ASLUSH

In this episode, Maya Bondar and Violet Cue explore how music helped shape teenage culture in America during the twentieth century. As Bondar noted, "music is also often representative of the time. Artists are usually influenced from pop culture at the time so analyzing the music can provide a picture of what youth culture was like then."

In this episode, Julia Cunningham and Sophie Schaeffer explore how music can push a nation forward. They explore the question, "when America isn’t the somewhere it’s supposed to be, how do we move forward?" They find one answer in the words of West Side Story composer Leonard Bernstein: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

In this episode, Alice Fang and Julia Gardow examine four songs and wonder what they reveal about the twentieth-century American experience? Put another way, what do the songs tell listeners about what it was like to be alive in America during that century?

In this episode, Paulina Azzu and Sabrina Liu explore the influence of jazz on the evolution of music in twentieth century America. Also, they discuss how music brought comfort to millions as the country experienced national tragedies like World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II.

In this episode, Samar Shafi and Angela Yuan examine the transformations in 20th century music in a chronological order and discuss how those transformations correlate with  rising modernist ideologies. 

In this episode, Audra Regan and Anoushka Yashavant discuss the powerful insights music provides into a time, place, and community. Beginning in the 1930s and ending in the ‘70s, they examine a collection of songs that exemplifies the rapid change and turbulence of twentieth century America. From blues to punk, the wide range in both sound and message showcases not only the evolution of modern music, but the shifting ideologies and social sentiments of the era.

Ruth Torrence and Amy Wang explore the interplay between politics and music in twentieth century America. 

Mara Farell and Leela Rosaz Shariyf examine how the music of people like Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, and Bruce Springsteen, gave the youth of America anthems to represent their new anti-war pro-unity beliefs. These songs have stood the test of time, and their themes not only shaped the lives of people in the late 1900s but also retain their relevance in our lives today.

Why are we so afraid of people who are different from us? It is dangerous to hide how diverse our society is, because how will we learn more about others? Alizeh Raza and Shamreethaa Seeniraj use music to explore these and other questions about the United States in the twentieth century.