why they loved Nirvana.
Http://Www.Burntout.Com/Nirvana/Articles/Article4.Html as quoted from the British magazine “Hotshot” wrote that Kurt Cobain's natural love of music and his ability to write a number of key classics, and his sudden and tragic death at young age would always be remembered and respected. Here were the special songwriting skills and ingredients of the late, talented songwriter.
The Gifted The Secret from the successes of Nirvana was Kurt's skill in writing the amazing song where the person could sing the song without remembering the words.
The Method No one knows exactly how he compiled a song, but the result every time was a work of elegance and simplicity. His chord progressions were generally similar to the classic traditions of 1970's rock bands such as Black Sabbath or Kiss, often employing lower strings to produce a heavier sound. Sometimes the chord changes were more angular, giving the song a sharp feeling that makes the listener slightly uncomfortable. For his vocals, Kurt worked between the nice and the nasty. His verse melodies were usually pure pop, and repetitive enough to be easily remembered. But then the chorus would invariably turn into a howling wail, tense and rebelled.
The Sound The Nirvana sound was most effectively employed on Nevermind Album, their first major label released. Fortunately, the result was a landmark album, and holds its place in the history of rock. Despite the phenomenal success of the Nevermind Album, the critics saved their best approval for Nirvana's Second Album, In Utero. The powers of the musical performances in this album were extraordinary enough and the songs displayed the melodical beauty in the style of Nirvana.
Kurt's Lyrics The musical pressure was strong enough to push the openness and clarity of the new songs like Heart-Shaped Box and All Apologies. Both gave detail aspects of Kurt's marriage to Courtney Love, although he tended to mix his ideas, until few songs refer to certain specific theme, such as in Scentless Apprentice, (off the In Utero album), this was a song inspired by the novel Perfume, by Patrick Suskind. Set in 17th century Paris, it tells the story of a child born completely odorless who is denounced as the devil's child.
Document The most impressive aspect of In Utero was the suffers and struggles of Kurt's experiences himself. The album virtually became a document of alienated and tormented characters and will be valued by many as a unique musical treasure that is breathtaking to experience. From “Hotshot” magazine I can conclude why nirvana became a huge band at that time. Firstly, Nirvana played easy listening grunge rock in the mid of heavy metal domination era. Secondly, Nirvana wrote his simple lyric and full of repetition, so it was very easy to remember. Thirdly, Cobain filled his song using unusual melody, and sometimes it showed anger and sadness.
This final project will not discuss Kurt Cobain’s tragic death; instead it will analyze his lyric. Starting from this phenomenon and curiosity on Cobain’s work, especially on his lyric, and its relation to literature, there are many ways to analyze Cobain’s or Nirvana’s works such as figure of speech, and styles used in those lyrics. In this final project I also want to analyze Kurt Cobain’s imagery in Nirvana’s song especially in lyrics entitled “In Bloom”, Lounge Act”, and “Drain you”. I thought that these songs are good examples of imagery, so I will conduct an analysis on them.
1.2 Reasons for Choosing the Topic
Firstly, I am a Nirvana’s big fan who wants to know more about Nirvana. Secondly, Nirvana and Kurt Cobain are phenomenal; they could create “new wave” in rock music that surprised a lot of people in the world. Thirdly, Cobain’s suicide makes me curious about Cobain’s work on music, especially his lyrics. I think Kurt Cobain’s lyrics especially “In Bloom”, Lounge Act”, and “Drain you” contain a lot of messages that he wanted to tell to people. Fourthly, Kurt Cobain’s lyrics are the perfect examples of imagery written in song lyrics.
1.3 Statements of the Problem
In this final project, the problems on the study are as follows:
(1) What imageries are found in the song lyrics “In Bloom”, “Lounge Act”, and “Drain you”?
(2) What imageries are dominant in the lyrics?
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study can be stated as follows:
(1) To analyze what imageries are found in the lyrics.
(2) To find out imagery in “In Bloom”, “Lounge Act”, and “Drain You”.
1.5 Significance of the Study
I hope that the result of this study can give more knowledge to people who write about the biography of Nirvana or Kurt Cobain. Because this final project contains a lot of information about his biography.
Theoretically, this final project can become a reference for anyone who is interested in analyzing lyric and imagery.
1.6 Outline of the Study
This final project is systematically organized in five chapters. Each chapter discusses different matters as follows: Chapter One provides introduction which consists of: background of the study, reasons for choosing the topics, statements of the problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, method of data collection, and outline of the study. Chapter Two is about review of related literature. It talks about the theory of imagery and short biography of Kurt Cobain.
Chapter Three is about the method of investigation in details. It deals with the object of the study, procedure of collecting the data, procedure of analyzing the data and technique of reporting the data.
Chapter Four is the analysis, which describes the imagery and Kurt Cobain’s lyrics, which contains imageries.
Chapter Five is the last chapter; it consists of conclusion and suggestion of this final project.
