If there's one thing that pretty much everybody can agree on, it's that everybody loves music, in at least one way or another, and music, in some form has been around for almost, if not, just as long as humans have existed.
Chances are, there hasn't been a day in your life, where you haven't heard, thought about, or performed music, whether it be from playing live to an audience, to just tapping your foot on the ground to create a simple beat.
But music affects us more than you think. Each generation seems to like different kinds of music, because as people continue to evolve, music also evolves, with artists creating songs based on what people are "feeling" at the time, whether it be a song about love, anger, or just having a good time.
Everyone has a music taste, because at this point of time, there are a ridiculous amount of categories, and for each category, there are a LOT more sub-categories.
The thing is though, not everybody gets to hear all of this music. The main output of music you probably have heard, would have been from a television, whether it's from an advertisement, or from watching an actual TV show that shows the latest music, such as "Four Live" on channel Four.
In my opinion, the majority of popular music these days is disgraceful, and is destroying the music community.
Musical talent is pretty much a thing of the past now, as all you need to do to become a superstar, is look good, and relate to your target audience.
Some stars these days, do not even write, or only partially write their own songs! For example, the song which made Justin Bieber famous; "Baby." Although sung by Bieber, the lyrics were created by Justin Bieber, Ludacris, The-Dream, Tricky Stewart and Christina Milian. These stars get people to write their lyrics, and then get somebody else to create a tune that works with the lyrics, or vice versa, but who gets the credit for the song? The performer.
But the thing is, even though the performer gets the most credit, the people who made the lyrics and the tune just made an easy pay-check. These songs have a similar trend to them.
They all sound somewhat similar, and also have similar lyrics. If not similar lyrics, then it is a similar theme to the lyrics.
The majority of the songs you hear on television, or on mainstream radio stations, will either be about "love" or about "having a good time", and are all repetitive, just trying to get stuck in your head.
For example "OMG" by Usher: "You make me want to say Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, You make me wanna say, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh My gosh". This is a great move by the producers, as if you have a song stuck in your head, all you want to do is listen to it, and what's a good way to do that?
To buy the album that has the song on it. These "artists" are making money from releasing a song they hardly had a part creating, even though it could be easily created.
I'm not saying these artists aren't talented, I'm just saying, they have got it easy compared to other artists/bands trying to gain fame, for example; the band "Mastodon" who create music with talent. They are famous, have many albums and music videos, but still won't be able to get on mainstream television.
Artists like these actually deserve fame for their musical talent, but probably will never get it, at least not in the same way that people like Lady Gaga will get.
It seems that's not what the music industry wants any more. It's all about the money, and if generic, almost talentless music creates money, then who needs the other stuff?
The only artists with actual talent that get any attention these days, are artists that have kept creating music, and stayed popular, even after their trend has left the mainstream media, such as Metallica, becoming famous in the 80's, but still creating music to this day.
But now, artists like these are few and ageing, meaning at some point or another, these artists will have to call it quits, and when that happens, who knows what music will be like.
- Padma Mullin Year 13, Logan Park High School
