Evolution of music

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Kori Degutis / Legacy Media

Freshman Camryn Degutis enjoys listening to vintage vinyl records.

Everyone has heard this before “Back in my day, people didn’t have this, do that,” Or maybe “These young people with their loud and meaningless music,”. Sure, it gets annoying but maybe grandma and grandpa have a point.

The ‘60s, a time for peace, love, and, of course, music.  A time where The Beatles rocked and The Rolling Stones rolled. This golden age of music was home to many legendary artists such as Bob Dylan, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, The Animals, The Turtles and… well, get the list goes on. From their high voltage guitars and rasy pipes to their slow strung bass and honey- covered voices, all of these talented musicians had something bold and different to offer, not only to the music world, but to the physical world as well. People would think with sounds so contrasted they would have nothing in common, however, that is far from the truth, they gave music meaning.

Today, big name music labels are trying to shove poorly produced music down consumer’s throats, trying to feed them the same story to a different sound. It seems that all the music that is deemed “good” never has anything more to it than lust, money and partying. The producers of this music think that they can make it sound different by a simple adjustment to the synthesizer. Other than the obvious technological innovation in music, the supply and demand has also changed drastically. People are no longer jamming out to music that has an actual meaning or even a point. In the ‘60s, music contained rad beats and psychedelic lyrics all for the sake of spreading love and peace. In comparison, new age pop music does not hold the same depth as music from the ‘60s . However, this does not in any way mean that good music does not exist, but  it is a lot harder to find.

Music used to be a form of communication, used to share their thoughts of the war and the government. They used their music to give the people a voice. Everyone thought about it, but no one ever said anything. In this day and age, only a handful of musicians actually put thought into their music, and only a handful of people actually care. People neglect all of the thought and hard work put into meaningful music, downplaying it to just a catchy tune. The passion and emotion behind the chorus, their fingertips strumming the chords of their guitars, is often ignored. It is truly sad to think that there is wonderful, beautiful music out there, but people settle for auto-tuned noise. People have looked away from the lyrical depth and beauty of melody. Music doesn’t receive the appreciation it deserves.

But not all hope is lost. More and more artists are emerging in the music industry who are determined to restore music to its former glory by putting forth music with meaningful lyrics . Although these artists do not have a big fan base, they do have a strong one, and together they will save music.