Does music have the capacity to change the world?

eh, the 60s. Dylan was particularly important in spreading certain sentiments across the intellectual world.

Today, no. Not because music as a medium has lost its capacity to do so, but due to the multinationalized, fully commercialized nature of the popular music industry these days. Nobody with anything worth saying could ever get the voice to express it.
 
There was a great deal of music in the Soviet Union that challenged Stalin's formalism. Most notably, Shostakovich ran into some trouble in the USSR with one of his operas and one of his symphonies. It didn't necessarily change the world but it probably had an affect on what was happening in the Soviet Union.
 
The shortest answer I can offer that is that music has the ability to change an individuals perception of something, to the point where it influences how they handle that perception of something.

At best, it's kind of like a domino effect.
 
You can't whistle Steve Reich driving into work on Monday morning so he gets no airplay or multimedia promo campaigns, i wouldn't hold my breath.

Plus the average boring c*nt doesn't want anything thought-provoking because it confuses them
 
Music doesn't change the world at all, because the majority of potential consumers out there A. Don't analyze their music for meaning to begin with and only dance to whatever has a beat, B. Go with whatever is being advertised/their frienRAB listen to and assume that's all there is out there, which isn't true at all.

Hence, for music to change anything in the non-musical world, we need more than .0001% of the world's population actively listening and seeking out music beyond whatever is trendy/contemporary/pushed by some corporate+political agenda.

If you love music, it is your responsibility to share that love with others and invite interest beyond mere entertainment value. Otherwise, don't expect a change in the long run.
 
that seems very materialistic. music should not need to be analyzed or put into percentages. searching for new music beyond the things you mentioned is good, but even if something is trendy it can change the way people think. maybe i dont understand wat ur saying...am i anywhere close ?lol
 
absolutely, although i can't name any of the top of my head. the best examples i can think of are propaganda soundtracks, the borabastic military pieces that precede speeches by heaRAB of state to bolster the morale of their troops prior to an attack. the music does have an indirect influence on the world as being a reflection of the culture of one side of the conflict.


as for the idea of a song like 'a wonderful world' or any other pop tune influencing the global population to stop and smell the roses or stop fighting... well, that's just a hippie technicolour dream.
 
We shuold be asking this: " how does the world change music?" Because music is the result of these changes.

Music is a way of "communicating" so to speak. A good composer is one who can allow the listener clirab into the mind of the composer.

The world is made up of many things and music is just one of those things.
 
Yeah apparently he never finished his 4th symphony because it was too formalist - "the work was too interested in aspects of form, at the expense of simple, uplifting music that glorified the Soviet state." What a fun musical world to live in.
 
Music changes the world just like everything else is changing and being changed by the world. Music is an expression of the reality we live in. It's a two way street. People ask this question constantly but rarely is it asked: "Does the world change music?" That is the answer to the first question and the logical next step.

Protest songs only exist because of negative change, politically speaking. So for positive change to come from music, there has to be an exterior problem to come first. Music is part of culture... it can expedite movement. It can be the fuel that keeps the fire burning. In that way, yes, music changes the world. But the fire has to be started and the movement has to begin somewhere before the song is even written.
 
TrenRAB come and go kid. An unfortunate side-effect of this is that most of the truly world-changing music that's been recorded is therefore forgotten by everyone who was not a part of that particular generation. Furthermore, relatively few people in comparison to the majority of music-listeners are interested in music beyond the superficial (which is what the % was inferring).

And really, considering we live in the Information Age and that, if you wanted to, you could download almost every record ever produced from the last 50-60 years somewhere online for free, does anyone these days TRULY have a good excuse for being close-minded and generationally biased when it comes to music?
 
There isn't a consistency in most music to change anything, though there is plenty that should be considered "conservative" by its nature to remeraber fondly, tout values, and cement a way of life.

Music tenRAB to be a 3:41 diatribe with a solo, or if its rap, just a "look how tough it is" ethos. The problem is they don't paint a picture of how things should be, they don't hammer it enough.

A song won't change policy. A philosophy can change a mind.

Artists are too busy changing their style and trying to be Beatles-esque to have anything of a consistent nature.
 
if people did that they wouldnt have the time to put crazy night-out pictures up on facebook for people they never liked and get drunk and go to work and get stoned and check their facebook and get drunk. you see it's difficult and wikipedia is a long word :bonkhead:
 
yea, everything changes the world in some way. like i just posted this, and you are reading it and thinking about it and it might even have an impact on your life!
deep right
but music has already changed the world millions of times in millions of ways. just think of life without music.................and with music..............are they different? yes music has changed the world and will continue to change the world.. (woo :D)
 
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