How Media Has Shaped the Ages through Music:
Music is a medium that has shaped the ages in relation to its significant role in social movements. Actually, music has acted as one of the various methods and vehicles through which social movements have existed and developed. The role and significance of music in shaping the ages is primarily attributed to the fact that it represents more than entertainment as it has spoken for generations and exemplified belief systems. Generally, music has had a tremendous relationship to and impact on social movements in every decade from the 1960s through 2000-2010. Music has been used as a means of exemplifying the mood of the decade in terms of high profile events or movements that took place in the respective decade.
Music through the Decades: As previously mentioned, music has played a significant role through the ages by shaping social movements and exemplifying the mood of the decade. During the 1960s, there were winds of change that blew a considerable varying collection of musicians. These winds of change came after the post-War expansion, the assassination of an idealistic president, and America’s involvement in the Vietnam conflict. Bob Dylan’s seminal, “The Times They Are a-Changing” can be considered as a song that encapsulated the message and mood of the 1960s decade (Holz, 2010). The song reflected a musical genre that was influenced by issues like poverty, nuclear disarmament, war, racism, and environmentalism.
The music shaped society during the 1900s, helping in the development of society’s social history. Music and society are highly influenced by one another. Music both inspires and motivates people to do what they feel is right. When we realize how they correspond with each other, it brings others together, for example, “On February 9, 1964, an estimated 70 million Americans tuned into the Ed Sullivan show”(Wong, 39), all different kinds of people in America came together to watch what was called “The Beatlemania”, which featured The Beatles. The Beatles inspired other music artists to push the way they play music in a new way. The more music being played, the more media it would receive, which would bring in more profits. Music is in every culture, such as, Christians who sued music as a praise to Christ, to thank him and worship his holiness. It is widely varied between all times, places and cultures. People express their emotions and ideas through their music. Music expresses people’s emotions, concerns, and feelings about situations like, the Civil Rights Movement.
Music has a dynamic ability of influencing emotions, from mood regulation to rumination and self-expression. The presence of political and social messages in popular music is frequently seen across cultures, in particular focusing on social issues and racism (Back, 2000, 127). This paper attempted to explore the political and social messages in popular music, more specifically it investigated the relationship between Soul music and civil rights movements in the United States.
From the Civil Rights Movement to the Black Lives Matter movement, music continue to be the expression of all that is contained in the movement. It shows the struggles, the passions, the history of the movements. It gives hope, brightens the day, rallies, and unifies the people of movements.
Music is an art form and source of power. Many forms of music reflect culture and society, as well as, containing political content and social message. Music as social change has been highlighted throughout the 20th century. In the 1960s the United States saw political and socially oriented folk music discussing the Vietnam War and other social issues. In Jamaica during the 1970s and 1980s reggae developed out of the Ghetto’s of Trench town and expressed the social unrest of the poor and the need to over-through the oppressors. The 1980’s brought the newest development in social and political music, the emergence of hip-hop and rap. This urban musical art form that was developed in New
Art has undoubtedly become a decisive aspect of our culture; embedded in the way we learn and grow on a daily basis. Art forms such as music, television and dance dominate our society as an outlet of freedom of speech for humanity. The evolution of music has rapidly exceeded its original classifications, developing new genres with greater appeal to an audience, hence its influence on society has expedited. In recent times, lyrics (specifically rap lyrics) have been introduced into the court room as a form of documented confessional evidence, evidently challenging law’s authoritative nature. This essay will closely follow the genre of rap and its relationship with law, through cases based in the United States of America (USA). In addition, the trial of Simon Bikindi in Rwanda and Smith v The Queen will be used to form an acute analysis on the influencing factors of relevance, identity, freedom of speech and current constitutional law.
Since the Constitution of the United States was written, Americans have practiced their right to freedom of speech as a way to express their point of view on issues facing the country. Over time, voicing one’s opinion went from outspoken newspaper articles to large rallies, and during the Vietnam War, music was a prevalent tool in aiding the protests. Allowing political messages to be shared nationally, the music had touched the lives of the younger generation. Author Jerome L. Rodnitzky explains in his journal, “The Sixties between the Microgrooves: Using Folk and Protest Music to Understand American History, 1963-1973”, how music was “trying to be all things
Music is a very powerful expression of emotions that come together as a whole to morph your psychological feelings into a sub-reality vision. Over the many years, history has been able to capture the moments at which music has made an impact on human lives. We can start with Manu Chao the artist that sings about left-wing messages and portrays his concerts as “collective therapy”. Or Juan Gabriel the young man that rose out of poverty to become the world’s most beloved artist/songwriter and whose music carried a resonate flamboyant style. Music is a way of communication that is used in many realms such as entertainment, tradition religion and sporting events. So far this semester, Chic 316 has influenced me to seek a more coherent relationship
Popular music is often one of the best lenses we have through which to view our own cultural orientation. Many of the artistic and experimental shifts in popular music have mirrored changes in our own society. For instance, the emergence of Elvis Presley as a public figure would signal the start of a sexual revolution and the growth in visibility of a rebellious youth culture. Similarly, the folk and psychedelic music of the 1960s was closely entangled with the Civil Rights, anti-war and social protest movements. In this regard, we can view popular music as an artifact through which to better understand the time and place in which it is produced. In light of this, the state of popular music today may suggest troubling things about our society.
