I am a millennial, a person born between 1980 and 2000. Millennials are possibly the most influential generation or, what some people may refer to as, the chosen generation. Our influence has been illustrated by the impact we had in the election of President Barack Obama. Throughout the last year, my dad has encouraged me to study millennials because he has been spending many hours studying them, himself. He believes that music defines the character and values of a generation. As a lover of all kinds of music, he has enlightened me with a genre of songs describing the desire for change. Most of the songs were composed by artists of his generation, Fifth Dimension, Eric Clapton, and Sam Cooke, to name a few. I was pleasantly surprised and excited when he introduced me to a current song with a similar message about change. “Uprising,” by Muse, the sixth ranking song on the iTunes alternative list, has now become a family favorite. My dad has given me the task of choreographing a dance to this song for a website that he is in the process of developing. In an effort to interpre...
Music can be traced back into human history to prehistoric eras. To this day archeologists uncover fragments of ancient instruments as well as tablets with carved lyrics buried alongside prominent leaders and highly influential people. This serves as a testament to the importance and power of music, as well as its influence in society. Over its many years of existence, music’s powerful invocation of feelings has allowed it to evolve and serve many purposes, one being inspiring change. American journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson once said, “Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel. Sentimental people call it inspiration, but what they really mean is fuel.” This fuel is the very things that powers the influence of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society, that author Glenn C. Altschuler writes about in his book, “All Shook Up – How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America.” Between 1945 and 1965 Rock ‘n’ Roll transformed American society and culture by helping to ease racial integration and launch a sexual revolution while most importantly developing an intergenerational identity.
According to Abby Ellin in her article, “The Beat (Up) Generation” the styles between millennials and baby boomers is substantial and often times, millennial’s are just misinterpreted. Millennial’s have everyone trying to decode them and try to figure out how they work. This has people from the Baby Boomer generation in flux. Ellin validates her claim with strong sources, powerful statistics, and unbiased argument.
To the persistent individual, though, there is a body of music in existence that merits regard. It is powerful music written by the youth of America, youngsters who did have a stake in the Vietnam War. There can be little question about the origins of the power which American protest music conveyed: those who wrote such music lived each day with the real knowledge that they were losing friends in, and could possibly be forced themselves to go to, Vietnam. One such group, Creedence Clearwater Revival, made its contribution to this genre near the end of the Vietnam War.
The ‘60s were the age of youth, as millions of children’s from post World War II became teenagers and rebelled against the conservative fifties. Denying civil rights to African-Americans and liberation to teenagers in previous decades and Vietnam War, created a vortexes which lead to massive rebellion against the status qua. Music of the 1960s was characteristic of the revolution that was going on during the decade. It was a time of rebellion and counter-culture in which the teenagers and college students were critical of government, business, religious institution and other various aspects of life. Era marked by civil rights movement, Vietnam War, environment of drug abuse and sexual freedom formed new music like: folk rock, soul and psychedelic rock. These genres starkly contrast the teen idol music of ‘50s pop mainstream. Writes John Covach; “World was exploding, and rock musicians were listening more closely than ever.”(Covach, 152) Such stark contrast in pop music directly relay to changing social culture in America, which further echo’s the relationship between music and culture.
[2] After the fifties, Americans were emotionally dead. During the next decade the population would search again for the “grand ideals” of democracy. The American people were looking for something in the 1960’s; they were searching for ideals and dreams. The Sixties were a “time of rebellion, defiance of authority, acting out hopes and dreams. . . a time of reconsidering the way we lived, the way we behaved toward people in this country and abroad” (Zinn in Morgan, ix). During the Sixties people began to take into account American history and began to attempt to redress the past. Perhaps the largest and most influential group in motivating the American people was musicians. They began to put the feeling of America into songs, and they used those songs to fight for what they believed in, from anti-war songs to sexual liberation and free drug use. It was the fight for ...
The nineties were an exceptional decade for music which, unfortunately, has not been reprised to this day. The formerly mentioned decade witnessed the emergence of alternative rock music as an outlet for those who were saturated by the excesses that characterized the eighties and the lack of substance of some of its music. Accordingly, during the nineties, music audiences began to value talent over appearance, catchy rhythms, meaningless lyrics, and flashy choreographies. Moreover, throughout this time, music was conceived as a means to inspire and move listeners, rather than a mere tool for product placement. Thus, the nineties gave birth to a phenomenal musical genre that has yet to be surpassed since it created a deep connection with the afflicted souls of a generation, valued music’s inspirational quality over intricate musical arrangements, and introduced the world to a plethora of invaluable artists for whom music was their utmost priority.
