What happened to music?

[STG]

Why is it that nowadays a lot of singers have such inappropriate songs?! Why do they make all the people listening to it think that all these immoral things are what should be done. The people listening consider these singers "role models" when they are really not! I am a teenager but I listen to older songs...why weren't the olden songs as trashy as the songs today? Why is it okay now but not accepted then? I know that many people will say that if I don't like it, I shouldn't listen to it...but it just bothers that these songs are played everywhere and just bringing everyone down to such a low level. I'm sure that if the parents would be hearing what their children are listening to, it would be a very sad sight...I've even seen this written by the comments on some the songs. One guy wrote that if their parents would hear it he would get into trouble and another parent commented about a different song that he would never let his children listen to such music. There are some nice songs out there but why is everyone showing the singers that the trashy music is okay?!

[Ruddigore]

Why is it that nowadays a lot of singers have such inappropriate songs?!

I've grappled with similar questions.

The morality of culture fluxuates up and down. At the moment, things are heading downwards. Whether it will recover is yet to be seen, but the music we hear is a reflection of our culture.

I'm sure many parents listen to stuff as questionable as that which their children listen to. There were immoral songs 50 years ago -- indeed, there has always been immoral music. Just like guns and cheese, music can be used for wrong as well as for right.

I could say a LOT more, but I'll spare you all.

[FinancialWorld]

Great subject and great point.

There are a few reasons why "trash" is now being consumed every day. One problem is that there is a tremendous demand for stuff like this, and as long as there is a demand and money to be made, the songs will continue to be written. The second problem is a love of nonsense and cacophony. I have no earthly idea why someone would want to listen to "music" that has such a heavy and irregular beat that it could stop their heart. The meaning and content of songs seems to keep degrading and becoming more satanic. Some of the songs really seem pointless with lots of "oooooooohs" and "aaaaahs" and "wawawas". Why people think this is musical is beyond me (and this discussion).

Sometimes when I hear some of the "popular" singers, I wonder why people think that persons voice is worth listening to. The tone and quality of their singing is pathetic.

So my main point is, since there is a demand for it, people will continue to buy and listen to it.

I'm interested in everyone else's opinions on this too.

[PonyGirl93]

Tis why I listen to alternative. Less questionable junk and hey, they can actually sing!

CD101 FTW!! CD101.1 FM Radio, Columbus, Ohio. The Alternative Station

[ryoder]

Singers in the 80s on pop stations sang about inappropriate and immoral things but they were more subtle. Frankie says relax! That song is full of suggestive lyrics.

[Maniac Craniac]

The most perplexing aspect of this issue is that fans of this audible feces often believe that they are following the path of greater virtue in their selection of music (and movies, video games, etc.).

Maniac Craniac: Are you really listening to that filth?
Someone Else: It's just music, calm down, sheesh! What are you a baby? Are you too weak and immature to handle it?
Maniac Craniac: I just don't see how violence, drug use and sexual promiscuity are things to be entertained by.
Someone Else: Stop being so judgmental and closed-minded.

[Maniac Craniac]

Singers in the 80s on pop stations sang about inappropriate and immoral things but they were more subtle. Frankie says relax! That song is full of suggestive lyrics.

True, but I will counter with three points.

1) The 80's weren't really that long ago. I know a lot of the people on this board weren't alive back then, but it is still very recent history and one could talk about much of 80's music in the same vain as that of today.

2) Today's music is worse than that of the 80's. That's the main message of this thread. Sure, you can find plenty of examples of "bad" songs produced back then, just as you can find plenty of "good" songs that are produced today, but the proportion has significantly flopped in the opposite direction.

3) Even in the 80's, there were standards that, if broken, would have upset a whole lot of people. Today, people with standards are a dying breed just like children who think its a good idea to obey their parents are a dying bread. The very fact that parents in the 70's could think that H.R. Puffinstuf was an innocent little children's show shows me how much our culture has changed. We know the double-entendres, the symbolisms and the like because that is all we see, that is all we know, and that is all we expect.

[BrandeX]

Why is it that nowadays...

I'm not sure of your age exactly, but in general:
Your parents said the same thing. So will your children in a couple more decades.

[Storyteller]

Music is primarily the domain of young people and what they sing about is indicative of how they feel about the world they're going to inherit. Shock songs like shock jocks speak for a generation who want their opinions heard. With the loss of censors it is not surprising crude, hateful lyrics fill the airwaves.
People want reality and they want reality in their music and unfortunately this includes reality in their lyrics.
I can remember when the movie "Dirty Harry" came out. The old folks were up in arms over the crude language, the violence and the perceived evil of it. We young folks loved it because it was real. It wasn't some sugarcoated, over-veneered movie - "Dirty Harry" was down, it was dirty, it was cool.
At the time, our country was mired in an unwinnable war which shook the foundations of American life. The nuclear arms race contributed too. Fear, uncertainty, frustration couldn't be escaped.
In regards to the music, while there was Elvis, Wayne Newton and Barry Manilow on the tamer side, there was Led Zeppellin, Santana, Black Sabbath, Janis Joplin and the folks who brought you Woodstock and they scared the beejeebers out of our parents with their blatant use of hard drugs, alcohol and promicuous behavior.
Did the country survive? Yes.
Was it changed? Yes. "The times they are achangin..."
My advice is listen to the music you love and ignore what you hate. This too shall pass - guaranteed.
Just my opinion... from a person who was in high school when Nixon was president.

[STG]

I am a teenager but I listen to older songs...why weren't the olden songs as trashy as the songs today?

Lol I mentioned right there I was a teenager...but to be exact I'm almost 18 and a half...lets hope they the children won't say the same :ack:
Maniac Craniac :iagree: with u

keep the comments coming...