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The Slits - Earthbeat Japan

We, as musicians, can identify that most, if not all, different styles of blues music continued the legacy of its origins in two ways.... with the ever present blues scale and with the form, commonly referred to as the 12 bar blues.

However, Once Southern migrants introduced the blues to urban Northern cities, the music developed into distinctive regional styles, ranging from the jazz oriented Kansas City blues to the swing based West Coast blues. Chicago blues musicians.

Even though these cities were introducing new populations to the origins of jazz and blues music, by the time these tunes were heard by audiences, they were drastically different from when they arrived. Another realization that I had when researching this topic was the fact that many blues composers would create their own melodies with the 12 bar blues form, but then would simply slap a location in the title, followed by blues, and call it good. New York City Blues, West End Blues, West Coast Blues, Statesboro Blues, Chicago Blues, St. Louis Blues, to name a few. Now where these titles meant to convey symbolic meaning by the composer? Or were these titles labeled to further gain popularity by the jazz and blues listeners of these respective locations?... but it brings up a great point, As we listen or play music such as the blues, are we interacting with the intent of acknowledging the history and origin, or are we interacting because it is catchy or popular? Is blues and jazz music considered folk music or popular music? Both of these questions don’t have right or wrong answers, nor do they have only one explanation. They do, however, require perspective when being placed in these conversations, and perspective requires more focus on the intention when engaging with these music styles.


The Slits - Earthbeat Japan
  • Released on: Return Of The Giant Slits album
  • Genre: Rock
  • Released in: 1981

"The Slits early line up consisted of Ari Up, Ariane Forster and Palmolive, a.k.a. Paloma Romero, who played briefly with Spizzenergi and later left to join the Raincoats. Their 1979 debut album, Cut, has been called one of the defining releases of the post punk era."

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