Music Can Shape Generations op-ed

Music has a way to shape people and generations. In the 60’s and 70’s The Beatles along with other bands preached about love and peace. They started a movement of people protesting and standing up for how they thought the world should be run. The peace continued to the 80’s in the way of new wave, dance music, and glam rock. The rock music became harder when the 80’s came to a close and transitioned into the 90’s. The 90’s was known for punk. This had a more angry approach with ideas like anarchy and destruction to get change. All of these generations have defining factors to them. What will people look back at our generation and think of it?

Our generation is full of songs of guns, violence, lust, hate, greed, misogynism, drugs, and alcohol. This is exactly the objects and ideas our lives have been shaped around. The song Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke was a perfect representation of this. The music video portrays women as accessories for men and nothing else. As the men are drinking and smoking and having a good time the women are not wearing any tops and waiting on their every need. This music video was also very popular and the song was played on the radio regularly. Not only the song itself gives awful demeaning visuals it makes viewers more numb to misogynism because it seems normal and accepted in this video. People listen to what artists tell them through songs. Listening to this music that promotes all of these horrible things makes you notice it less and less in songs and in your daily life. The amount of murders in America has gone up from 9,110 in 1960 to a staggering 14,827 in 2012. Instead of promoting peace and love into this hurting country popular artists are just bringing us down further into a pit of hate.

When my dad tells me all music in this generation will never meet up to music of the past it hits me that it might not be the tune or the guitar solos but the meaning and representation of music will never be the same.

Top hits on the radio have become unlistenable and now we are left with the music that used to be and the generations that promoted caring about each other and peace. Today peace has just become another word to put on a colorful tee shirt and has lost its true meaning. But we can change that.

We dont have to be known as the generation of violence and destruction. Going to school I should not have to pass a no guns allowed sign. I should not have to listen to people refer to my city as chiraq. This is our generation and we need to do something to fix it. Music could be that driving force and trend the world needs to have peace as a priority.