The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same, Essay Example

Taking a look at today’s music a listener can discern that it’s about flash, style, sex, identity, being strong, having money, and in general living a life like a rock star. Between these cliché lines however there is something more, something frailer. When today’s music is compared with music from the 1950’s being a teenager in either century, there are similar artifacts and themes both have in common (Stephenson 148). This paper will briefly analyze these themes and determine what elements in the music are the same for both centuries.

Today’s music is inundated with rap. Rap is poetry put to a beat and it serves as a lead in to popular culture as all rap songs allude to the artist’s present environment. In Kanye West’s song Stronger, the listener is privy to a narrator’s personal life in the following aspects: gym routine, sex routine, and identity. West’s lyrics state, “I need you right now,” referring to a woman that he’s been “waitin’ all night” to be with. In regards to identity, West states, “Do anybody make real shit anymore” referring to a façade world in which nothing is real according to the artist. West ends his song with the lyric, “…and take this, haters,” referring to people who hate him because of his status, because they don’t like his music, or any other reason that someone hates another person. Each element refers to something central to the rapper’s identity, either love (interpreted as getting with a girl in a sexual sense) or dealing with negative people in his life. Such troupes span across not only decades for centuries as these are common enough problems and elations found in human connection and lives.

Music from the 1950’s shares a similar fate. In Chuck Berry’s song Riding Around in My Automobile the lyrics state, “I stole a kiss at the turn of a mile,” and “My curiosity going wild.” These lyrics can refer to a more simple and wholesome version of love in which the singer kisses his girl while he’s driving and he’s curious about their possible relationship, what she’s thinking, or probably more accurate, what will happen next (Middleton 26). This can be inferred as the listener doesn’t know where the car is going and where the couple will end up at the end of the song. It also seems that the singer wants to confess his feelings for her stating that he’s “anxious” to tell her. One of the final lyrics of the song is, “Still trying to get her belt a-loose.” It is ambiguous whether or not the singer intended this to mean the safety belt he was having problems with unfastening earlier on in the evening or whether (and possibly more accurately) he is referring to his girl’s belt, in which case, it makes a strong indicator that he is in fact talking about sex (the safety belt in this case can also be an allusion to the girl’s belt, and interpreted as one and the same in the context of the song). Sex can come with a certain level of anxiety (Hill 96), perhaps anxiety over whether or not he will have sex with her, and if she’ll agree to it. Just as in West’s song referencing being “on” a girl the whole night in order to get her bed, Berry’s song makes similar references.

Comparing these two songs it seems that either decade of music has similar cultural, identity, and relationship issues. Men try to get girls, people struggle with identity in relationship with one another, and in West’s case, this identity has a strong connection to ignoring people who hate him, or showing off how well he is doing despite their hate (a typical ego move in rap and a typical blues move in Chuck Berry’s day) (Covach 63). It seems that the common issues in either decade unite the teenagers from these decades as teens are going through issues of identity, and finding self, and exploring each other in a physical way (meaning that teens are the ones listening to these songs and identifying with the singer’s message).

References

Middleton, Richard. (2003). Reading Pop: Approaches to Textual Analysis in Popular Music. London, Oxford University Press. Print.

Stephenson, Ken. (2002). What to Listen for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis. New Haven, Yale University Press, Print.

Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis. Hill, Chapel, et al. (eds). Ohio State University, 1997. Print.

Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis. Covach, John et al. (eds). London, Oxford University Press, 1997. Print.