Music and Today's Culture

Today’s youth culture is very focused on music. Music provides a source of entertainment and a good way to start a conversation. I can guarantee that any party you attend will have some type of music playing, and the type of music playing will give you a good idea of what type of party it is. For instance, should you hear rap music blasting from a frat house, you can assume a dance party is happening at that moment. If you hear someone playing country music, you can assume it is a more relaxed situation. When thinking of the music categories discussed in the reading, you can easily apply a stereotype to each of them. When I was reading through the passage that started on page 669, I unintentionally pictured someone who I thought would listen to that type of music. I think the stereotypes that people associate with certain types of music actually end up influencing what those musicians actually wear and how they act. After all, isn’t the media all about appealing to their audiences? If an artist notices that their fan base wears skinny jeans and tight v-neck t-shirts, aren’t they more likely to try to appeal to those people by dressing and acting like they do? It is a pretty good marketing trick. Teens are always looking for a group to associate with – a place where they can belong. Since so many bands sound the same, it gives people a lot of “different” things to listen to, while staying in the same genre, and making it seem like they are music connoisseurs.

Sometimes, though, people use music as a refuge from the dramas of everyday life. They can escape to a place where screaming and beating on drums is an okay thing to do. Where sorrowful lyrics are scribbled down while the lyricist is going through a painful time. The listeners hear the agony in the voice of the singer and think that maybe somebody else does know what they are going through. Maybe somebody else does understand them. If someone can feel this type of connection to a certain type of music, of course they are going to back that genre or a certain artist. This is how the ball gets rolling for certain musicians – they acquire a small, dedicated group listening to your music (all of whom are very similar types of people) and the word spreads among that crowd, and voila, you have a fan-base. This, in turn, leads to people buying your music and therefore you have financial backing. Although, yes, it’s easier said then done, it has obviously worked for quite a few people. Today, there are so many bands that started by playing in their garage, and some local kids started hanging around and listening to their stuff, and then all of the sudden they have the idea to get bigger, play real gigs, and they have a chance to hit it off.

This issue of music also deals with how the idea of the “American dream” has changed over the years. Today, people consider the American dream to be making it big, as opposed to the old idea of settling down, getting a successful job, and starting a family. In order to fulfill the American dream in some people’s eyes, you need to be a rock-star; live like the big celebrities, own a fancy car, a huge mansion, and have an episode on MTV Cribs. One of the problems with this, though, is that many people think they can attain this goal, when in reality only a handful will ever make it that far up the social/ economic ladder. This leads today’s youth garage bands to have unrealistic ideas of how far they can go with their talents. You can be an extremely talented guitarist, but you are most likely competing with hundreds of thousands of other people just like you, who have just as much drive and will to make it big. Reality check: good luck making it big if there are more people than you can think of striving for the same thing. So many people put their heart and soul into music, and only end up hurt in the end, because they wasted years of their lives trying to “make it big” until they end up middle-aged with no future.

Music is a huge part of today’s culture, but has it gotten too big? Do people put too much emphasis on their love for music? Have we taken it too far? These are all questions that I do not have the answer to, but that we can all speculate about. Frankly, I think right now we are okay, but the second more kids start trying to make it big in the music industry rather than go to college is the day I take a whole new stance to the music culture. I cannot justify listening to music instead of studying. Since I believe that education is one of the most important things a teenager can do to improve their standing in life, I find it hard to justify people staying in their band instead of going to college because they think they have a chance of making. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but maybe people need a reality check. Of course I’m not saying don’t listen to music (since I do all the time), it’s just that people have to realize that music isn’t everything, and that life will continue, even when the jam session stops.