So I told you earlier that I possess the most ecclectic taste in music ever, and I thought I'd take a minute and tell you why. It is because all the styles of music that I like are not as different as they would have you think. I appreciate music because I know the cultural history of it, and I hate modern pop because it has none. Way back a long time ago, we combined classical European knowledge and composition with traditional West African styles that had been preserved in slave spirituals. This mixture created something distinctly American, and it has mirrored our culture like no politics can show you. In the South, the spirituals became Gospel in the Black community, and later were developed into the Blues. In the Southern Appalachians, they took the took the banjo from Africa and combined it with the strong Celtic influence in the region to form traditional Appalachian Folk music, and with it, the roots of Kentucky Bluegrass, Country, and Honky-Tonk. In the urban north, Jazz was the primary Black music, while Whites made the scores for the American musicals and Swing during the War years. Then, as we all know, Blues and Jazz became Soul, Motown, and Doo-wop in the 60's, which later became Funk, which begat Rhythm and Blues, Rap, and Hip-Hop. Elvis brought together Blues sounds, elements from Swing, and his own Country background to create an entirely new style called Rock and Roll. In this category, we have of course the pioneers such as Elvis, the Four Seasons, and Buddy Holly, then came the British Invasion, which was really just them copying us. Gradual shifts occured in the music, and evetually we came to Disco, Punk, and Classic Rock all in the 70's. The 80's brought New Wave, techno, and Glam Rock. Then we heard the sounds of Seattle Grunge and Alternative. Now that I've given the history lesson of the day, I'll explain what this has to do with anything.
Culture flows from the bottom up. Great changes in music occur when there is a backlash against the mainstream from the outside. The advent of Rock and Roll is the most significant of these, but Punk, Grunge, and Old School Rap are some of the bigger ones as well. When Rock and Roll became the mainstream, it didn't scare anybody anymore, so people took more liberties with it, trning it into Disco. Punk brought rock back to its original edginess, but that got turned into Hair Metal and Glam, so Nirvana brought Grunge to contest the commercialism of the 80's. Now we've returned to the old way of teenie-bopper business and the same commercialism, and Alternative has done nothing to stop it, having turned into whatever it is that the counterculture is calling themselves these days. Rap brought Black music back to the harsh reality because it was music from the urban streets.
Now, I don't know about y'all, but when a song comes on the radio these days, I can't tell anymore if it's supposed to be pop, hip-hop, country, metal, or what because they all sound the same. Black culture now dominates all the genres, and they are quickly becoming the same thing. Since Garth Brooks came along, Country has tried to croos over into the mainstream, and now it sounds just like any other rock. There's very little distinction between Rap and Hip-Hop now because nobody can rap or sing anymore. Pop music just means whatever music is popular, and right now what's popular is crap. Music used to be about something, music used to have cultural significance, and music used to be good. Music is dead, and I don't know what the hell is going on anymore. We need another major backlash, and soon.
That being said, I'm gonna go buy some Sam Cooke or Stevie Wonder or something good like that.
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