Most things have their beginnings in something small: a word, a breath, or idea; but not music. Music begins with a single vibration. It explodes and carries on, morphing worlds of unrelated personas. It lives rampantly in the mouths of millions of unruly and free-spirited teenagers, like a fever. The rock 'n roll trend that defiantly rose against the conformist ideology of the mid-twentieth century left remnants that commenced the start of a progressing society: a culture that redefined the rules of society and pushed social and moral limits while addressing social concerns.
Hip-hop music is the best base form of music to invoke change because songs can be written quickly by rappers to address their communities. Hip-hop started in the early 1970’s in minority-filled neighborhoods that were surrounded with poverty, crime, and drugs. Over time, hip-hop has been changed to express different messages. At its beginning the message was positive addressing the problems of poor neighborhoods and now the message is flashy and unclear. With this change
  Kristiansen, Lars J.. Screaming for change: articulating a unifying philosophy of punk rock. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2010. Print.
Music has been around for thousands of years. Music has progressed since that time and has slowly become what it is today. Though music has been around for such a long time, protest music just started to develop in the Vietnam Era, the year 1954. The war started the era of protest which, in turn, created a new form of music which incorporated a specific type of lyric that was a way of expressing protest through the song. Since music in this era was already a big thing, artists thought it would be a good idea to get their political viewpoints out there. They did it through something that affected everybody in that time and space. The artists view spread quickly through the country because of the catchy tune and the viewpoints that are listed. In the United States of America, it is a very common thing to conform to others in a group (Conformity…). Since conformity is such a common occurrence in a large group, all the artist has to do is find a couple of people in the group, group being an audience, who agree with the artist and the rest will unfold on its own. The artist will keep on performing while the word of him and his music will spread from person to person. Conformity will ultimately bring people together on the same viewpoint until eventually, there are thousands of people there with the artist to protest. These artists have grown over time along with the style of music that they bring along with them. Protest music still exists today and is one of the most effective forms of protest that we have.
The world experienced several musical revolutions in just the 100 short years of the 20th century. Everything from jazz to rock and roll to the British invasion helped unite generations of youth and helped drastically change and shape the culture in which we lived, and still live, today.
In the 1960s, the anti-war movement grew rapidly in America. The party reached the summit in 1968 by collecting members of various age ranges throughout the country 6. The song "Revolution," produced by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, expresses the irony of the political group. Although the party is against...
“Music is uniquely wonderful. It is incapable of being touched yet it touches everyone who is capable of hear sounds. It can seemingly evoke any emotion; we instinctively respond to happy tunes, mournful songs, beautiful melodies, inspiring anthems, stirring hymns, and majestic orchestrations.” (Doolan, Robert. 1985) There is no question that music is great part of society; it has been at civilization’s side whether it be the lyres and flutes of the ancient Greeks or how it calms or excites emotions and keeps armies in order during battle. Within society, there has also been social unrest and the desire for change. Protesting is the expression of a society’s concerns on current events of which they feel affected by whether it be through public rallies, picketing, riots or even bombings. Protest through music is one powerful medium for engaging people. Amidst what life throws at individuals, music has comforted the soul, provoked individualistic thought and opinion, and music draws people together through groups alike who have the same attachment or concerns with their surroundings. Whether it be rock, jazz, blues, rap, hip hop, dance, spiritual, or world, music has inspired artists to spill out their expression and views of society. Music is a universally effective tool of protest in generating social change and unrest as it continues to unite those with like ideas.
All music is very powerful. It can change the way you think, the way you act, or even who you are as a whole. Throughout modern time, different genres were popular among adolescents. For example, disco music in the 1970’s, or grunge music in the 1990’s. However, no matter the difference in people, music brings one another together; for better or for worse. As trends move forward, people tend to follow their favourite and most popular artists, thus leaving these music stars a heavy bearing as a role model towards teenagers of each generation. In today’s era, rap music is highly popular and listened to by most youth, making these rappers a strong role model in teens’ lives. Therefore, today’s youth is influenced by the personae of rappers, the
In Robert Palmer's article “What pop lyrics say to us today”, he explains that music has been much the same for many years.