Heroes

Throughout the ever changing generations, technology, and new customs, there are also changes in the various genres of music and the messages they convey to the listener. In my early childhood, I was accustomed to listening to the works of classic rock and roll artists. The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Credence Clearwater Revival, and many other artists my mother and father introduced me to. I was born in 1983, and personally listened to the radio stations of KSFM 102.5, Cool 101.1 and the Eagle. Growing up in the 80’s and early 90’s, there was a new era of music blooming in the world we know. MTV was coming into its own up and coming television show and I can remember my brother and I watching MTV jams everyday when we got home from school and practice. As a kid, artists such as MC Hammer, Vanila Ice, Guns and Roses, ACDC, Alice in Chains and Nirvana were among the many cassette tapes we had in our tape decks. We never paid attention to the lyrics at all. We were more concerned with what color MC Hammer’s pants were in the video, or how we could be able to scream as long as Kurt Cobain did in his “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video. The words were not important to us as kids because we were young and we looked past the true meaning of the songs we heard. The bass of Run DMC was more intriguing to us, and how Public Enemy, with FLavor Flav and Chuck got all the woman in their videos. We would recite the lyrics to each other without truely understanding what “white lines” meant in the Sugar Hill Gang’s song.

Now, as an adult hearing these songs i can truely hear the music and the message these artists are conveying to their customers and listeners. This is the whole message I am trying to convey to you, the reader. There are many examples we as adults need to set as we get older and this world gets more diverse. Just because we can make a dollar hear and then from a song with a wicked beat, and a terrible message, does not mean it shoulkd be bought and praised in our community. Now I never grew up listening to country music, and I never really listened to jazz or classical music such as Andrea Bocelli, but now I do. Do not misunderstand me. I do listen to rap and hip but not the gangster rap or music that is talking about degrading woman or violence. Stealing and robbing from your fellow men and women is not right in any culture, country or religion. The message sent through music is heard by kids and adults and it is not right if the message is wrong. Some artists do not care if violence stems form their music as long as it does not happen to them. They take the customers money and laugh all the way to the bank. Do you really listen to what you are buying? Do you condone that song, when all Snoop Doggy Dogg says through the whole song is his name about one hundred times in, “Snoop Doggy dogg. What’s my mother bleeping name? Snoop Doggy Dogg!” said All he said throughout the entire three minute track was his name. The consumer buys into the 15$-20$ cd and Snoop Doggy Dogg is laughing histerically because you are a fool for buying it. I used to listen to Tupac Shakur and I actually idolized him as an adolescent. I had every cd he made whe I was growing up, and when he died i was beside myself with tears. I felt I knew who he was because when Tupac wrote his songs they were poetry. He wasn’t just making a sweet beat and repeating a rhetorical saying that had a catchy phrase to it. He wrote songs about his mom, and how he grew up going to listening to poetry and he attened a literary arts class as a child. The man wrote about his life, his feelings, and everything he encountered in his life. Tupac had negative and positive messages in his songs I finally came to realize as an adult. When I was a kid, he was immaculate in my eyes and I beleieved if someone had harmed in some way that he was justified in carrying out vengeance towards his enemies. I was young and closed minded to to rationale about his message. I did not critically think about whether or not he was just writing to tell a story, or if he lying about killing people or harming people. I never really thought about it until I got older and I started listening to the songs I listened to as a child. The same songs artists such as Tupac Celly, Cel, RBL, the Luniz and many others were rapping about then had the same meaning now. I just did not know the difference between then and now because nobody told me. I can sit here and write this now and hopefully someone can read my thoughts and pass it on to another person. It is easy to get caught in new fads and new songs because thats what is hot right ow. Even though Lil Wayne has one of the best vocabularies in rap music, he is still rapping about selling cocaine and spreading violence among the streets while talking about gang related crimes. I listen to him still, but I understand what he is conveying through his music. If I want to get pumped up before a basketball or football game I will through on a Lil Wayne track and get my adrenaline pumping. i never buy rap cd’s anymore because I do not want to contribute to the funding of their cause and what they represent.

As I have become the man i am today, I have acquired country music in my daily life. I believe the messages these country artits convey are positive. Kenny Chesney write songs about past relationships and memories he has had a child and how he aspires to make new ones in his daily life. One of my favorite Chesney song is “I Go Back.” He write about the “smell of an old gym floor,” and the “taste of salt on a Carolina shore.” All his songs are positive and the audience who is listening can picture a time and place in their minds of a memory like that. Another country artist I like is Sarah Evans. The softness of her voice and gentleness of her words lure a listener into her country world. I know country music can be dull, slow, and boring at times, but the messages are rarley negative. I believe I adopted listening to country music as a hobby of mine when I joined the Marine Corps in 2002. These were some of the best people I have ever met in my entire life. I began listening to country music because most of the volunteers were from the midwestern states. I fell in love with country music and will continue to listen to it until I leave this Earth. Music helps to shape and mold the people were are in this lifetime. A person listening to punk rock or heavy metal might be aggressive or tense in their daily lives and might attract that lifestyle. Music is apart of everyone’s life, and should be taken seriously when allowing children to listen to certain gengres of music. There is more to music to than the melody!