Rap is Crap and Rock is Hot:
The Issues with Modern Music
By Frank Hamedl on 23 January 2017
"To make a rock n' roll record, technology is the least important thing." - Keith Richards
"If you don't know the blues... there's no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll,
or any other form of popular music" - Keith Richards
Change always occurs in society. With new technology and changing times, many aspects of culture have changed — for better and for worse. In the last 100 years, the music industry has drastically changed. Unfortunately, the evolution of the music industry, which first started out marvelous, is now ruining music, as modern music relies too much on technology and uses unsettling lyrics.
Every culture has music in their society, including the earliest known civilizations. In the early 1900s a new form of music swept through America: African inspired jazz. African Americans began playing this new form of music focusing on classical instruments, like saxophone, trumpet, and drums. Jazz became one of the dominant forms of music in America for over 40 years, with it becoming the backbone of a majority of modern music. In the 1950s it reached new heights thanks to popularity from different forms of jazz including big band and swing jazz, most notably by Duke Ellington; vocal jazz from familiar artists like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald; and bop jazz by Sonny Rollins — commonly known as one of the best saxophonist in history. In the 1950s other forms of music emerged including modern blues from music legends B.B. King, also known as “the king of the blues,” and Muddy Waters; and most notably rock n’ roll, thanks to artists like Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley: “the king of rock n’ roll.” Jazz and rock n’ roll were prominent until the early 1960s until a little band called The Beatles emerged. They quickly grew as one of the most successful bands in the world, combining pop and rock n’ roll, and starting the British Invasion: an era of 1960s rock music from England. In the 60s, jazz died down and rock took over, with many different forms of the popular music: surf rock, pop rock, psychedelic rock, southern/country rock, hard rock, and blues rock. Other forms of music besides rock became famous including folk, country, and R&B/Soul. In this era some of the most famous artists of all time surfaced, including The Doors, The Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Who, Cream, The Allman Brothers Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones, also known as “The World’s Greatest Rock n’ Roll Band.” Also, some of the most notable albums of all time were recorded during this time including The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St., The Beatles Abbey Road, Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin I, and The Allman Brothers Band Eat a Peach (“Music”). This era, from the late 50s to early 70s, became the best era in music due to the musical diversity and musical achievements from numerous artists.
In the late 1970s the music industry once again started to change, and started to decline. Rock music slowly became more upbeat and heavy, instead of more soothing like its Jazz and rock n’ roll roots. As classic rock faded, hard rock and alternative music emerged, which gave way to metal, popularized by bands like AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Metallica. As time went on, metal became heavier and heavier, spawning genres like heavy death metal. However, not all music became metal and hardcore. Pop was still popular, but as pop legends like Michael Jackson and Madonna started to fade away, many unknown artists entered the music industry, through the genres of hip-hop, pop, and rap as an easy way to become rich and famous.
So, after the 70’s what caused the music industry to decline in value and why? The American Dream went from working hard and creating a loving family to making as much money as possible without working. People began to see music as a million-dollar industry, and a lot of people wanted to enter it. Musicians that entered the industry soon realized the difficulty of making good and successful albums, like classic rock hits. However, some soon realized the easiness of using new computer technology to make a modern pop or rap song. Technology made it easier for someone with a little talent become a better singer, thanks to a computer that can drastically edit the voice of a person. Then, artists did not have to worry about finding real musical talent to record music. This caused talent to decline as well as the motivation to develop into a great musician. The kids of this generation do not want to join the elementary and middle school bands to learn how to play clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, drums, or guitar, and become a musician when they can simply learn how to make music on a computer using computer programs like Apple’s GarageBand. Besides this, many more problems with modern music exist.
Classic musicians, besides creating music they recorded themselves, also used to write their own songs. Many musicians in bands relied on some of the bandmates to write their own music before recording it. However, this process has become almost extinct. Writing music has always been a difficult and complicated process. Classic rock songwriters needed to musically balance different instruments, including lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, drums, percussion, and even vocals together to create harmony, melody, and sophistication. For modern musicians, it is easier to write a song with just lyrics and add a bass beat to play behind the vocals. Most modern songs rely on super bass lines in their music so they do not have to worry about creating harmony between musical parts — a key component missing in modern music. Besides this, the performing artist does not write his/her music anymore. Usually a team of writers exists behind the shadows doing all the work for the artist, so that the performing musician does not write their own music (Dwinell). Conner Dwinell addresses this issue perfectly stating that “there is no musicianship to be found, other than the work someone's producer did in ProTools by layering in three or four hip-hop beats with heavy bass and adding some very basic instrument tracks done by other people.” People should be worried about modern music.
Musical lyrics, another aspect of writing music, has also decreased in quality. At the height of music quality, a majority of musicians wrote about qualities of life that most people could relate to: finding love, loving others, traveling, nature, opposing war, or getting through difficult times. With every new song, these themes start to fade away and turn into darker themes like alcohol, hardcore drugs, sex, rape, violence, and other illegal crimes. Relating to a song — one of the most important aspects about music — is decreasing due to these new themes. How can a mom, dad, kid, or average citizen relate to a song about gang-banging a women and shooting innocent people?
