98 Degrees: 90s Boy Band

I grew up listening to boy bands. They were one of the most popular types of bands in the 90s. I particularly loved the Backstreet Boys, but for this assignment, I wish to conduct some research on another popular boy band known as 98 Degrees.
The band, 98 Degrees, is made up of four singers, 2 of which are brothers, all from Ohio. They are Nick & Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre & Jeff Timmons. After deciding to create a band, they moved to Los Angeles, and waited for their chance at fame. At a Boyz II Men concert, the group finally received that chance. The R&B group saw talent in these 4 boys, & they were invited to tour with Montel Jordan. In 1997, 98 Degrees signed with Motown Records (98 Degrees Official Website). The band had created five albums together, before splitting apart to pursue their solo careers. In 2002, they had reached 10 million records sold for their album, The Collection (Wikipedia).
As you can see, the boy band was rather successful from 1997-2002. They had numerous songs that landed in top positions on many musical charts. Some include, Invisible Man, Because of You, I Do (Cherish You) and Thank God I Found You with Mariah Carey and Joe (Billboard Charts). All of these songs are expressions of love – either those they have lost, or those they currently have. I know when listening to Backstreet Boys back in the day, I loved hearing how sensitive boys could be when it came to loving or caring for a girl. I think this is why so many girls adored these boy bands. Also, with each song being played on the radio, a girl somewhere was able to relate to the feelings 98 Degrees was confessing in their songs.
After reading “Bread and Butter Songs: Unoriginality in Pop” by Ann Powers, I remembered this being an issue while growing up. Many of my friends refused to listen to pop music, specifically boy bands because they were unoriginal and did not write their own lyrics. 98 Degrees actually did this same thing. They took the country song by Mark Wills, titled I Do (Cherish You). As Ann Powers states in her article, in the pop music industry, it is ok to take others’ song lyrics, as long as they present it in a different manner (Powers 238). This is what 98 Degrees did. They turned a slow, twangy country song, into a pop song with some R&B smoothness in the beat. It makes the song more appealing to many people, especially the teen girls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4wirSuglyc
^I Do (Cherish You) By 98 Degrees

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdEKMZybABk
^I Do (Cherish You) By Mark Wills

I have always loved boy bands, some a lot more than others. I knew many people thought the unoriginality label made them the worst type of music out there, but I still enjoyed listening to them. How they presented themselves in concerts and/or on their music videos goes along with the lyrics in the song – and 98 Degrees did a nice job of putting these two things together. They performed and carried themselves in a way that made them appealing to their young teen audience. I know this, because at one point, I was one of those teen girls who loved these boy bands. I too was experiencing all these feelings. Each one of their songs expressed how I felt at many turning points in my young life.

Lesson:
I had an interesting assignment in one of my high school English classes that I really enjoyed, and I hope to use it in my classroom some day. I had to choose a song where the singer was expressing their hardships within an environment they could not escape from. The song I chose was, Fast Car by Tracy Chapman. We had to use some main ideas given to us, and show where in the song these ideas were being expressed and why. I really enjoyed this assignment because my song really nailed the overall idea. This assignment pertained to me, and what type of music I liked, which made it more worthwhile for me to do.
I would do a similar assignment here with my students. I would have them choose a song and write about how this song affected their life in some way. They should be able to reference a turning point in their life, where they felt happy, sad, etc. and turned to music as medicine. It would be a short 2-3 page paper, in a journal type format. This assignment could be used as an introduction for me at the beginning of the year to help me learn about each of my students.

Popular Culture & the United States Home Front during WWII

For my final project, I would like to incorporate popular culture into a unit designed to teach students about the United States Home Front during World War II.

I am going to research this area, & I have done so a little bit already. I would really like to focus on rationing, the role of women (employment, housewives, "Baby Boom", etc.), and the role of minorities. I have found some background information on Wikipedia so far, but I need to look for other resources still.

To give you some background on the 3 areas I intend to cover, here is a brief overview. Again, this is from Wikipedia, so I will be able to go more in depth once I gather more information.

Rationing - Many products were not being made/built during WWII such as vehicles, and new homes & appliances. Other products like meat, butter, sugar, coffee, gasoline, tires, shoes & clothing were all rationed. Each person received a coupon book. Many people supported this idea, but there people called the 'black marketeers' who were buying these items without their coupon book. These people were prosecuted by the government.

Roles of Women - Women started working more, & this is when the "Rosie the Riveter" was first introduced. The women were now working jobs that were usually only held by men. Being a housewife was becoming difficult while certain products were being rationed, and many women found it difficult to juggle both the housewife role and a job. The "Baby Boom" also came around in this time period, since many couples waited to marry until after the war. From 1941-late 1950s, is considered the Baby Boom era.



Role of Minorities - The FEPC was created, which stands for the Fair Employment Practices Committee, which allowed for minorities to hold jobs, regardless of their race or religion. The Japanese Internment Camps were being held in the United States, however this ended later when the Roosevelt stated, "Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry."

These ideas I would like to touch upon & use to create my unit. I may go more in depth with some areas more so than others. This is just a general idea of the information I wish to include.
I will then relate these issues to popular culture today, by the activities we do in class, after learning these lessons.

Some ideas for activities:
1. Rationing - I will have my students ration what they use today on a daily basis within the home & classroom. I will give them a ration book, just like during WWII, with coupons they are able to use. I am still thinking as to what items I would want them to ration.

2. Roles of Women - I will have my students compare and contrast the jobs today, with the jobs women held during WWII, and write a paper about this. This area could also get into more issues regarding appropriate dress and behavior of women during this time.

3. Roles of Women - I would like my students to create a blog of a typical male/female's life during WWII, up until their age of about 12 or 13 years old. I would like them to compare what the child does in their life, with what the student does in his or her own. (This activity is still in the making. I'm not sure where I want to go with it yet!)

4. Minorities - I think it would be fun to hold a simulation in class, of what it would be like to be in an internment camp, to a certain extent. I would have my students go through things, not torture, but other forms of punishment. Like, no recess, staying in their seats for a certain about of time, etc. (This activity is still in the making too.)

These are a few activities I have in mind. I hope to think of others as I start doing more research. This is the schedule I hope to follow in the next few weeks:

Week of March 24th-28th: Look for/get resources online & in the library.
Week of March 31st- April 4th: Think of lesson ideas for each content area.
Week of April 7th-11th: Work on Lessons for Rationing
Week of April 14th-18th: Work on Lessons for Roles of Women
Week of April 21st-25th: Work on Lessons for Minorities
April 28th-29th: Put bibliography together & do any final touches to the paper.

Hopefully I'll be able to follow this schedule somewhat. I will try to start my research next week, but this is what it will be like once Spring Break is over.