The Times They Are a Changin

For better or worse music has changed drastically from what it once was. People like to say that music is worse then it once was, this is most likely true; but no ones making them listen to it, you have the choice. Music reflects a generation, for instance the songs of The Beatles describe the 1960’s generation, and the way most people were. The times were really changing drastically, and people were trying to make sense of it all. For instance the lyrics from a song goes: “You say you want a revolution, well you know, we'd all want to change the world, you tell me that it's evolution well you know we'd all want to change the world. But when you talk about destruction, don't you know that you can count me out, don't you know it's going to be alright.” People wanted more peace in the world, they just wanted to chill and relax. The people from the generations before said that these people that just wanted peace were wrong, and that when they became leaders of our country we would just collapse. Well the music now is more explicit, but just because some artists choose to swear doesn’t mean all do. Sure some of the music has sex, drugs, and violence in it. But contrary to popular belief not all of my generation’s music is about sex and drugs. There are a few musical artists that don’t rap about sex, drugs and violence. For instance the rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony featuring the hip-hop artist Akon made a top ten hit for a song called “I tried.” It’s about the struggles that people live through everyday in their own neighborhoods, some lyrics are: “I tried so hard, can't seem to get away from misery. Man, I tried so hard but always be a victim of these streets, it ain’t my fault cause I tried to get away but trouble follows me. And still I try so hard hopin one day you'll come and rescue me.” Music is about saying what you want. Now I don’t agree with the sex, drugs, and violence; but I do think that music is important for people, and you can’t change what people want to say in it. I believe more artists have realized this, and that’s why more artists are making music that is more encouraging; like Eminems “I’m not afraid” he used to rap about sex and drugs, but recently he has changed his style to a more motivational type of music. Some artists have been criticized for the way they live their lives, that’s why some people including myself have decided to be a fan of their work, not the artist themselves. 

-Classic Kid