Progression of the Music Since the 1980’s
Zeppelin to My Chemical Romance, Michael Jackson to Katy Perry, George Jones to Tyler Farr: let’s take a look at how music has changed since the mid 80’s to the modern world. Through genres of music, music has drastically taken a turn from a limited amount to a variety of genres of many varieties of genres and growing of new genres and fading of the past. Music itself has changed Classic rock, Country, Rap, R&B, Pop, and even as far as Disco have changed drastically through the years. The sound has changed also including the material that the music has been written about over time.
Led Zeppelin, Cream, Steve Miller Band, and Boston are all bands corresponding to the rising age of Classic Rock. The 1980’s changed classic rock drastically due to deaths in some bands causing some of the greatest bands to split up and not return just leaving all of the hits in the dust. The death of Bon Scott lead singer of AC/DC changed the music history for Rock and roll in the early 80’s (history of rock).
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But a shy away from just classic rock the 80’s where a big change for all music country started to have a less retrosound, instruments started changing. Music suddenly changed from having a four piece band and a retrosound (old) and started to use new technology to make the music sound better (pitts). Instruments started changing, musicians went from using a stand up bass and went to the new electric base which was hung from the body by a strap. The bass guitar was invented in the late 30’s the need for the new instrument wasn’t started until the 50’s it wasn’t an instrument that was used until about the early 80’s (palmer). Garth Brooks, Snoop Dogg, Babyface, Elton John, all singers that started to rise to be more popular in the 90’s. This era was a time where Rap became more of a popular thing people started to listen to and experiment with. In 1992 Jay-Z released an album publishing one of the first few freestyle raps, the album was called Reasonable Doubt, this caused a turn in rap and had other artists trying to different things with rap (history). In another subject Blues was changing in the 90’s as well as blues musicians started to die out as they became diseased, such as Georgia Dorsey, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Sam Taylor, these artists all changed blues when they died. Stevie Ray Vaughn's death was not just one that everyone looked at as “that is a sad death,” his death was more of a death that changed the guitarist world. Stevie Ray Vaughn was a blues guitarist that was extremely talented, when seeing him in concert you could expect to see him play long extended songs extended by improv solos, including seeing him play guitar behind his back and above his head. Classic rock music was taking a turn some of the most popular bands were breaking up and dieing out and just not writing good hits anymore. Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd died of pneumonia, Steve Clark of Def Leppard died of overdose, Freddie Mercury from Queen dies of AIDS, these artists were all in popular rock bands and changed rock history forever (history of rock). Toby Keith, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, this is the era where country music had its biggest changes.
People started to listen to less of country and more genres such as rap and pop culture. country music has transformed into a new modern sounding country that didn't have the natural sound of instruments and had more of a techno sound using new technology. Country started to have distortion in its music which was not common, distortion was classified as a rock music effect. Artists didn’t write about the same thing that they used to in the early era of country. The early era consisted of writing about love and that was just about it, the later era consisted of writing about riding down a dirt road and newer subjects, love was still in play but wasn’t a main subject like it used to be. Country in the late 2000’s was starting to be viewed as a country/pop, country/rock deal. Country Music had a big change between 1999 and
2009. Carrie Underwood, Kip Moore, Tyler Farr, Darius Rucker: all artists that have made country music what it is today. Country Music today has more of a rap country combined and uses more autotune than most people realize. Autotune is a program and effect used to take an ok singer and make him/her better by taking the out of tune noted they sing and sending them through a computed system and tuning their voice to sound good. People can not usually hear auto tune unless the singer is completely terrible and just can’t sing, other than that most people have to go to a concert to hear the difference between the album and the concert. Music in this year had gotten to the point where we aren’t using real instruments anymore, this is in genres such as country, dubstep, rap, and pop. most genres now have music that is out together on a program on a computer. This program has an endless amount of sounds and instruments that can make just about any song. People argue that music has not changed but the sound of it alone has changed, not to mention the subjects they write about and the technology changing it as well. Several ways it has changed is Autotune, Not using real instruments, and subjects we write about.
Times have changed, and along with the times so has country music. American country music lovers have went from Loretta Lynn and Waylon Jennings, just two of the many classic oldies, to Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan, two very appealing country music artists. However, it is not only the tune of the music that has changed, it is the image, the appeal, and overall the type of icons the media is portraying these modern music stars as. Icons such as Lynn and Jennings had identifiable features within their music as well as their appearance that spoke sweet southern belle and rugged twang. Whereas Underwood’s and Bryan’s appeal now is much more sexualized than it was during the oldies. These changes affect the way modern day singers are marketed compared to former country music stars, instead of focusing on talent it is now looks.
A number of other genres, throughout the decade, maintained a significant following. One genre that was slow to start was Hip-Hop, while it emerged in the 1970’s it didn’t become significant until the late 1980’s. Although Classical music began to lose impetus, it gave way to a new generation of composers through invention and theoretical development. The decade was also distinguished for its assistance to electronic music, which rose in reco...
