The Limitations of Music Snobbery
Millennials are beginning to fall into the older person pattern of claiming musical superiority over the younger generations. I am here to throw some things at you to think about before we get entrenched into this thinking. Music is many things to people it feels a bit wrong to write off any genre or generation of music. I think before I get to my main point we need to explore how important music is to people.
Music, along with any type of art, is a place for people to feel understood. People are drawn to music that showcases how they feel or represents their worldview in many ways. It is a place to escape, to have a voice, to connect, to reflect, and to display the psychology of the people living today. Music, if we think about it, is really power and history. Post-World War I the art showed us that the people in Europe were lost, destroyed, and distrustful of their governments. You can feel the loom of World War II and the rise of fascist dictators preying on those desperate feelings in the music. If I could, I would teach a class where I teach history through music. Music is humanity and it is people's stories. Not just the stories of the people who produce the music, but the stories of the people who listen to it as well.
I often wonder if the constant older generation and younger generation musical war is actually a power war. The older generation is upset that things are changing, thinking that the younger generation are forgetting what is important about music. Questioning the themes and messages of the music. Wanting to control the space by dismissing it. A teenager's first display of independence tends to be the first song they like that is independent from their parents. As soon as that happens, it feels like you are starting to build your own identity. An identity that only you and your peers understand. Older people who think that the music is getting worse are feeling their irrelevance growing, so instead of learning to listen to the youth's voice we fight it as a sign of ignorance rather than a continuation of music's story.
It even falls on cultural and racial divides as well. Many white people think rap is nasty and grotesque. I often tell these people that it makes sense they would not vibe with rap. It is not culturally relevant to your worldview, so when you listen to it, you are listening as an outsider trying to understand a new language. You have to listen to it with a different set of skills. But do not write off a whole genre of music, because you do not understand it. You are basically saying a group of people's voice is not worth hearing. I use to do that with country music. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so the themes of country music do not resonate with me. I have never thought a tractor was sexy, but people in places where country music is a source a pride might understand it more. I do not need to write that off. Might need to ask some questions though.
I think we need to treat music like we treat anything else. We need to listen, look, and learn. The music that the newer generation is listening to is their identity and where they feel most understood. Every generation has great music and every generation has horrid sounding music as well. Even us, we have songs that we are fond of, but are horrible songs. "Barbie Girl" or that song about doing it like they do it on discovery channel. Those are horrible songs. Horrible. Yet we know them. Essentially they are generational inside jokes. Those were our jokes though.
Music is alive and well. It is not deteriorating, but it is changing in ways that I find quite curious. If you are judging the music today based only on what is on the radio, then yes, you might feel like music is limited. Radio is not what it use to be, so they play what is safe rather than scouting new talent. But we do not need to be limited to the radio anymore, so there is no excuse to stick to what you know. Go to Spotify and explore the different things that artists are doing today around the world. Music is thriving, but people are missing it because they are complaining about Maroon 5 being played for a ninth time in an hour. I get it. Go find the music.
Here are some observations about the music today. It is becoming genre-less, the fusing of different genres, is starting to become habit which makes me believe they might be rendered useless eventually. I think that this represents our global world and how culture is starting to become blurred. Our sense of identity is now split and not so narrowly defined. This might be one reason why some people might feel uncomfortable with today's music. Country is suppose to be country, country is not suppose to have a synthesizer. But with no borders comes real freedom to experiment and to transform in ways we have never seen before. Music that would be limited to certain places are now available to everyone around the world. The global exchange of instruments and sounds are so apparent in the music today, even in mumble rap, which many people, including myself have a hard time getting into.
Another trend, one that has me nostalgic, is the use of technology in music rather than reliance on real instruments. It makes sense though we live in a technological world, people are going to try to incorporate what they know into the music, and as much as people want to knock it... it is an art form. It is not easy. Not everyone can do it. But I do have to say that I miss guitars, the imperfect raw emotion, that a guitar brings to a song brings a bit of humanity to the music. But then again, we are becoming perfectionists and technology allows for music to have layers that human bodies cannot produce. The strive for perfection is an interesting one in today's youth. As much as we think kids are lazy... our kids have higher expectations of themselves than we did as a kid. Even the kid who has given up. They have given up, because their expectations are so unrealistic they refuse to even try.
So instead of being a music snob just say that the music you do not like is not something you vibe with. Do not try to silence or shame the voice of today, because these voices and the music being produced is important to understanding where we are right now. Let music be music. Music is always good. I promise. The guitar will not die, but maybe its role might change for a few years. Like fashion and other art forms everything comes in cycles, so let's learn what we can and eventually our guitar will come back to us.
The reason that I truly believe music is safe and music are stories that should not be silenced has to do with my family. I am blessed in many ways. I grew up with political diversity, but also musical diversity as well. My family has always shown me that music is to be shared and understood even if you do not truly enjoy it. To share a song is to share a piece of yourself, a little display of this is who I am, for someone to examine. My maternal step-grandfather tuned pianos for a living and played the trumpet, he was a musical enthusiast, in fact, not sure I have ever gone to my grandparents house without some kind of music. Often times as I walked up the steps to their house the sounds of Louis Armstrong and big band music would be flowing through the open door. My step-grandfather, who I miss, would often have deep conversations with me even when I was eight. I asked him why he liked trumpet music, because it just sounded like noise to me. The man laughed at my question and then thought about it for a moment. He then said that the trumpet cannot be ignored. That it can be cheeky, dramatic, and if done well sensitive. I thought about it and then started to listen to the trumpet with his words in mind. I have to admit I never listened to music the same way again. This was probably the greatest lesson that he ever gave me. The ability to see music as emotion rather than sound... to see it as story... to see it as, well, humanity. If I dismissed it as noise I would not have learned this lesson, but I asked a question and well the rest was history.
