Mainstream Music example essay topic

A line of people forms out in the cold. The tired, weary masses huddle together. All have one singular goal on their mind. All are infused with fanatical fervor. All share a common yearning. The door swings open, and at last the new N Sync CD is available to a slew of young girls.

This is not an uncommon occurrence. The marketing of "music" often does have this effect on impressionable minds. Unfortunately, decent music has not become apparent to the mainstream for over ten years. I intend to prove this to you. Webster's defines music as "the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity", but does this cold boring statement describe all that music really is? The definition given is inadequate.

Music requires emotion, emotions from personal experience or insight. It is for this reason that a majority of music today isn't music at all, such as N Sync, Backstreet Boys, or any other vapid, vacuous group of the time. These groups don't write their own material, but rather have the lyrics, and melody handed to them, thus making any song of theirs meaningless. In addition to the previous fact, the music of the mainstream today hasn't done anything original for the past ten years. The mold of the current mainstream music construct is "verse chorus verse" (allusion to song / quote of Kurt Cobain) or the same old same old. All mainstream music today can be lumped into the following categories, bubble-gum pop, pop-punk, pop-rock, and rap.

To the untrained ear, all these sorts may sound totally different, however in reality, they are all strikingly similar. Excluding rap, the lyrics of the other 3 categories are usually along the same line of thinking. And take the chords, term used for note played on all strings of guitar, of any pop-punk song, add a few, and you have a pop-rock song. This has been the case for over ten years. One could argue that some of these groups have sold unprecedented amounts of albums, thus making them quality. While these groups have sold insane amounts of CDs, it is not due to their music writing or performing capabilities, but rather the marketing from their respective record companies.

Think of it logically, choose any five random, somewhat good-looking guys, give them makeovers and personas, teach them a few dance steps and hand them songs and you have the formula for multi-platinum success. So next time you find yourself at a record store, I implore you, consider what you buy. I ask you not to compromise your tastes, but to rather step back and think about what you are about to buy. Is this really music? Or rather another piece of by the dictionary music.