History of Music

Seems today, I can't quite take my mind off music, which seems to be a reoccurring thought process on a day to day basis for myself.  Intrigued by lyrics, mesmerized by beats, and caught up in a world of creativity that has no end.  Think back a thousand years ago, when music was a completely different kind of activity.  It was background music, simple entertainment, something that poor folk used relax after a hard days work.  Eventually it transformed into ways of telling stories, allowed people to speak their mind without crossing the line society has invented.  Free speech meant nothing years ago, and the change, was through music. 

Now?  The music industry has changed the world drastically.  People who write in rhymes, or can speak their mind through a story many people can relate to, live a life of credability and fame, coupled with a materialistic way of living simply because of how prosperous the industry has become.  The amazing thing though is, people like Billy Joel, Ray Charles, John Mayer and Jason Mraz all make more money than they know what to do with, and yet it never gets in the way of their ability to make music.  At one point Ray Charles had a better deal than Frank Sinatra, and had enough money to never work ever again, and neither would much of his family, but why stop?  The reason they got to the upper echelon of success is because of their ability to create, not because of their drive for excessive amounts of money. 

Every generation leaves behind knowledge for their successors, and it is the following generations responsibility to allow prior knowledge to fuel their creativity.  We did it with mathematics, we did it with science, and eventually, we did it with music.  It was no longer about passing time or speaking your mind, it was about spittin' rhymes in a design, that talked of hatred and crime, without crossing the line.

Today, artists collaborate to tell their story.  Taylor Swift sings of fairytails, Lil Wayne attempts to rap about Nightmares.  John Mayer sings of a world viewed from the outside, while Jason Mraz sings about living in the moment.  The Beatles showed the world how to rock, and Billy Joel created a way of speaking through the piano.  Ray Charles did more than just combine R&B with Gospel, he brought white and blacks together for the sake of making music.  The more they talked, the more we listened, and eventually music became the universal language of the world.  There are no barriers, when notes mean the same thing to every person in the world.

So where are we today - we are in a society built around words.  We express ourselves through blogs, e-mails, AIM abreviations, text messages, phone conversations, stories, and lyrics.  A lyric that we can relate to, is something that holds far more meaning than a thought or an emotion, because it brings those things into reality.  Lyrics are a modernized version of fairytales and the folk lore many people lived to hear many years ago.  They are our stories, and if we can find someone else who talks of the same hardships we go through on a day to day basis, it makes it that much easier to get up in the morning, because you feel you aren't alone.

Often times, especially in today's society, people who are intrueged by music and enjoy picking apart the stories artists tell above a rhythmic sequence of notes and bass drums, are called "emo."  The irony is, those same people who refer to everyone as emo, express their even more ridiculous emotions through their insults.  Nothing says emo like calling someone else a 12 year old who enjoys something they don't.

Music is a powerful tool, and some people don't need it in their lives.  There are so many venues of expression in today's world that music is not even called necessary, but it is the most popular.  Books, movies, plays, musicals, sports, are all venues of expression, and music is just one of them.  The most knowledgable people, however, find ways to respect each venue for its own, and live without ignorance.  You only dislike what you don't know, because when looked at properly, everything has a reason behind it; it just takes an open mind to see it.

Live high
~Jason Mraz