Music Lyrics and Society
How can you describe the decades of the music industry and the lyrics that they
send out to society through what the industry produces? In the 1960’s it was about
the Vietnam war, the 80’s in my opinion was pointless and was the beginning of
the style of pop and rap. Now in the millennium, most music has developed to
become mostly about sex, violence, drugs, and degrading of women. For example,
gangster rap; “With lyrics which boast of evil intent and murderous lifestyle,
the DJs, who are heroes to many young men, move violence to an acceptable level
and a mark of manhood.” (Arthur Hall). With lyrics that are made today to not
necessarily send a message about what the singer wants to say, they are made to
do well in the public and to sell. Today, “70,000,000 iPod users” (Jeffrey
Mincey) listen to music that reflect negative values and has the ability to
influence our decisions and views on different aspects of life. Singers call
themselves artists, in my opinion; they are people that are paid millions of
dollars to produce things that are told to them. The artists in my opinion are
the lyricists because they control the words that they write. There was a time
when singers wrote their own songs. Now it is many singers conforming to what
the music industry wants. Of course, the industry wants to be successful
however; they now lean towards the younger crowds of today. The words in the
songs are made in a memorizing way that it can mold a young person’s mind.
Singers like 50 Cent, Britney Spears, Green Day, Ozzy Osborne, and Snoop
Dog that have been able to have an effect on society by what they say and act.
Behind these stars, the people that really drive them to become what they are
today is the music industry. The music industry tells these so called artists
that they need a certain image and to send out a
certain message in order to be
successful. I interviewed a music lyricist in his early twenties from Wesleyan
University who wished to remain anonymous in the interview, which I will
respect. For the sake of this interview, I will call him “John X”.
Sample questions I asked of the lyricist were ‘Where do you get your
inspiration?’ His response to the answer was that he “gets the inspiration from
everywhere. People, events, things that are personal. The point of lyrics is
that it is supposed to tell a story and give an underling message…” (John X).
Since the beginning of time, every song has a message or a purpose. Teenagers
and the younger generation are the ones that can be molded the easiest.
According to X- Rated Rock n’ Roll by Steven Manning and James
Earl Harding even legislators are getting concerned about the message being
sent out to the young people; “The legislators' attention is focused on the
risqué lyrics sung by these and other groups-and the question of whether, and
under what circumstances, kids should be exposed to them. Outraged by songs
that focus on weird sex, violence, drugs, alcohol, and even devil worship,
lawmakers in 16 states have introduced legislation that would require special
warning labels on records considered unsuitable for young people. Some of the
proposed laws would forbid the sale of certain records to teenagers-and send
those who sell them to jail.” (Manny/Harding, X-Rated Rock n’ Roll). One
of the most affected groups by the big industries is young girls. Young girls
have been given the image that they have to be skinny toothpicks to be
accepted. According to Hypersexualized Society puts Young Girls at Risk from
the health section of Straight.com, “Last year the American Psychological
Association released a report by its task force on the sexualization of girls.
Holding young women up to society's stereotypes of women as sex objects does
more than bolster the fashion, makeup, dieting, and plastic-surgery
industries.” (Gail Johnson, straight.com). It mentions lyrics sung as
sung by such as the Pussycat dolls can really give off a bad image to girls.
For example, in their song “When I Grow up” "When I grow up/I wanna
see the world/Drive nice cars/I wanna have boobies" (lyrics taken from
straight.com).
When I asked the John X “how do you think people are influenced by music?” he
responded; “people listen to the music and if they listen or try to analyze
what the singer said, especially if it is a singer or band the person looks up
to, it can either be put in to a good or bad way.” (John X). I
agree with this statement. The entire point of lyrics is to get a point across
or tell a story as well as make it in a way that would be comprehendible to
everyone. I noticed that if you look in music videos, especially hip hop and
rap, there are always girls just standing there as an accessory. I remember
seeing that Snoop Dog took two women on leashes to the 20th MTV
awards. If people want to look at someone that made something for himself not
because of his talent, but because of his business then Snoop Dog has something
to look at. A lot of what people in the industry do is listening to management
and have almost no say in their lives as to what they portray themselves.
