Jack Johnson Mellow Life Mellow Musician Jack Johnsons

Jack Johnson Mellow Life, Mellow Musician

Jack Johnson’s Background Jack Johnson wasn’t born a musician, he was born a surfer. Jack grew up on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii were he still lives the majority of his time. He began surfing at age five with the ambition to become a professional surfer. Twelve years later he became the youngest person to compete in the “Pipeline Masters”, an intense surfing competition held in his native area of North Shore. A week after competing, Jack had a major accident when he lost control over his surf board and cracked open his skull against a coral reef. This incident made Jack focus his less of his time on surfing and shifted towards filmmaking and music. Growing up in a surfing family in Hawaii, he listened to mellow and lyrical artists such as Nick Drake, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Bob Marley. He began playing guitar at age 14 and played in a high school punk band that covered songs from Minor Threat and Fugazi. Though playing in a band, music was not a priority in his life. Upon graduating from high school, Jack enrolled at UC-Santa Barbara earning a degree in filmmaking. As he attended college, he refined is songwriting abilities as many of the songs he wrote were for his future wife, Kim. He then traveled the world making surfing documentaries with his fellow surfing friends. When he made the movie, Thicker than Water, he decided to perform the soundtrack himself. This was a pivotal point in his musical career as the soundtrack became widely bootlegged within the surfing community and was discovered by Ben Harper, a popular musician in the 90’s. From that point on, with a little convincing, Jack decided to sign with an independent recording agency and has produced 5 albums, all reaching number one and number two spots on the charts. Slide 2

Jack Johnson’s Musical Style Jack Johnson and his band have created songs about relationships, love and every-day living. In Jack Johnson’s most recent album, Sleep Through the Static, the lyrics focus on themes such as politics, the war in Iraq and the environment. These themes are one of the many facets of traditional American folk music. Folk music is music of the working-class people. It’s origins in America come from the early settlers from Britain and later, from African-American slaves. Together, these two different styles of music influenced each other developing American music. Traditional folk music was informal, unsophisticated and simple. Many songs were communicated orally within a community. Because of the oral tradition, many musicians that created the songs are never recognized. There are several different types of folk songs such as lyric songs, work songs, children’s songs, protest songs and narrative songs. In the late 50’s and early 60’s Bob Dylan revived the folk tradition by creating a new genre; folk rock. This new genre was widely popular in the 60’s as many of the songs were about politics and protest songs of the Vietnam War. Folk music lost some popularity as America withdrew from the war but has remained a dominant genre because artists like James Taylor and Cat Stevens wrote about relationships, and the “evolving-political climate”. Jack Johnson can be classified as folk rock rather than American folk music because his music is more sophisticated and incorporates more instruments such as a bass guitar, drums, piano and accordion. He uses an upbeat tempo in the majority of his songs as well the use of catchy lyrics. Beyond Jack Johnson’s lyrics of war, the environment and politics, he is ultimately striving to achieve a mellow, optimistic mood for the listener. Slide 3

Jack Johnson Relates Socially Jack Johnson appeals to college students and recent college graduates. This community is developing political and environmental concerns. They are becoming educated and are gaining a broader perspective on the world that surrounds them. The majority of college students and recent graduates live a more casual lifestyle of shorts and flip-flops rather than suits and a briefcase. They lack money and live for the life experiences instead of for financial gain. This attitude can be considered more slow -paced and a mellow lifestyle. Jack Johnson has a laid-back attitude and has been noted to wear flipflops and shorts to many of his interviews. He limits watching television because he considers it life wasted. Jack has had success in all of his albums released but doesn’t spend the money on lavish expenses. Jack has had a passion for the environment since he was young. His recording studio is solar -powered and his album packaging is made from all recycled materials. He even answers the call of nature outside, instead of wasting a gallon of flushed water! Not only does his casual lifestyle correlate well with his demographic of listeners, but his political concerns help increase his general acceptance. In Jack Johnson’s most recent album, “Sleep Through the Static”, his political concerns really bloom. In the song that bears the name of the album, “Sleep Through the Static”, has lyrics that express his concerns about the war in Iraq. The following lyrics are taken from the chorus of the song: “Who needs peace when we’ve gone above But beyond where we should have gone? Beyond where we should have gone We went beyond where we should have gone Beyond where we should have gone” Slide 4 It is lyrics like this that is general but subtle concern continue to intrigue his listeners.

“All at Once” On the album “Sleep Through the Static”, one particular song incorporates much of what was discussed about Jack Johnson. “All at Once” embodies a number of Jack Johnson’s musical and personal qualities. While this song is one of his more somber tracks, the song’s topic is how suddenly life can overwhelm; it still provides a clear example of his laid back and mellow style. The theme of the song is a classic folk style with its focus on the working class problems; however he adds a unique blend of instruments besides just the acoustic guitar, thereby breaking away from the traditional simplistic folk approach. Throughout the song his care free approach to life is apparent; a feeling of optimism seems to be palpable even while discussing negative emotions. “All at Once” from Sleep Through the Static Slide 5

The Music Applied to My Life I enjoy Jack Johnson’s music because his style of music relaxes me and allows me to be taken from a high stress environment. My lifestyle doesn’t parallel Jack Johnson’s or the majority of his listeners. As an accountant during the busiest time of year, I can easily get stressed and overwhelmed. I chose “All at Once” because his description of life and how it can be overwhelming struck a deep personal chord for me, however it still is an optimistic song that doesn’t allow me to completely give up as other artists somber songs can further increase stress and depression. His general feel to his songs reminds me of my happy, care-free days in college. This allows me to take brief mental vacations back to that time. Jack Johnson is able transport his listeners including myself to a place that lacks stress and the mundane and influences us all to simply live life. Slide 6

References a. Charts. “Albums by Jack Johnson” a. Charts Online. 28 Feb. 2008 http: //acharts. us/performer/jack_johnson Collis, Clark. “The Rise of the Platinum Surfer” EW. com Online. 18 Jan. 2008 28 Feb. 2008 http: //www. ew. com/ew/article/0, , 20172344, 00. html Ruehl, Kim. “The History of American Folk Music” About. com Online. 28 Feb. 2008 http: //folkmusic. about. com/od/historyoffolk/a/Folk_History. htm Scaggs, Austin. “The Dude Abides” Rolling. Stone. 06 Mar. 2008: 41 -45, 64 Willoughby, David. “The World of Music” 6 th ed. The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2007: 47 -69 Slide 7