Why Contemporary Music?
Like most people, I like music. What I don't like is when people like music for reasons besides liking the sound of it. Music is supposed to be something that pleases your ear -- a good sound. The people who sing don't matter. The popularity of the band/singer doesn't matter. None of that matters; all that matters is that you like what you hear.
Most people like whatever music is here and now -- the recent tunes. I call this wide range of music "contemporary music." I don't mind if people like today's songs, if that is what pleases them, but it gets ridiculous when people like a song so much, and then once it gets a month or a year old, they don't like it anymore. Why does the age of the song matter? If you care so much about the age of the song, then you're being very superficial; you're saying that your music preference is like clothes style; you wear what is "in" and once it gets old, you have nothing to do with it! That is not liking music. That is being in style. If you truly like a song, then you like it forever! Don't criticize a song just because tis old. Just because tis old doesn't mean it's not good or better than the new stuff.
Most people tend to like music for the singers or for its popularity. Back in middle school, kids liked Hanson, Backstreet Boys, Brittney Spears, and N*Sync. They liked it because twas popular and because the singers were "hot." So I suppose if the group wasn't popular or if they were ugly, no one would like them? I notice that not many singers are ugly. I'm not certain of this, but I'm guessing that people only become singers if they are pretty/handsome enough. That's sad, because a lot of people have talented voices out there and they don't get any credit for it. Now in high school, kids turned completely around. Both the kids who didn't like those pop groups and the ones who did hate them now! Anything called "pop" is bad to them, even if they haven't heard their music! You shouldn't say something tastes bad unless you've eaten it, and you shouldn't say a band/singer is bad unless you've given their music a chance. Pop singers are mostly only talented in their voice and dancing, but what's so bad about their music? I don't have a problem with it. Why judge music by the person singing? It doesn't make sense at all. Personally, I like songs by Brittney Spears and other pop artists. That doesn't mean I like her. It doesn't mean I want to be like her or anything. I listen to music for what it is--music. The people don't matter! Nothing matters except the music!
I like all sorts of music. About the only types I don't like are disco, jazz, and blues, the reason being because they just don't sound good to me. There are exceptions though. I like Abba, and they're disco. But most of the disco, jazz, and blues songs I don't like. All the other music types I am just okay with. Classical, country, techno, rap, punk/emo/gothic/heavy metal/hard rock, and religious music are okay, but I don't usually listen to them. I listen more to Alice music (combination between punk and pop [example: Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch, Alanis Morissette]) and oldies--especially oldies. My favorite radio station is not on the air anymore, but when twas around, it had the phrase, "Between the doo-wop and the hip-hop came the best music ever made." I agree completely with that. Fifties music is okay, but I find that the background is usually a repetitive chord, which is annoying. 70's music is mostly disco, and then music sort of went downhill from there. 60s music is the best in my opinion. It just makes me feel good; the songs can be fast or slow, love related or thought provoking. Tis a bunch of different sorts of music, all called "rock n' roll." Unlike contemporary music, no matter if the 60s song is sad or bitter, I always smile and feel so inspired and happy after hearing it. Tis uplifting. Today's music is just depressing. There's the screaming "rock," the cuss-filled rap, and the headache-producing techno. There are contemporary songs that are happy songs, but they just don't make me feel like 60s songs do.
Although I don't mind the genres listed above, I have my beefs with them. Classical is relaxing, but it doesn't have any words to sing along to. Country is kind of annoying. Religious music has nice tunes, but the lyrics are annoying, because tis always about God and stuff like that. Even if I believed in God, I wouldn't like to listen to music that was all about Him. It's like listening to songs where they all sing about "Sarah" or something. Tis just annoying. Also, religious music tends to not flow well; the music and lyrics seem to strain together and don't sound right. Most Techno, rap, and punk/emo/gothic/heavy metal/hard rock are really stupid music in my opinion. They shouldn't even be called music.
For people who don't like oldies on the basis of the simple, repetitive lyric, I don't see how you can like techno. Techno is so repetitive, saying mostly nothing at all. The songs last forever, yet really have no substance; they're all computerized music. Sorry, but that's not real music. Music is played with instruments, not computers and synthesizers. Plus the beat reminds me of when I have a headache, and it feels like my heart is pounding in my head. Music is supposed to be soothing, not make you antsy.
