RSS
Home
Popular music reflects history
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Every decade has its own feel or zeitgeist. It is a vibe that resonates within people. That vibe permeates the culture. In particular, popular music reflects the culture as well as the zeitgeist of an era. Each decade can point to a handful of popular songs that capture feelings and concerns. Decades vary in their zeitgeist and songs over time vary greatly in style and substance, but every period produces artists that are able to capture moments in time.
Ragtime dominated popular music for about two decades between the 1890s and 1920. The nation was young and upcoming in the late nineteenth century. Some viewed the 1890s as America’s halcyon days. After McKinley’s election, the country was booming. It was the “gay nineties.” In this context, gay referred to fun and not homosexuality. “A Hot Time in the Old Town” represented this period. The depression ended, the nation was young, and it was time to have some fun out on the town.
While the nation experienced a depression from 1893-1897, the Great Depression dwarfed that economic collapse. The stock market dropped 90%, official unemployment hit 25%, and the dust bowl blew Kansas into the Atlantic Ocean. Everyone was poor. While Roosevelt promised happy days, the country asked “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?” This represented the broken dreams and economic turbulence of the time. Essentially, the song is about an ordinary America living the dream and working hard. Then came the depression and now he is a beggar. That was life in the thirties.
The Great Depression brought great social and political upheaval. The next great American trial that threatened the country’s social fabric struck during the Vietnam War. This period contains many recordings that represent the era. There was so much going on. However, “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival best explains this time. John Fogerty’s passionate and angry vocals combined with the guitar-driven music hammers home the disillusion of sixties youth. It also speaks of the hypocrisy of the generation in power and socioeconomic inequity.
The revolt of sixties youth grew into seventies cynicism. The country suffered the shock of Watergate, Vietnam, the misery index, skyrocketing divorce rates, and disco. Pundits questioned whether democracy itself could survive. Gloria Gaynor provided an anthem for this malaise. The disco classic, “I Will Survive” pretty much sums up the entire period. Despite the difficulties, the country is older, stronger, and will make it.
America rebounded in the eighties. As money flew and cocaine flowed, the culture grew more plastic and more party oriented. By the late eighties, glam metal ruled the radio. The genre ended up dying from its own excess. The period they represent is looked down upon for the same reason. The Irish rock band U2 wrote songs that reacted to the plasticity of materialism. On the other end of the spectrum, Poison provided the decade’s national anthem. There is no need to interpret “Nothin’ But a Good Time” as the title explains it all.
Plastic pop disappeared for a period during the nineties, but made a comeback as the country neared the millennium. The industry and nation went through serious changes by centuries end. After 911, light fluff did not seem appropriate. Anger, fear, and desperation dominated the decade. War, terrorism, and outright stress over new technologies and the new economy created a more polarized nation. By the end of 2009, the American dream appeared dead. Green Day summed up the Bush-Obama era best with their hit, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” The protagonist walks alone on his own lonely street. The government and banks have let everyone down. There seems to be no hope.
Nothing reflects culture like music. Music conveys feelings and emotions of a period. Sometimes, it captures history. If students want to understand a period, listen to some of the music that is produced during that period. Whether the times are good or bad, music will reveal it.
