Off late I was talking to a friend about how the 70s were the time when all music related revolution took place, and thereafter it just died. Today we are still living off what the greats created. Most of our playlists are still crowded with Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Pink Floyd, Beatles, and it's likes.
I liked how my friend zeroed into the root of this problem. He said, "Parents during our times or our grandparents time didn't spare the rod and when we did something terrible we were reprimanded. Nowadays parents have gone too soft and society has too. Suddenly hitting your child is frowned upon. That is what used to make us tough. Now they're 30 year olds singing about boy troubles, love at first sight and unicorns that poop rainbows."
And I couldn't agree anymore.
I heard a few recent hit singles and let me quote Katy Perry (or Slutty Perry) from "This is what we do" -
"Yo, shout out to all you kids, buying bottle service, with your rent money.Respect."
Then I remembered another song, "Starships" by Nicki Minaj -
"And I ain’t paying my rent this month, I owe that."
I was astounded as to the number of hit artists who condone wasting away their rent money for glamorous lives. Since when did being irresponsible become commendable and socially accepted?
Or did we just run out of things to sing about that drastically?
Bob Marley used to sing about revolution, John Lennon sang about world peace & unity, Michael Jackson raised his voice against apartheid. These are people who used music like WMD and invaded hearts, souls and minds forever. Now, it seems like the pop artists aren't even trying. They have all the attention in the world but their heads are too far up their butts for them to care to use this for something worthwhile.
When did the artists of our time think it was okay for them to not be inspired? To not sing about things that concerned them, us, the world? How come not a single artist's music inspires us? Or has a deep message embedded.
U2 used to release all its tracks and all songs had two meanings - the obvious literal one and a deep spiritual one. That's the amount of thought and effort that used to go into creating music, creating something joyous, to create something that would move you..from within.
Like Meatloaf said in an interview, "Most of it isn't music anymore, it's just good looking faces with a great pair of tits."
Then again there are some bands that are trying to show that our generation can still create good music. The likes of Alt-J, Arctic Monkeys & Black Keys are definitely mellifluous but will they make a mark or be swept away into the deep ocean by the tides of time; only the distant future can reveal that.
I liked how my friend zeroed into the root of this problem. He said, "Parents during our times or our grandparents time didn't spare the rod and when we did something terrible we were reprimanded. Nowadays parents have gone too soft and society has too. Suddenly hitting your child is frowned upon. That is what used to make us tough. Now they're 30 year olds singing about boy troubles, love at first sight and unicorns that poop rainbows."
And I couldn't agree anymore.
I heard a few recent hit singles and let me quote Katy Perry (or Slutty Perry) from "This is what we do" -
"Yo, shout out to all you kids, buying bottle service, with your rent money.Respect."
Then I remembered another song, "Starships" by Nicki Minaj -
"And I ain’t paying my rent this month, I owe that."
I was astounded as to the number of hit artists who condone wasting away their rent money for glamorous lives. Since when did being irresponsible become commendable and socially accepted?
Or did we just run out of things to sing about that drastically?
Bob Marley used to sing about revolution, John Lennon sang about world peace & unity, Michael Jackson raised his voice against apartheid. These are people who used music like WMD and invaded hearts, souls and minds forever. Now, it seems like the pop artists aren't even trying. They have all the attention in the world but their heads are too far up their butts for them to care to use this for something worthwhile.
When did the artists of our time think it was okay for them to not be inspired? To not sing about things that concerned them, us, the world? How come not a single artist's music inspires us? Or has a deep message embedded.
U2 used to release all its tracks and all songs had two meanings - the obvious literal one and a deep spiritual one. That's the amount of thought and effort that used to go into creating music, creating something joyous, to create something that would move you..from within.
Like Meatloaf said in an interview, "Most of it isn't music anymore, it's just good looking faces with a great pair of tits."
Then again there are some bands that are trying to show that our generation can still create good music. The likes of Alt-J, Arctic Monkeys & Black Keys are definitely mellifluous but will they make a mark or be swept away into the deep ocean by the tides of time; only the distant future can reveal that.
