I was driving back from the gym with my son the other day and he wanted to play an old song for me… one from my era. Mind you, I had this dude when I was 20, so it’s not like my era is that far from his.
We listened to the song and we both agreed it was amazing. I was shocked I hadn’t heard the song before because I was a fan of the artist in the 90s and early 2000s.
Then we discussed how music before the internet seemed better than today’s music.
Now I understand… music is subjective so that’s a bold statement. However, I believe more young people listening to music from their parents’ era today than at any other time in history.
I don’t have any stats or reference points to back that up, but that’s kind of the point of this article.
Pre-Social Media
So, he asked me why I thought music was so much better back then. My response was simple, “People from my era didn’t have social media”.
Artists from the 90s and before, and even into the 2000s, didn’t have as many reference points.
Before I go too deep into this conversation, I understand, many people understand music at a much higher level than myself. I’m not here to challenge you. I’d love for you to chime in on this conversation, but this is what I believe is going on without me purposely doing any research.
Older artists listened to music that inspired them, but their ideas, opinions, and beliefs weren’t swayed by millions of strangers commenting on their favorite artists on social media.
Nor could they be swayed by their favorite artists being overly transparent about their lives, thoughts, and processes on social media.
Occasionally, artists from the past would do television interviews, or you could read about them in a magazine. Other than that, you didn’t know much about them and the only opinions you heard about those artists were from your friends or reporters on television covering the music.
So, musicians in the past were inspired, but not heavily swayed. They were forced to be creative.
Let’s take rap music for instance. In the 80s and 90s, most music fans could name the top rap artists. Today, because of the internet, there are dozens of well-known rappers and often I hear people say they have similar sounds. I’ve even heard rap music aficionados say that music is starting to sound similar no matter where it’s coming from — east coast, west coast, overseas… it’s all similar.
I believe this all started with the internet explosion and social media.
Believe In Your Creativity
I know that was a lot and the music conversation is endless, but I wanted to make a point.
I’d love to see more people rely on their creativity and not lean on external references. The most creative people in the world treat it like Nike, they ‘Just Do It’.
The conversation made me take a closer look at myself. Recently, I’ve been using ChatGPT for everything. Before ChatGPT, I was… and continue to lean on social media and the internet for simple things. I’ve been slowly killing my creativity, and I believe that’s what’s going on with music.
So I’ve decided to make a conscious effort to be more creative. I’m not saying I’ll stop using these wonderful resources, but I will strive to use my brain more and not be heavily swayed by external references in the future.