The Vietnam War was a war many people had no clue why we were in. Many men, women, and children died in or cause of this war. From this, protests rained upon the government leading to a new kind of protest by Bob Dylan, song. Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941 and from an early age had always fought for what was right. His songs have changed and inspired not just our country but the world. He is the only musician with a Nobel Prize for Literature and so far is the only one who truly deserves it. His protests through his music tell people that lives are being lost and teach us to fight against the war as there was no reason to be in it. Bob Dylan’s song “The Times They Are A-Changin” was considered a national anthem for the sixties and showed that a single song can make a difference through its extraordinary lyrics protesting the Vietnam War through the use of multiple literary elements.
The 1960’s was one of the most controversial decades in American history because of not only the Vietnam War, but there was an outbreak of protests involving civil and social conditions all across college campuses. These protests have been taken to the extent where people either have died or have been seriously injured. However, during the 1960’s, America saw a popular form of art known as protest music, which responded to the social turmoil of that era, from the civil rights movement to the war in Vietnam. A veritable pantheon of musicians, such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan sang their songs to encourage union organizers to protest the inequities of their time, creating a diverse variety of popular
Throughout history, music have defined or depicted the culture and social events in America. Music has constantly played an important role in constituting American culture, where people have expressed themselves through music during flourishing and turbulent times. In the 1930’s, Swing music created a platform for audiences to vent their emotions in the midst of Great Depression and political unrest. Such strong relationship between music and culture can be seen throughout history, especially in the sixties.
Music is often perceived as having a major impact on shaping our culture and social norms as a whole. But that perception is quickly changing. Nowadays music produced by musicians and artistes are often based on the society’s actions and cultural norms. Music are often understood and noted as a good music if it does a perfect job of sending the message that depicts the true reality about life, culture and gender roles. Music produced in the early 1930s to 1960s were made to change our social and cultural ways.
To understand the sixties counterculture, we must understand the important role of Bob Dylan. His lyrics fueled the rebellious youth in America. Songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times are A-Changin” made him favorable to anti-war demonstrators and supporters of the Civil Rights movement. He was commonly hailed as the spokesman for his generation. Dylan used lyrics to allow the youth to find their own form of counter-culture. The youth generation began to see the effects racism, war, etc. effect the society in America. To combat this, the youth created their own form of counter-culture to promote a peaceful change within society. Some of their actions include forming anti-war protests that opposed America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, and supporting African Americans/women get the rights they deserve through the Civil Rights Movement. Bob Dylan’s music appealed to the young generation because he openly expresses his disapproval of the establishment in order to influenced his audience to move in a direction for change. Counterculture youth rejected cultural norms of the previous generation and their values and lifestyles opposed the mainstream culture present in the 1950’s. The folk music revival of the early 1960s, as well as the counter-culture movement played an important role in advocating change. Bob Dylan wrote songs that influenced the Civil Rights Movement, New Left Movement, and Anti-War Movement.
Wikipedia describes a social movement as, "Social movents are a type of group action. They are large, sometimes informal, groupings of individuals or organizations which focus on specific political or social issues. In other words, they carry out, resist or undo a social change". Looking at this definition it is easy to see how music plays a part in this action. If there is one thing that most people have in common or you could say a common ground it is music, most poeple listen to and enjoy music. There are few things that cross race, religion, politics, culture as effectively as music does. With the advent of modern technology and social networking sites, music will continue to play an important role for future generations in social
Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin” is a unique song that was written in the early 1960’s during a time of political and military upheaval. The poem/song was written to influence the younger generation, and to serve as a rallying call for the people to come together to bring about a needed change. The civil rights movement was the main influence of the song but it can also be applied to the frustration, and anger the American people felt as a whole towards the Vietnam War. What truly makes the song unique is the way the song was written and its hypnotic verses that can be used to describe several different time periods where the people needed a rallying call for change. The most recent event being the war in Iraq and