We all have been listening to music since the beginning of time and considered it a great past time, but there are always people who generally say that certain genres of music is bad and how it will ruin our minds, especially parents who say we shouldn’t be listening to bad music, like rap and hip hop or rock as it “supposedly” ruins lives, just because it talks about sex, violence and drugs. I really disagree, and I think they are forgetting that when they were young their parents also didn’t like their music, a great example would be Elvis Presley, who was known as “The King Of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” He basically mixed country and rhythm and blues, with a really strong back beat, which was soon known as Rock ‘n’ Roll. This made him highly popular among the teens but controversial among the parents as he was using blues which was then considered as the black music and also because he was a sex symbol. So i guess history is repeating itself.
Music has always been judged by the parents by the image of the artist and by the lyrical content, but this doesn’t really mean the music he plays is going to affect the children in a negative way, a great example would be the rapper Nas, who dropped out of middle school and has always had a bad boy image has released thought provoking music like “Sly Fox”
“The Waco Davidian plots / They own YouTube, Myspace /When this ignorant shit gon’ stop?
They monopolizing news / Your views / And the channel you choose / Propaganda / Visual cancer / The eye
In the sky / Number five / On the dial / secret agenda / Frequency antenna / Doctor mind bender / Remote control
soul / Controller / Your brain holder / Slave culture / Game’s over / What’s a Fox characteristic?
Slick shit / Sensin’ / Misinformation / Pimp the station / Over stimulation / Reception / Deception
Comcast digital Satan / The Fox has a bushy tail / And Bush tells / Lies and Foxtrots. “
Nas is basically talking about how the media might be controlling everything and how it may also be controlling us, he actually challenging us to think outside the box and how we should not accept everything that is given to us without thinking and analysing.
Artists can also motivate us to start playing music, which can be a really good hobby as that way we don’t go out and start drinking and having sex or get into trouble . A great example would be one one of my favorite artists, John Mayer who fell in love with Stevie Ray Vaughn’s music when he was a kid, and because of him John Mayer began to play the guitar, who is know considered as a “Guitar God” by the magazine “Guitar World.” I think that this is a great example of how music can help us find our self. Music is not the reason why people do drugs, drink or use profanity. We can find these negative things everywhere we go its pretty much inevitable, and if we were to blame someone it should be the movies and the media that makes the usage of drugs, alcohol and violence popular.
Another great example would be the band, “The killers”, even though their band name is kinda a negative and would scare a parent away they are quit peaceful and their lyrics are amazing and thought provoking, Like their new single “Human” -”Pay my respects to grace and virtue / Send my condolences to good / Give my regards to soul and romance,
They always did the best they could / And so long to devotion / You taught me everything I know / Wave goodbye
Wish me well.. / You’ve got to let me go
Are we human? / Or are we dancer? / My sign is vital / My hands are cold / And I’m on my knees Looking for the answer / Are we human? / Or are we dancer?” This is more like modern poetry, talking about, how even though we are humans we are being controlled by our social surroundings, in the band’s case they might be talking about the media and how they should dress and talk and act in public and how they might be being controlled by their record labels.
So in the end there isn’t even any plausible evidence that states that these genres are affecting everyone in a negative way but logically we can come up with various benefits on how they can help us grow and understand the world a lot better.
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