INSIDE THE GRAMMY MUSEUM’S VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE
Anthems of social injustice, maxi dress infernos and Mexican feminist heroes
Music has always reflected, and sometimes even helped to define, the social and political mood of an era. If you’re looking for a (loosely) cultural ‘day-in, day-out’ during quarantine, the recently launched online GRAMMY museum is a treasure-trove of archived musical gems, diving into America’s rich musical history with a glut of digital content, old and new.
“OUR DOORS MAY BE CLOSED. OUR MISSION ISN’T”
The GRAMMY Museum at Home is a project to support music and continue to pay tribute to our collective musical heritage in a time of social distancing. The online ‘museum’ (ok, it’s a glorified blog) is showcasing a daily schedule of free releases, with never-before-released content from the Grammy Museum archives, including digital exhibitions, video interviews, podcasts, and even online lessons in music production.
They’ve gone for a ‘cater-to-all-audiences’ approach; content releases have included a series of ‘Music Education at Home’ lessons, including navigating careers in music, video production and electronic music production, and a music of the civil rights movement educational mini-series. Their in-depth conversations feature video-interviews with artists including Bristolian country soul singer YOLA, Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist sister duo Larkin Poe, R&B legends Kool and the Gang and Billie Eilish, who scooped up four major awards at the 2020 Grammys in January. The Virtual exhibition series, ‘Revisits’ is an experiment in making real displays at the museum available online. They’re also running a Youtube-based ‘Album club’ - like a book club but for music-lovers, which encourages maximum audience participation, inviting people to listen to an album before joining an online discussion, with an expert-explained mini documentary for each album.
The music of the civil rights movement audio series, which explores the songs that shaped the black community’s struggle for equal rights in America in the 50s and 60s, is incredibly accessible, with each episode just three or four minutes long - focusing on one era-defining song at a time. Their picks include ‘When Will I Get to Be Called a Man?’ by Big Bill Broonzy, ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ by Bob Dylan, and ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ by Sam Cooke. Using music as a way to trace America’s history of racism and social struggle makes for moving listening:
“Songs were an important part of the civil rights movement. People sang songs over old spirituals that slaves had created, as well as over new ones. The movement was full of danger; many people were physically attacked while standing up for their rights. Others, like Dr King, were killed. Singing songs together comforted people and instilled courage in them.” - Listen to the full episode here.
Highlights of the in-depth conversations include YOLA’s hilarious explanation of how the title of her 2019 debut album ‘Walk Through Fire’ came about; it is not, she says, (and as most people assume), a “figurative fire” alluding to “the struggle to feel the right to do the music you love”, but was in fact inspired by an unfortunate Christmas-wrapping incident during which she set herself alight after dropping an ethanol-burning scented candle on her maxi dress! There’s a heart-warming air of nostalgia in the interview with Billie Eilish and her brother, (and co-producer) FINNEAS, as they describe grafting to create her first hit single ‘Ocean Eyes’ in her messy LA bedroom while their mum cooked them dinner.
The ‘Revisit’ virtual exhibitions are a series of web pages focusing on icons or eras of musical history, featuring photographs of the displays inside the museum and accompanied by Spotify playlists for the full sensory experience. Fans of punk subculture will enjoy 40 years of Punk in Los Angeles, while soul and jazz enthusiasts should check out the museum’s biographical exhibitions featuring Whitney Houston and Frank Sinatra.
While the title ‘virtual exhibitions’ is a bit of a stretch, (aside from the embedded playlists there are no interactive elements to the web pages) the stories that they illustrate make for fascinating reading. VOCAL GIRLS recommends you check out Revisit: Jennie Rivera, which tells the story of how Rivera, an American-born daughter of Mexican immigrants, used her music and celebrity status to abolish female stereotypes that existed in Mexican music for many years - becoming known as the “Diva of Banda” following her work within the banda and norteña music genres.
In the same way that watching Glastonbury on TV is no substitute for attending the event itself, a virtual day trip to the GRAMMY Museum at Home can’t match a real day out - but it’s a great way to delve into different snapshots of musical history from your home if you treat it as an experience in its own right.
For regular updates on new additions to the online museum, you can follow them @grammymuseum
Or visit their website: GRAMMY Museum at Home