Today’s music industry is plastered with voice editing and modification, gaudy outfits and flashy character personas. Everything is over the top, and the competition is so extreme that it makes it nearly impossible for one artist to dominate the music scene. However, there is a timeless artist who not only dominated the industry many years ago, but whose music still resonates with todays’ culture. This artist is none other than the Frank Sinatra. Sinatra’s presence is still very evident in today’s pop culture. His famous song, “New York, New York”, is played annually without fail in Times Square to welcome the beginning moments of the new year. It also signals the final out of each ball game at Yankees Stadium. In 2013, Jack Daniels made a …show more content…
He rebuilt the structure of his music through a novelists perspective so that the albums were long enough to tell a complete story. This was a true art that had never been fully realized until now. His music was very raw and honest. It was deeply American yet deeply translatable. It was like a confessional without being full of self-pity. It was a beautiful elaboration of the human struggle and heart. The image of a good-hearted mobster is one epitomized by Frank Sinatra. Ever since Sinatra was a child, he had ties to the Mafia. He grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey which was a hub for organized crime. This made it virtually impossible for him not to come in contact with the criminal world at some point. Many people believe that his parents’ shop may have been a Mafia meeting place. The Sinatra family quickly became linked to the Mafia by selling illegal liquor. Later in his life, Sinatra was often doing favors for Al Capone’s cousins. These favors would result in nice little gifts from his Mafia …show more content…
In World War II, Frank was called in front of the New Jersey draft board to be reviewed for military duty. Sinatra was denied acceptance into the army and therefore, labeled as a 4-F. This is the classification as unfit for military service. This was due to what was identified as mental instability and a punctured ear drum. Some saw it as his way of escaping his duty to his country while others saw it as a brave gesture for their celebrity to potentially put his life at risk for the sake of their nation. Sinatra even made a strange offer to the FBI, saying that he was fully wiling to do anything necessary for the good of his country, no matter the cost. Even though he couldn’t serve, Sinatra saw how the war affected everyone left at home. He wrote his initial hit, “I’ll Never Smile Again”, as an outlet for the emotions felt in relation to the war. This down-to-earth, raw vocalization of the hurt of those who lost loved ones epitomizes Sinatra’s unique ability to relate to others and reach them through music. Sinatra also spoke up for the underdogs, those who society turned a blind eye to. He had zero tolerance for people who were racially intolerant. Sinatra starred in a 1945 short film The House I Live In, which depicted a young Jewish child being picked on by a group of boys. He told the boys that all of them were Americans and equal. Frank wanted to persuade people to be as open-minded as possible because he firmly believed