Music, along with any type of art, is a place for people to feel understood. People are drawn to music that showcases how they feel or represents their worldview in many ways. It is a place to escape, to have a voice, to connect, to reflect, and to display the psychology of the people living today. Music, if we think about it, is really power and history. Post-World War I the art showed us that the people in Europe were lost, destroyed, and distrustful of their governments. You can feel the loom of World War II and the rise of fascist dictators preying on those desperate feelings in the music. If I could, I would teach a class where I teach history through music. Music is humanity and it is people's stories. Not just the stories of the people who produce the music, but the stories of the people who listen to it as well.
I often wonder if the constant older generation and younger generation musical war is actually a power war. The older generation is upset that things are changing, thinking that the younger generation are forgetting what is important about music. Questioning the themes and messages of the music. Wanting to control the space by dismissing it. A teenager's first display of independence tends to be the first song they like that is independent from their parents. As soon as that happens, it feels like you are starting to build your own identity. An identity that only you and your peers understand. Older people who think that the music is getting worse are feeling their irrelevance growing, so instead of learning to listen to the youth's voice we fight it as a sign of ignorance rather than a continuation of music's story.
It even falls on cultural and racial divides as well. Many white people think rap is nasty and grotesque. I often tell these people that it makes sense they would not vibe with rap. It is not culturally relevant to your worldview, so when you listen to it, you are listening as an outsider trying to understand a new language. You have to listen to it with a different set of skills. But do not write off a whole genre of music, because you do not understand it. You are basically saying a group of people's voice is not worth hearing. I use to do that with country music. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so the themes of country music do not resonate with me. I have never thought a tractor was sexy, but people in places where country music is a source a pride might understand it more. I do not need to write that off. Might need to ask some questions though.
I think we need to treat music like we treat anything else. We need to listen, look, and learn. The music that the newer generation is listening to is their identity and where they feel most understood. Every generation has great music and every generation has horrid sounding music as well. Even us, we have songs that we are fond of, but are horrible songs. "Barbie Girl" or that song about doing it like they do it on discovery channel. Those are horrible songs. Horrible. Yet we know them. Essentially they are generational inside jokes. Those were our jokes though.
Music is alive and well. It is not deteriorating, but it is changing in ways that I find quite curious. If you are judging the music today based only on what is on the radio, then yes, you might feel like music is limited. Radio is not what it use to be, so they play what is safe rather than scouting new talent. But we do not need to be limited to the radio anymore, so there is no excuse to stick to what you know. Go to Spotify and explore the different things that artists are doing today around the world. Music is thriving, but people are missing it because they are complaining about Maroon 5 being played for a ninth time in an hour. I get it. Go find the music.
Here are some observations about the music today. It is becoming genre-less, the fusing of different genres, is starting to become habit which makes me believe they might be rendered useless eventually. I think that this represents our global world and how culture is starting to become blurred. Our sense of identity is now split and not so narrowly defined. This might be one reason why some people might feel uncomfortable with today's music. Country is suppose to be country, country is not suppose to have a synthesizer. But with no borders comes real freedom to experiment and to transform in ways we have never seen before. Music that would be limited to certain places are now available to everyone around the world. The global exchange of instruments and sounds are so apparent in the music today, even in mumble rap, which many people, including myself have a hard time getting into.
Another trend, one that has me nostalgic, is the use of technology in music rather than reliance on real instruments. It makes sense though we live in a technological world, people are going to try to incorporate what they know into the music, and as much as people want to knock it... it is an art form. It is not easy. Not everyone can do it. But I do have to say that I miss guitars, the imperfect raw emotion, that a guitar brings to a song brings a bit of humanity to the music. But then again, we are becoming perfectionists and technology allows for music to have layers that human bodies cannot produce. The strive for perfection is an interesting one in today's youth. As much as we think kids are lazy... our kids have higher expectations of themselves than we did as a kid. Even the kid who has given up. They have given up, because their expectations are so unrealistic they refuse to even try.
So instead of being a music snob just say that the music you do not like is not something you vibe with. Do not try to silence or shame the voice of today, because these voices and the music being produced is important to understanding where we are right now. Let music be music. Music is always good. I promise. The guitar will not die, but maybe its role might change for a few years. Like fashion and other art forms everything comes in cycles, so let's learn what we can and eventually our guitar will come back to us.
The reason that I truly believe music is safe and music are stories that should not be silenced has to do with my family. I am blessed in many ways. I grew up with political diversity, but also musical diversity as well. My family has always shown me that music is to be shared and understood even if you do not truly enjoy it. To share a song is to share a piece of yourself, a little display of this is who I am, for someone to examine. My maternal step-grandfather tuned pianos for a living and played the trumpet, he was a musical enthusiast, in fact, not sure I have ever gone to my grandparents house without some kind of music. Often times as I walked up the steps to their house the sounds of Louis Armstrong and big band music would be flowing through the open door. My step-grandfather, who I miss, would often have deep conversations with me even when I was eight. I asked him why he liked trumpet music, because it just sounded like noise to me. The man laughed at my question and then thought about it for a moment. He then said that the trumpet cannot be ignored. That it can be cheeky, dramatic, and if done well sensitive. I thought about it and then started to listen to the trumpet with his words in mind. I have to admit I never listened to music the same way again. This was probably the greatest lesson that he ever gave me. The ability to see music as emotion rather than sound... to see it as story... to see it as, well, humanity. If I dismissed it as noise I would not have learned this lesson, but I asked a question and well the rest was history.
I don't know what there is a 'Dr' before my name, but anyways, thank you for writing this post, I enjoyed reading it. And I found your grandfather's lesson quite brilliant, thank you for sharing it.
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