While there was quite a bit of great listening in our textbook this week, I'd like to take the time in my listening journal to discuss the music that I listened to as I participated in the discussion board. There was definitely a theme in these listening assignments: Give it a chance!
As musicians, I believe I can accurately state that we tend to place judgment on popular music. We are very likely to assume that current popular music is not as high quality as the music that was popular when we were children, or older music that we've spent time studying and analyzing. It is interesting to think, though, that our parents did the same thing about their parents' music, and their parents did the same thing about their parents' music, and so forth. Over years of developing American music, taste has very drastically changed, and it always seems that current music isn't as good as its predecessor.
I fall victim to this type of thinking regularly. I tend to roll my eyes at Ke$ha (which my father calls key-dollar sign-ha) for being gross and dirty, and at Lady Gaga for seeming to be more interested in drawing attention to herself than making quality art, and at Nicki Minaj for just appearing to be rather dumb on the outside, but this is ridiculous thinking. Even disregarding talent, all three of these artists have made influential music and are clearly very intelligent business women at the very least. I tend to think of One Direction as the cheesy kids' pop group (like a wannabe *NSync), or the Jonas Brothers (now solo) as cheesy kids' pop as well. I automatically dislike any artist who seems to be more interested in drawing attention to him or herself than making music that is meaningful (Miley Cyrus, for example). I automatically hate-watched Carrie Underwood performing the role of Maria in "The Sound of Music Live" because country singers shouldn't try to leave their genres. I worry when watching Ellen because she always puts on talented kids who are bound to end up as attention-grabbing sociopaths. I don't repost videos of children adorably singing "Let It Go" from Frozen for this purpose, either. I look on, entirely unsurprised, when Justin Bieber has issues with the law. And yet, it is easy for me to find value in "old" music, like the Boogies, old country music, and early "bubblegum" rock 'n' roll like was included in the textbook.
All of this being said, my biggest lesson this week was "Give it a chance!" Our assignment for the discussion board was to choose 5 of our favorite songs and explain why they were our favorites. For many of us, nostalgia was a big part of our choices. Several people chose current pop songs. One classmate chose "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha and actually stated on the discussion board that we were not to judge her. It is so normal for musicians to be judgmental of current pop that she knew we would judge in her inclusion of it. Another student added the disclaimer that he didn't actually like the band, but that particular song was pretty good when he posted a One Direction song.
I took time to watch the videos for every single song that my classmates posted. I decided that if I was going to dive in, I would dive in fully. I found myself dancing along and truly enjoying the catchiness of most of the songs, especially "Tik Tok." I found myself with tears in my eyes as I watched the One Direction video "Story of My Life." I found myself emotionally moved by the message of Lorde's "Royals" - we may never actually get to be any kind of royalty, but that's what our dreams are for. It was then that I realized the significance of the pop music that I so readily hate-listened to: vernacular music tells the story of American culture at the time of the music production. Pop songs are going to hold a particular nostalgic place in time. The songs are going to take us back in our lives to that place where we were. They tell us about history and culture better than lots of other parts of our past can. They can hold a place in time like no other history textbook or direct memory can. They can spur thoughts of a very specific moment or person.
In this conclusion that I drew of the significance of the story that pop music tells, I commit now to listen openly to all music, whether popular or lesser-known, whether new or old, before I judge what I think it should be like. I commit to analyzing the music as a musician for both its artistic value and its cultural significance. I commit to leaving my tendency to hate-listen and to be a bit more open-minded as I learn to better understand American through our music.
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