Essay on Teens - Popular Musics Impact on Youth -- Exploratory Essays

Popular Musics Impact on Youth Popular melody and its artists have an enormous impact on our cultures youth from generation to generation. In almost any generation within the past fifty years, the behavior and beliefs of the majority of pre-teens and teens can be closely correlated with those of the popular music artists of that clock time. Which music was the popular music changed drastically several times between the 1950s and the present, along with the attitudes of that generations young adults. With each change in popular music came similarly a lasting change in the behavior of generations to follow. In some cases, the change was evident --the band or artist was creating or surrounded by controversy-- in other cases, the change was not evident until afterwards, a learning experience perhaps. In the 1950s, Bill Haley and the Comets first used the word rock to come upon a musical form. They also released two movies, Blackboard Jungle, and Rock Around the Clock, wh ich featured their music and were aimed specifically at young audiences. Blackboard Jungle told a story of teenage alienation and also made a star of Haley because of the overwhelming number of negative criticisms it received. Also, since adults of that time thought the music was just limpid bad, the teens were even more drawn to its sound (Brown, 50, 53). Elvis Aaron Presley is known as the King today, but in the mid-fifties, he was known as Elvis the pelvic arch because of his pelvic thrusts and somewhat exaggerated hip movements (67). These sexual mannerisms caught the attention of young women who viewed him as a sex icon, but also caught the attention of the media. In the fifties, these actions were besides obscene to be shown on televi... ...What is to be learned from our generation? There does not appear to be a clearly defined movement organism promoted like the antiwar movement of the sixties and seventies. Our generation will leave a legacy, or a lesson to be learned. Through the generations we have learned much medicine awareness, responsibility, and safe sex were all changes faced by generations following the previous generations lifestyles. Our children will face different lifestyles that we are facing now, and the popular music of their time will surely shape their behavior and attitude to fit their generation. Works Cited Brown, Charles T. The Art of Rock and Roll. Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall Inc. 1987. Christgau, Robert. Any Old Way You Choose It Rock and different Pop Music, 1967- 1973. Baltimore Penguin Books Inc. 1973. http//www.factmonster.com/ce6/ent/A0860766.html