Music critics might concede that even songs from the early 70s have dark themes as well. Some songs, like The Rolling Stone’s 1971 song “Brown Sugar,” created controversy due to its theme. However, the song creates a happy and joyful sound from its upbeat guitar riff and spectacular tenor saxophone, performed by the late Bobby Keys. Also, Mick Jagger’s singing style makes the lyrics of “Brown Sugar” hard to distinguish making most people unaware about the song's theme. The song has most people dancing and grooving within the first 30 seconds instead of thinking about the song's theme. Even though “Brown Sugar” created controversy, the target audience for the song was older teenagers and adults. The new target audience for modern music creates issues, as the music industry, through the radio and the internet, exposes children and young teens to questionable song lyrics. Studies have proven “that ‘problem music’ (hard rock, hip hop/rap & punk) causes self-injurious thoughts/behaviors among fans” (North, and Hargreaves 582). This causes girls have unrealistic body goals because of the lyrics and bodies portrayed; and boys get poor portrayals of the human body, thinking every woman should look like the latest pop singer in a music video. Children will start to think it is okay to have random sex, represent women poorly, and cause violence. Some people believe kids will stop viewing the content, as new albums feature a label on the cover saying “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics.” However, whenever a kid sees this label, it encourages them to listen to songs off that album, thinking they would become cool if they listen to it. Parents need to do more and control what their child listens to or gets a hold of online. Children should not become exposed to the explicit themes expressed in modern music.
What exactly caused lyrics to go into uncharted, gloomy territory? One possibility is a decrease in original material. New artists do not know what to write about because classic songs have copyright to lyrics and melodies; and based off the number of lawsuits, this is true. In 1990, Vanilla Ice copied Queen's “Under Pressure” iconic bass riff in the song “Ice Ice Baby.” Also, controversy began over Sam Smith’s new song “ Stay With Me” sounding similar to Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” Most recently, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams faced charges for their song “Blurred Lines” (Anderson 12-13). Also, Pharrell Williams’ hit “Happy” does sound a little similar to The Rolling Stones’ 1972 song “Happy.” New artists struggle with creating original music and decide to sing about dull themes or copy other songs. Because of the changes in the music industry, modern music causes many problems in society.
Modern music does not have the quality like classic music. Most musicians used to form bands and go into studios, write music themselves, record it using a variety of different instruments, and put it on the market. Today, most of the music industry consists a team of almost a dozen people writing music, relying on computer generated beats, and doing this solely to become a millionaire. Will musicians record another album like Exile on Main St., which combines different genres like rock n’ roll, blues, country, soul, and gospel? Only time will tell. However, some hope still exists, as some artists, like The Black Keys have roots in classic rock and blues. Hopefully sometime soon a large revival of classic rock will take place. But in order for it to happen, listeners need to stop supporting bands that are hurting the music industry — something easy to accomplish. The Rolling Stones just released their 25th studio album Blue & Lonesome to glowing reviews, as they go back to their blues roots. Bandleader of The Stones, Mick Jagger, who will turn 74 in July, has publicly stated “I’m not thinking about retiring. I’d like to see how far the band can evolve. As long as I feel like it and there’s people that will listen, we'll do it” (qtd. in Green 13-14). So go out and grab a ticket to a live rock concert and buy albums from the 50s, 60s, and 70s to support quality music. More change must take place, and the power for change rests in the hands of the consumers.
"Rap — so many words, so little said.
What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there.
All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they're happy.
There’s an enormous market for people who can't tell one note from another." - Keith Richards
References:
Anderson, Kyle. “Have We Run Out of New Songs?” Entertainment Weekly 1350 (2015): 12-14. Print.
Dwinell, Connor. “The Problems With Modern Music.” The College Conservative. Epic Life Creative, 17 February 2014. Web. 30 April 2015.
Greene, Andy. “Inside The Stones’ Big Summer.” Rolling Stone 1233 (2015):13-14. Print.
“Music Timeline.” Music Timeline. Google Research. Web. 30 April 2015.
North, Adrian C., Hargreaves, David J. “Problem Music and Self-Harming.” Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior 36.5 (2006): 582-90. Print.
Last update: 1/23/17
Anderson, Kyle. “Have We Run Out of New Songs?” Entertainment Weekly 1350 (2015): 12-14. Print.
Dwinell, Connor. “The Problems With Modern Music.” The College Conservative. Epic Life Creative, 17 February 2014. Web. 30 April 2015.
Greene, Andy. “Inside The Stones’ Big Summer.” Rolling Stone 1233 (2015):13-14. Print.
“Music Timeline.” Music Timeline. Google Research. Web. 30 April 2015.
North, Adrian C., Hargreaves, David J. “Problem Music and Self-Harming.” Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior 36.5 (2006): 582-90. Print.
Last update: 1/23/17