The late 19th century saw a revival of British musical composition, prompted by three composers who all earned knighthoods.

Bob Dylan once wrote, “Nobody can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell.” Who am I to argue with that?

You have probably never stopped for a second and asked yourself about this very handy technological invention. Nowadays, we may take them for granted, but before the second part of the 20th century, the everyday folks couldn’t shut out the world with the music on their headphones. They were forced to listen to other noises and conversations even if they didn’t want to hear them. Additionally, you can now benefit those who don’t want to listen to you blasting your newest musical hits. However, the headphones have many more uses than just making you an antisocial being. Let’s start from the end of the 19th century.

For most people (well, most mainstream white people, anyway), twerking seems like a random dance craze that exploded onto the pop culture scene in the years 2012 and 2013. With celebrities like the Twerk Team rising to positions of Internet fame, the move being prominently featured in music videos such as Diplo's "Express Yourself," and the coverage culminating in the infamous Miley Cyrus Video Music Award Performance with Robin Thicke, twerking looked like something that had sprung up overnight.

Let’s admit it, nearly all of us have interest in the day of spooks, ghouls and ghosts. Whether it’s heading to a scare-fest to try and not wet our pants or heading to a club night or house party, to dress up and get a little more than tipsy. But, what’s one unsung hero that pieces these events together? Music!

Music. What a strange concept, hey? Who knew that this thing humans can only truly hear could affect us in so many beautiful ways. There are so many questions about music, but I want to ask you a specific one. Do you know where the music you listen to comes from?

As with any new thing, musicians and the music they play has often been met with ridicule and adversity in their wake. Many, many famous people took a stand to the form of art that was their own, against all the naysayers, and made not just a career, but a lifestyle with the inspiration and drive of their own imagination.

In 1968, a band from San Francisco might have just started a genre of music that today, millions of people around the world love—heavy metal!

THE CREOLE COWBOYS

Shot of Love is the 21st Studio Album by Bob Dylan, yes, but it is also of prime importance as marking the end of the Born-Again Christian/Gospel Era with the third album in the series. Beginning with "Slow Train Coming", this series built up with the album Saved, in which contained the song "In the Garden" that Marc Bolan of T-Rex called a brilliantly written and beautiful song. However, normally it is cited that Shot of Love is the better album of the three despite being released last.

"Away out there in Kansas

I often wonder what makes the sound of my voice so different from that of my three sisters. The way I pronounce short vowels and grumble, how my laugh sometimes sounds violent, why I swear so often and cringe when I hear the word “like” too much. I used to attribute my sarcastic, matter-of-fact tone to a younger, subconscious need to stand out from my hyper-feminine sisters—the youngest in a family of six, I was always seeking small ways to rebel, to get attention, to be heard. But now I have to wonder if the way I talk and laugh and write is a direct result of growing up in the punk scene, and because of it. I feel certain that spending all of my free time in crowds of mohawked girls and men in tight pants taught me more about gender—and rebellion—than I could have understood at the time. The lyrics of my favorite songs, the way brusque, angry women would scream from their stomachs when they sang, the humor of their pseudonyms and song titles, and the brash attitudes they donned in interviews were speaking directly to the norms and standards against which I was also trying to rebel. Today, with a greater understanding of gender norms, subcultures, linguistic use, and of course, myself, I see that an analysis of women within the punk movement can be a valuable place to look for manifestations of social and political resistance through self-expression.