In the
1990’s, a group of psychologists did a study with different genres of music and
people. They tested160 college students with half the music being antisocial
and the other half being prosocial and the hypothesis was that each individual
would act in a certain way based on the music.
According to the background information of the study; “adolescents often
do not comprehend or correctly interpret the messages of the rock songs'
lyrics. Regardless of their understanding of lyrical messages, adolescents cite
lyrical content as the least important reason for liking a song (Gantz,
Gartenberg, Pearson, & Schiller, 1978; Rosenbaum & Prinsky, 1987)”
(Ballard, Bazzini, Dodson, Genre of music and lyrical content: expectation effects). It does state that there is a “correlation
between music preference and antisocial behavior…” (Ballard, Bazzini,
Dodson, Genre of
music and lyrical content: expectation effects). It also says that the “media suggests that
metal and rap music promote heavy metal and rap lyrics promote Satanism,
bigotry, sexism, violence, suicide, reckless behavior, drug use, deviant sexual
activity, rape, and murder” (Ballard, Bazzini, Dodson, Genre of music and lyrical content:
expectation effects). In my own opinion, the media pins metal, rap, hip
hop, and rock and roll with antisocial. For the results of the test; “…the
results provide evidence that both message and labeled genre of music affected
the way participants assessed the potential impact of lyrics on listeners. The
hypothesis that lyrics labeled as heavy metal or rap would be perceived as more
antisocial or as more likely to inspire antisocial behaviors than the same
lyrics labeled as country or pop was not supported.” (Ballard, Bazzini, Dodson,
Genre of music and
lyrical content: expectation effects). I found an article that some
people may be intersted. If you click this link, it will lead you to the
article about how music
tastes link to personality. It asks
the readers to think about what their musical preference tells them.
I asked the John X about what he thought the music industry has
come to be and what people hear from that music. He said “The industry is about
image and publicity. It [does not] care what type of music it sends out. As
long as it makes money, that is all that counts. To most people in the world
that listen to popular stations such as Kiss 108, do not listen to what the singers say. Even when
people lips sing the words, they do not fully comprehend it.” (John X)
The
research earlier backed up that adolescents do not fully comprehend what the
lyrics say. From personal everyday experience, I know sometimes I go around
singing songs from artists such as Britney Spears that I truly find distasteful
and yet I am still singing the songs. Music is with us for every second of the
day. When we are at the store, in the car, or even just hanging out somewhere;
it never goes away. Some people look deeply in to the songs to actually hear
what it says and actively listen to it while others, the songs just become
muscle memory and it is attractive because of the melody
Bibliography
Ballard, Mary
E., Alan R. Dodson, and Doris G. Bazzini. "Genre of
music and lyrical content: expectation effects." Journal of Genetic
Psychology 160.4 (Dec 1999): 476(1). Expanded Academic
ASAP. Gale. University of Hartford. 30 Nov. 2008
<http://find.galegroup.com/itx/start.do?prodId=EAIM>.
Hall, Arthur. "Gangster music - Cause or effect of violence?" Jamaica Gleaner 30 Oct. 2008. Jamaica Gleaner News. 30 Oct. 2008. 28 Nov. 2008 <http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20081030/lead/lead6.html>.
Johnson,
Gail. "Hypersexualized society puts young girls at risk." Straight.com:
Vancouver's Online Source. 6 Nov. 2008. 28 Nov. 2008
<http://www.straight.com/article-168867/girls-are-taking-risks-copying-pussycat-dolls>.
Manning, Steven, and James Earl
Hardy. "X-rated rock and roll." Scholastic
Update 122.n18 (May 18, 1990): 10(2). General
OneFile. Gale. University of Hartford. 30 Nov. 2008
<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>
Mincey, Jeffrey. "IPod Users: Lies, Damned Lies, And
Statistics." Weblog post. Mac360. 21 Nov. 2008. 28 Nov. 2008
<http://mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/ipod_users_lies_damned_lies_and_statistics/>.
X", "John. "Weslyan University Lyricist."
E-mail interview. 1 Nov. 2008.