Funk, Soul, R&B, Pop, Hard Rock, Soft Rock and Disco were popular all over the world at this time, and in the late 1970s a new type of genre of music was born, hip-hop. Some of the best Rock and Roll we have ever seen was recorded in the 1970s, such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and David Bowie. The early 70s was a lot similar to the late 60, The Rolling Stones, Beatles, Doors, and Jimi Hendrix were all very popular at this time. That was until Led Zeppelin formed and changed everything, “It’s truly impossible to oversell how brilliantly these records are produced; “rock” as an idea is really a ’70s idea, and Led Zeppelin established what that would mean and what it would sound like.”(Pitchfork, 2014) Led Zeppelin came along and emerged into something like The Beatles of the 70s. Every member in that band is considered one of if not the best in that field, and it is debateable that they are one of the best bands ever
What emerged after the explosion of rock and roll in the 1950s abandoned the roll and has now come to be known just as classic rock. This rock that was created following the decade of The King became a completely unique and different sound that changed the musical landscape and what was once a single, unified genre gave way for multitudes of variation in its sounds. These new sounds, that came mostly from abroad, had been notably influenced by the American rock of the 1950s, such as Elvis, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. These pioneers of rock came to be the essential reason for the arrival of the British Invasion and other sounds that defined the decade of the 1960s.
to mention the fact that rock music was not just created in the eighties, but has been
1. Country music went to a crossroad in the mid-1950s that a new style called rockabilly emerged. Rockabilly was a style combining rock and roll and country music. According to “Country Music” published by “World Book” in Ebsco Host, “many early stars of rock and rockabilly had country roots, including Everly Brother and Elvis Presley”. As rock and roll thrived, the traditional western cowboy music declined in the 1960s, but another style, countrypolitan, which aimed at mainstream market, kept growing in the late 1960s.
The rise of rock and roll into the limelight is to a large extent attributed to the teenagers of the 1950’s. Early rock music listened to by teenagers during the 1950’s was formed by blending together Rhythm and blues with country music. This kind of ...
Many would argue that country music isn't country anymore; straying too far from the older generation of fiddles, violins and guitars by incorporating a "pop" feel and focusing more on the beat than the content. Pop music is typically viewed as up-beat and differs from the sad, lonesome sounds of country from the past. I would agree that today's country has a very different sound than previous years, however, still incorporates the down-to-earth feel many of us can relate
In the 1920s, it was the birth of Jazz and the Blues. More importantly, black musicians/artists were becoming recognized during this decade, more before than the 1910s, due to this new genre of music. Since these artists were becoming recognized, three songs really catches the eye of this decade and represents the overall historic event of the 1920s; “social changes and profound cultural conflicts.”
Country music has recently become more radical. In the past country tunes were sluggish and slow, but a group of up and coming artists would revolutionize the music industry forever. These new artist did more for the southern/western genre than anyone in the past. They sold millions of record. Cumulatively they made billions of dollars! Artists had gigantic concerts that attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators. Their songs began to do something no country artist had done before… top the pop charts. The 1980’s brought forth some of the most dominant and influential country singers of all time, while seasoned veterans, who were previously successful in other decades, continued to create great music. In the 1990’s the money began to flow. Artists composed albums that went Diamond (sell over 10,000,000 units) and sold out stadiums. The “good time” singers of the 2000’s sang songs about love, drunkenness, and the party life. These topics appealed to regular folks and attracted new followers. Overall, this period of country music brought light to the genre and delivered great wealth to its artists.
Today classic rock is basically extinct you could say. Most kids now listen to rap, pop, and other music genres. Classic rock bands most all of the time had a message in their songs. Now most music today is about bad things or just plain stupid things. Classic rock bands tried to get people to relate to their songs. Some of the classic rock songs were about pain and love.
I. I now come to an end of explaining the changes the music industry has gone through from the fifties on through today. The fifties with its rhythm and blues that gave way to rock and roll, the sixties with the rise of big record labels and their attention shifting more towards pop music that would drive their profits sky high. The seventies with the advent of what we now know as rock.
In 1981 MTV "Music Television" was introduced on cable television and revolutionized rock marketing. Just as FM radio had superseded the hit-oriented AM format, music videos, produced as mini-movie advertisements for songs, became essential to a performer's popularity. Early in the decade, the British group the Police was one of the first to combine a progressive sound with polished videos. The expense of producing videos and MTV's virtual monopoly made it difficult for experimental music to compete with the dance-pop sung by American artists like Michael Jackson, Prince, Whitney Houston, and Madonna, and the British groups Duran Duran and Depeche Mode. Nevertheless, performers such as the Irish group U2 and the American group R.E.M. emerged from their underground roots to enjoy enormous success. Now a few of the new genres of the 80's.
Today’s country music shows influence of all that came before it. It has an enormous variety, from the guitar and piano pop of Hunter Hayes to the honky-tonk sound of Miranda Lambert. The genre’s catch all quality is why artist like Toby Keith appear on the same radio stations as Taylor
Music is an outlet to all aspects of life and culture is a significant way of forming people and the way they live. Although not always seen directly culture has an overbearing influence on the music that is produced and made popular. The political Climate of the early seventies was full of fire with issues such as Vietnam and constant protest throughout the county. Later in the 70’s the end of the Vietnamese conflict brought the rise of the Watergate scandal and Iran Contra. These issues swept headlines and ingrained people’s thoughts. Social issues also played a big role in the developing culture of the seventies. Protests and constant outbreaks about gay rights and women’s rights seemed to overtake the country in storm. Later in the Decade the social climate changed to a celebration of the Past and a can-do attitude. Political and Social climates had an overbearing influence on the attitude that was being developed throughout the seventies. This climate was also transparent in the music world of this decade. In the early 70’s music lyrics were being created that were representative of the popular method of protest and social change. Music is a common way of expression and during this time artist and groups took the most of their popular music by expressing viewpoints on present issues. In the mid to late seventies the birth of new styles that broke from the old seemed to dominate the music industry. These new types of music ranged from disco to television pop. The music of the decade represented the culture and was greatly influenced by events and beliefs of the 70’s. At this time in American history, music and life became closely nit. In the late 1970’s, national issues settl...