Is music a reflection of society?
- Ascendant606
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Is music a reflection of society?
Most of the popular music nowadays is either:
1) people rapping about sex and drugs. 2) people singing about sex and drugs. 3) people singing about crashing cars into bridges. 4) people rapping or singing about partying.
Of course most of these people have little to no talent and dress like sluts or "gangsters". There are some artists that are talented and write good music, but those are not as popular and numerable.
So what say you?
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
I've noticed a drop in diversity and some quality of the music these days, but this may be due to nostalgia or that I'm not looking in the right places. It may also be that that is what people make most popular, so it is a reflection of our society in these cases. I'm not too impressed from what I've been getting from the radio lately. I mostly visit the stations that have seventies, eitghties and nineties music, but the other stations that offer the modern music is not too memorable, with exceptions.
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
Probably always been that way. I expect there were parents in the 17th century complaining their kids were playing JS Bach on the harpsichord all day instead of "Proper music, like Pachelbel".
In my day we said 'If it's too loud, you're too old'. I now realise we were right.
- Intropersona
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
Everything is a reflection of everything else.Ascendant606 wrote:Is music a reflection of society? Or does it lead society? Or both? If so then what does this tell us about our own society?
Most of the popular music nowadays is either:
1) people rapping about sex and drugs. 2) people singing about sex and drugs. 3) people singing about crashing cars into bridges. 4) people rapping or singing about partying.
Of course most of these people have little to no talent and dress like sluts or "gangsters". There are some artists that are talented and write good music, but those are not as popular and numerable.
So what say you?
- Philosophy Explorer
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
Which society?
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
- Shadowfax
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
Baaaaaaaa!
- Shadowfax
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
It makes no sense to supply music that society doesn't demand.Stormcloud wrote:Shadowfax, society 'only demands' what is served up to them
You don't need an education in music to appreciate it. These days pop culture isn't just about good music. It's about lyrical quantity.Stormcloud wrote:How many people receive an education in musical variety from a young age? Very few.
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
Stormcloud is of course correct, demand is something manufactured, music hasn't been sold on quality of lyrics since the invention of the music video. Today things like the X-Factor, TV & Radio hype shows, marketing and faked sales figures confuse the idiots into buying what they believe is popular in the belief that embodying 'popular' is a positive attribute.
Pop culture isn't and has never been about good music, one of the enduring realities of pop music is that even if you like it at the time in retrospect you can't help but realise that the vast majority of it is dross and the rest is so wrapped up in a sense of time and nostalgia that you're incapable of objectively isolating it from your own history. Good music is something that rarely becomes popular. Robbie Williams is at present the UK No.1 - and if you trawl back through the UK No.1's and best selling records for the last 50 years you are on a journey of mediocrity and often outright talentless rubbish.Shadowfax wrote:These days pop culture isn't just about good music. It's about lyrical quantity.
I'd like to see these lyrics because as far as I'm aware for the past 20-30 years and longer it's just the same old recycled nonsense that appeals only the the uneducated who mistake it as original.
I'll leave you on this simple observation ... Robbie Williams got the 1000th No.1 in 2013. In 1984 Now That's What I Call Music 3 was the 300th and in 1956 Sinatra got the 1st.
It took 28 years to get to 300, but only 29 to get 700 more. Pop music has increasingly lost its endurance.
- Shadowfax
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
Well exactly. Pop culture. This is the reason I said not all music is a representation of society's mindset. Pop culture is just an example.Pastabake wrote:Society doesn't demand any of it. Lets get one thing straight. A very small subset of society demands any one type of music.
X factor is a popularity contest. Viewers vote. Whose going to watch a music video that nobody understands/wants to see? Have you wondered why Justin Bieber and One Direction are popular? What's popular is based on the population. Marketers sell what the population wants. If the population doesn't want it, the product won't sell.Pastabake wrote: Today things like the X-Factor, TV & Radio hype shows, marketing and faked sales figures confuse the idiots into buying what they believe is popular in the belief that embodying 'popular' is a positive attribute.
'Good' is a vague description. What you perceive to be good music is different to what teens believe to be good music. I am making a generalisation. Teens obviously don't think pop music is bad, do they? (in general)Pastabake wrote:Pop culture isn't and has never been about good music, one of the enduring realities of pop music is that even if you like it at the time in retrospect you can't help but realise that the vast majority of it is dross and the rest is so wrapped up in a sense of time and nostalgia that you're incapable of objectively isolating it from your own history. Good music is something that rarely becomes popular. Robbie Williams is at present the UK No.1 - and if you trawl back through the UK No.1's and best selling records for the last 50 years you are on a journey of mediocrity and often outright talentless rubbish.
Pop culture isn't a case of what's good and what's not. It's what sells.
Yes, your right. Again, it's what sells. Lyrics in pop culture are virtually the same. Relationships/sex/parties.Pastabake wrote:I'd like to see these lyrics because as far as I'm aware for the past 20-30 years and longer it's just the same old recycled nonsense that appeals only the the uneducated who mistake it as original.
The question doesn't concern which music is classified as good/bad/original/unoriginal. I brought it up, not because I think it's terrific, but because it reflects a certain demographic's mindset.
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
MUSIC IS A REFLECTION OF SOCIETY IS A REFLECTION OF MUSIC
- Thinking critical
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Re: Is music a reflection of society?
Your question is kind of a false tautology in assuming one or the other, anyway, the truth is music is a reflection of an individuals views, the views maybe socially influenced, but music can not specifically reflect society unless the society as a whole has participated in writing the song.Ascendant606 wrote:Is music a reflection of society? Or does it lead society? Or both? If so then what does this tell us about our own society?
Most of the popular music nowadays is either:
1) people rapping about sex and drugs. 2) people singing about sex and drugs. 3) people singing about crashing cars into bridges. 4) people rapping or singing about partying.
Of course most of these people have little to no talent and dress like sluts or "gangsters". There are some artists that are talented and write good music, but those are not as popular and numerable.
So what say you?
It seems you have targeted the hip hop genre in particular, with your comment of rapping about drugs and dressing like gangsters while having no talent. The thing is hip hop was born in urban communities where gang bangers and drugs were a everyday occurrence, so it comes as no surprise that the style of music that originated from areas with gangsters and drugs would talk about gangsters and drugs.
At the end of the day the majority of people don't understand enough about the lyrical content in music (espeacially hip hop) and the intended meaning behind it to make judgement calls. Hip hop tends to get the most slack especially because Eminem attracted allot more white people into the hip hop world by making "Gangsta Rap" more main stream.
All the other mainstream radio music you guys are talking about isn't an honest reflection of music in general, you're only hearing a small sample which has been specifically selected to obtain listeners and viewers. Unless you spend hours upon hours listening to all the music that's out there how can you provide relevant opinions on the subject?
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