Music To My Ears

Music plays an enormous role in our society. Always has and most likely will continue to. Humans even tend to identify themselves with the interests and lifestyles of the type of music they commonly listen to. For instance, hip-hop has blown up in the past 25 years and has practically formed a culture of its own. Rock has had a dominant influence for numerous decades now and continues to act as a leading inspiration for America’s young and old. Any genre of music, no matter how popular on MTV, plays a significant role in someone’s life.

 Musicians have the talented ability to relate to their fans. Music brings a sense of comfort and motivation. Whether you’re mourning, celebrating, confused, frustrated, in need of encouragement, love, and acceptance, music is always there. That one song is always there. As I previously mentioned, music tends to morph into this sense of culture, which is constantly changing. For instance “pop culture” blew up in the 1990’s, with screaming teenage girls drooling over the Backstreet Boys and N’SYNC, and idolizing Britney Spears. But now, boy bands are a thing of the past and commonly mocked at. Artists such as Kanye West and P.Diddy are the new business moguls, influencing not just what we listen to but what clothing we wear, sports drink we drink, perfume or cologne we spray ourselves with, what television shows we watch, cars we buy, and so on. These “musicians” have used their fame to expand their networks into virtually everything possible. Organizations such as Rock the Vote, which is a very powerful and beneficial example of how artists are using their celebrity to engage and incite young people to register and vote in every election year.

Each celebrity exercises their notoriety in different ways, but the impact of music will always be alive throughout our culture and it will never sit idle, it will continue to transform, modify, and revolutionize. And while I may not favor what MTV has turned into, I can say that the culture that it promotes is without a doubt an influence on my life.