A Ticket to the Past, Please
By Yarektzy Navarro
When compared to modern music, old music is leagues ahead. It doesn’t matter what you enjoy listening to, the truth remains that music has gone downhill after the 90’s. You can easily see it in the lyrical complexity in modern music. Almost most of the songs have lyrics with the same meaning. If you listen to a particular song, you can see that it doesn’t have much variety and uses the same words over and over again throughout it.
Let’s look at Led Zeppelin as an example. They sang about cults, vikings, love, middle earth references and greek mythology. Yes it’s random, but that’s the beauty behind it, how random and weird the music was and the way they still made all those random concepts work into formations of lyrical art. How many songs today have such a variety of words?
As a 17 year old, I’ve been exposed to a whole variety of music. From classic rock to Mexican oldies, it has always stood out to me that older music definitely holds a stronger performance than modern music. I’m not here to make people “hate” or change their mind. In fact it’s what makes them one of a kind. However, there’s something just so special about older music, a type of uniqueness one doesn’t get from your music nowadays.
Listening to early 90s music is just the best feeling one can get. Bands such as No Doubt or The Cranberries’ just slip one’s mind into a fantasy of living in a romantic comedy film in a busy city, just a girl wanting to feel on top of the world. I have to say every time I listen to “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer, it just makes me get that classic wild and undeniable 90’s teenage romance vibes from such love songs. Not only are they in almost all teenage movies as well as teenage tv shows expressing romantic and sad moments between the main love interest, it also makes one feel nostalgic. Yes the 90s were not that long ago and sort of cliché to say it’s a reason for older music being better, but what really set the standards are 60s, 70s, and 80s music as they are the blueprint of most modern music.
The era of experimenting and rebelliousness with a groove of rock and romantic lyrics that just made poetic music, all articulated in such beautiful creations of art. From The Beatles to Elvis and Queen, they’ve created raw and psychedelic albums that have followed up along history. It’s just the way they can make such beautiful melodies that have impacted culture and what led to modern music.
“Bohemian Rhapsody”— not only are the vocals important, but harmony can be heard all throughout. The song’s instrumentation even has an echo-like quality. The majority of modern contemporary pop songs incorporate numerous audio recordings. Different instruments and voices are saved for each track, which together creates a whole song. However back then, technology limited the amount of audio tracks that could be used for one track. For example, The Beatles legendary “Sgt. Pepper’s” was recorded on an analog four track record which was much more difficult than today. This is what makes older music special, the effort that was put into making a track with limited resources that nowadays can easily be accessed.
Elvis—his music established a new benchmark that still stands today. His genius blend of gospel, country, and blues music connected with listeners and broke through social and racial boundaries at the time. Elvis was the first to set the standard for rock & roll, and I know it sounds strange, but I adore him. A man who wore his emotions on his sleeves, and filled his songs with it. Even now, for many of his supporters, it was like being born again. He gave them permission to dream, feel, and hope, both genders. His distinctive vocal style and movement altered both the course of history and the notion of transcending music.
Still, I think one of my favorite historical music eras has to be the 1980s. Apart from the Axel Rose attire and the hairstyles of Bon Jovi, the music simply surpassed all other styles. Yes, it may seem strange for a girl to listen to bands like Mötley Crüe, Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, and so on, but Rock music has emotion, artistic integrity and is just organic overall (I’m really starting to sound like Jack Black in School of Rock sorry y’all). It combines energy, passion, charisma, excitement, and thrills all at once. The moment you hear the extremely distorted guitars, loud but tight bass and percussion, slightly dirty yet forceful and impassioned vocals, you can’t help but join in. There is something in it that will immediately elicit our most visceral sentiments. Not just that, but the memories one associates with older music. I have the fondest memories of those types of tunes. From driving along the coast of Santa Cruz while listening to “Take My Breath Away” as the wind caresses your face to listening to “Head Over Heels” while having a dumb little crush, older music has a stronger emotional connection with me than modern music.
However, as I mentioned, modern music isn’t as good as previous past eras but I do listen to a few modern artists. Harry Styles and One Direction are among my favorite slightly current artists. Because I was born in the early 2000s, it is natural for me to listen to modern music, which has accompanied me from childhood to the present. However, I believe that the music we grew up listening to (in my instance, older music) triggers a positive emotion releasing mechanism in the brain.
Again, DON’T COME FOR ME. This is just my opinion as I said. Modern music does have its own way of elaborating the beauty of music but older music just resonates better in my opinion. They have come a long way, and they just carry a spectrum of something particular one can’t find today.
Consequently, a lot of us, especially adults, find great meaning in this music. It establishes a standard by which you evaluate subsequent music that you come across.
Out with the Old in with the New
By Aneka Zamora
The idea of music in general is something that a majority of people can’t live without and is listened to daily. It doesn’t just fit into one category either, as there is something for everyone, going from older to newer music. Modern music at times has been perceived as bad or worse than older music, as some believe it’s unoriginal and lacks thought from artists. If people are able to look further than what’s provoked on the surface they might have a change of mind.
One of the biggest things that modern music is able to do very well is being able to be relatable to their audience. In many songs from artists, it’s not difficult to notice how they are regular people who feel the same emotions and go through similar experiences as we do. Artists like Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Frank Ocean, and Drake are a few off the top of my head who talk about their personal experiences such as their takes on love, heartbreak, and life as a few examples. Modern music is able to be relatable because it focuses on what the audience could interpret from songs and how they could see this in their personal life. The concept can be overlooked at times and underestimated at how big of an impact it can have for an artist. It’s important for an artist to make sure an audience likes what’s being produced for them because this is what brings them their popularity. What’s an artist without their support from fans? Music is something that many turn to no matter what and when artists are vulnerable in their songs it can create an escape from reality for people.
When I listen to music that isn’t afraid to discuss mental health, as a listener I feel like I’m not alone in whatever I’m going through in life, which I think many can relate to. People can even interpret what their feelings are even if they can’t express it themselves through modern music. Being relatable doesn’t just revolve around mental health but all aspects such as love, sadness, joy, and much more. Although not all music has to be relatable, how many people can relate to a group singing about cults, Vikings, and Greek mythology on a daily basis?
Not to degrade what older music has been able to do for any music created afterward, but sometimes it’s not the most important thing to be a blueprint. In modern music not all of the sounds made are original, in fact most of the time samples from other songs are used. The artist named Beyonce is one of the most influential and well known artists right now and has been able to create new boundaries for pop culture time and time again. In Beyonce’s career she has used samples from artists and even created covers from songs that she didn’t write herself. Another artist in a different genre who has been influential and used samples is the well known Kendrick Lamar. In Kendrick’s song “Die Hard” he had used two samples from a song called “Remember the Rain” that was made in 1975. Creating an original sound without equipment is something amazing in itself, which a lot of old music had done. However, just because more time was put into the creation of the sound doesn’t always automatically make it better. Modern music doesn’t create as many original sounds, however this doesn’t mean that they discredit where it came from and if anything it shows how they were inspired.
It’s understandable to see why some enjoy oldies more than modern music and I believe one of the biggest reasons is because it brings people to a time where they once were. It can act as a time machine in a way. Modern music can’t hold nostalgia like oldies do, however this doesn’t mean they can’t create it. New music has the ability to correlate with new memories and experiences, which in time will become old memories and create that time machine. Whether it be modern or old music that you prefer at the end of this, they both are able to bring joy to the listeners.
