The Day the Music Died
As I am sitting her tonight listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary on WMHT I got to wondering what happened to the music?
I grew up in the Vietnam era, and no matter what your views on the war, both sides had their music. Today the country is divided far more extremely and bitterly than back in the 1960's, but where is the music?
I suppose I could have missed it - most of what passes for music today leaves me cold. And the distribution of music has changed. You don't hear much on the radio today except the same old 6 songs played over and over by a computer. People have their earbuds and listen to what they have downloaded privately off the internet, rather than blasting everyone around out with boomboxes (thank God for that! One development I applaud). But as with most things since the advent of the Internet, there is no commonality. Everyone exists in their own bubble with people like themselves, listening only to whatever music their group approves of.
And there is too much noise. I stopped listening to music for a few months once and when I started listening again it was amazing how great it sounded. When it is playing 24/7 it just becomes background noise.
A lot of the music back when I was young addressed issues, particularly folk music. In college, I got into Country, partly because it immensely irritated my roommate, but also because it was about things I was familiar with and it was down to earth. Today's Country seems to be nothing but rock. The old artists came out of the Great Depression, the present generation have never known hardship. It is all about showmanship and money.
But it still seems to me that if you have a cause and want to rally people to it, you need good music. It draws people to the cause and to each other. Has the music really died?
I grew up in the Vietnam era, and no matter what your views on the war, both sides had their music. Today the country is divided far more extremely and bitterly than back in the 1960's, but where is the music?
I suppose I could have missed it - most of what passes for music today leaves me cold. And the distribution of music has changed. You don't hear much on the radio today except the same old 6 songs played over and over by a computer. People have their earbuds and listen to what they have downloaded privately off the internet, rather than blasting everyone around out with boomboxes (thank God for that! One development I applaud). But as with most things since the advent of the Internet, there is no commonality. Everyone exists in their own bubble with people like themselves, listening only to whatever music their group approves of.
And there is too much noise. I stopped listening to music for a few months once and when I started listening again it was amazing how great it sounded. When it is playing 24/7 it just becomes background noise.
A lot of the music back when I was young addressed issues, particularly folk music. In college, I got into Country, partly because it immensely irritated my roommate, but also because it was about things I was familiar with and it was down to earth. Today's Country seems to be nothing but rock. The old artists came out of the Great Depression, the present generation have never known hardship. It is all about showmanship and money.
But it still seems to me that if you have a cause and want to rally people to it, you need good music. It draws people to the cause and to each other. Has the music really died?
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