Lesson 18 Vocabulary
English word English Definition English Example sentence
1 to make ~ picture ~ of a description or a song, to cause an image to come into someone else's head The sound of falling rain on the CD made me picture a rainstorm.
2 to crank up ~ to increase the volume of audio I cranked up the speakers after my parents left the house.
3 to get stuck in one’s head of a song or image, to stay in a person's brain against that person's will I got the "Meow Mix" song stuck in my head, and it is annoying the heck out of me.
4 to put a CD out to publish and distribute a CD I put a CD out in Japan when I was in my early 20's.
5 to be underrated not appreciated at a level equal to its value Tokushima is underrated; many people think it's just a rural country town, but I had fun there for over two years.
6 to go platinum of a record or album, to attain a record number of sales Many of Michael Jackson's albums went platinum.
7 a one hit wonder a band or singer that is only famous for one song Madonna was not a one-hit wonder; she had many famous songs.
8 to be catchy of a song or tune, to be easy to remember The "Yamada Denki" song is so catchy.
9 to play ~ to death about a song, to repeat it until it is not enjoyable anymore I liked that song, but then the radio DJs played it to death.
10 a record label a company that publishes and distributes music Kill Rockstars used to be my favorite record label; Sonic Youth had a record deal with them.
11 to sell out of a band or singer, to become too popular, too concerned about making money Many bands start small and unique, then they sell out and get too big, and their image becomes too professional and bland.
12 lyrics the words of a song I like memorizing the lyrics of Japanese songs as a study tool.
13 a chorus the part of a song that is not the verse, the part that repeats I like the chorus to "We are the World" by Michael Jackson.
14 a duet a type of song where a man and woman sing together "Magic Carpet Ride" from the movie Aladdin is my favorite duet.
15 tunes a casual word for "songs" Hey, crank up the tunes!
16 a gig a live music event, from the perspective of the performers I had a gig last weekend, and I made a lot of money.
17 a demo disk a demonstration song that bands send to a record company with the hope of getting a contract I sent a demo to "Trolley Bus Records" back in 2001, and got a record deal.
18 to be influential of a band or singer, to have an influence on others Blues music was very influential toward rap music.
19 to beatbox to make the sounds of drums using your mouth Beat boxing was a very important skill in the early days of rap music.
20 to play ~ on the radio to broadcast a song via radio Some songs have lots of bad words in them, and DJs can't play them on the radio
21 to burn a CD to save music onto a CD I recorded a bunch of original songs on my computer, then I burnt them onto a CD.