I grew up during an age when music was melodic and when people were able to relate to the songs and were able to dance with one another. The musical artists during this time included such luminaries as Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Dion, Neil Diamond, the Bee Gees and Neil Sedaka to name just a few. That kind of music lasted up until the early 90's and then it all seemed to disappear from the airwaves and in nightclubs and stage productions.
From the 90's to the present, we have replaced melodic music (I'm not counting heavy metal “music” of the 70's and 80's) with gibberish, gyrations, street rants, and vulgar lyrics cloaked in the name of “rap” and “hip-hop” music.
During the past 30 years of this change of musical tastes, there hasn't been anything of note that could be classified as a musical standard. None of this “garbage” (music) is sung or hummed by people like the older standards of yesteryear, songs that are still sung and hummed today, generally by older people.
An exception to this trend away from melodic music has been the genre of music called “country”. This type of music has now come to be looked upon in a totally different light than it was 40 or 50 years ago. Back then, country music, which was popular in the South and Southwestern states, was considered hokey, twangy, and was stereotypical of red-neck music. Over the past 30 years, country music has morphed into a type of music that combines the old country, homey, nasal style with the popular music of yesteryear to create a blend of music that is melodic and also tells a poetic story in understandable English. Some of the biggest musical stars today, such as Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Rascal Flatt's etc. are based in the genre that is referred to as Country/Popular music.
Some people have said that this decline in “music” today is another example of the “Dumbing down of America”. Crude, course, vulgar, unintelligible lyrics is not what I consider being considered music – but it has, and it's not a pretty sight to the eyes or ears of a discerning person. What is needed is another revival of music that can be sung, hummed, and danced to by everyone, not just a group of tattooed, unkempt, skin pierced freaks contributing to the decline of civilization.
I know I will be considered an “old fogy” and out-of-touch for making such pronouncements, but someone has got to say it instead of just thinking about it. Good taste and common sense should be universal and not just the purview of older people who are stuck on nostalgia and yesteryear.
Again I ask, “Whatever Happened to the Music”?
Conservative commentary by Chuck Lehmann
2 comments:
The great music was during the big band era and from the great movie and Broadway musicals in the fifties and sixties. The among the others you failed to mention should have been on top of the list.
The lead singers heading the bands and performers in the musicals.
I guess we have to put up with the noise pollution as we did, putting up with the Obama era.
When some so-called music "artists" today can be considered artists,that boggles the mind of anyone with a sense of good taste and aesthetics. It seems that most of these "artists" are reformed street thugs (some even practicing thugs today) with a limited education except in their use of vulgar and profane lyrics. As the late Judge Robert Bork once opined about our society, "We are slouching toward Gomorrah". Truer words were never so profound in explaining the decline of our civilization. Look at the rhetoric of the Democrat Party today, crude and course, good taste and morality be damned.
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