Then there's that hate music that makes you want to kill someone: Rap and punk/emo/gothic/heavy metal/hard rock. Both of them shouldn't be called music. The "singers" aren't even singing! They're either chanting or screaming. How is that music?
Rap is nothing but all base and no treble, accompanied with fast chanting, mostly with cuss words and racist/sexist comments. You can't even understand the words unless you turn it up loud. And it really annoys me when a car drives by with their rap music on blast. All it sounds like is a drum, and no matter which rap song is playing, each one always sounds the same. It can't be a coincidence; not all cars have the same song playing; the rap songs simply all sound the same! The book 1984 describes this music perfectly, although not intended to. In case some of you aren't familiar with that book, twas written in the 40s, before rap was around. But the description fits rap perfectly: "The new tune which was to be the theme song of Hate Week (the "Hate Song," it was called) had already been composed and was being endlessly plugged on the telescreens. It was a savage, barking rhythm which could not exactly be called music, but resembled the beating of a drum."
Punk/emo/gothic/heavy metal/hard rock is all screaming. How are those noisy things considered music? They're nothing but noise. The stuff doesn't even blend well; it all clashes. How can this music relax you? A buddy of mine said they liked emo, and since I didn't know what twas at the time, I downloaded the song they told me to. Twas "One Eight Seven" by Senses Fail. It starts out okay; tis fairly slow, but then when it starts talking about the killing, tis screaming.
It's so nice sitting very still,
in a room where no one else can feel the pain that breaks my heart each day,
I'm not ok.
Sunlight shining through my window, let's me know that I'm still alive
Why did I ever let you inside my heart? I'm such a fool.
Paint my face in shades of blood and grey and take a seat right next to me
Well I should've known that you were a killer.
But now I'm dead.
A gaping hole, shot through my heart
A lost connection from your poison dart
Shot from your tounge to end my life.
You're blowing at the fire to light your strife.
You'll never know.
The hardest thing about dying is, knowing you'll never see the light of day.
A gaping hole shot...(shot through my heart)
A lost connection from your poison dart.
My head now spins and my ears bleed gold.
I try so fucking hard, but I can't fit your mold.
You ripped my heart out, you tore my eyes out, now you're gonna pay
I'll stab you one time!
I'll eat your heart out so you feel my pain!
Don't you know that I always see you in all of my dreams?!
I wanna kill you! I wanna kill you!
Now! I'm insane!
I wanna kill you! I wanna kill you!
Now! I'm insane!
Now tell me, does that calm you? Does it make you feel good? If so, you're a sadistic freak. Note. I think you're kidding others and yourself. You don't like that music. You pretend to like it because tis "cool." Just like you pretend to like black. Stop the act.
Most of those types of musics are only liked because friends like them. You all hate pop because tis popular, yet you like techno, rap, and punk/emo/gothic/heavy metal/hard rock because tis stylish and cool! You don't like oldies because tis outdated, and if you were to say that you did, people would look at you like you're crazy, and your precious reputation would be damaged! Oh gosh, how important your image is!! You all get so caught up in trying to be cool that you forget who you really are and what you really like. You don't even know yourself anymore. The only time you had a mind of your own was when you were in elementry school, if even then. Now look at you. You're just like everyone else. Everything you do is to fit in. What a sorry case. It's funny how people are so proud to be free and different, yet they all want to be the same. We might as well not live in a democracy, because you all act like communists.
2007 Update
I read in my social psych textbook ~ an experiment that was done with albino rats (Cross, Halcomb, & Matter, 1967). It raised rats on different types of music, then let the rats choose which music to go to when they had the two different kinds to choose from (Mozart & Schoenberg). The rats chose the music they had been raised on. That confirms my theory on how people like the music they grow up around. I grew up on oldies, so that's why I like them. Most people my age grew up around rap or hard rock, so that's what they like. Well, I grew up around that stuff too, but I prefered what my parents listened to. As usual, I'm an outlier because I don't conform. I thought about doing an experiment like that with humans before, but tis unethical, because I'd have to raise human children in isolation.
Copyright © 2004-2007 JANS INDIGO. All Rights Reserved.