Love Rock ‘n Roll

People today love rock ‘n roll just as much as people did when the genre was first invented. It’s interesting that the genre has undergone so many changes over the years. To a certain extent, the genre of rock ‘n roll itself no longer exists. It has split up into several different genres over the years, and few people will say that they just listen to ‘rock’ in the modern world. A person who said that would then be asked about his or her preferred rock style.

Image by Sean Davis (Flickr). Used under license Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)

The music industry in general has changed a great deal since the twentieth century, which is truly starting to feel more and more like a distant period of time with each passing day. As recently as the 1990s, there was usually this one band or album that everyone was talking about and there was a particular style of music that almost everyone loved. People loved grunge in the early 1990s and people were all talking about Nirvana. There is no real equivalent for the late 2010s, or indeed the early 2010s.

In the modern world, the massive fragmentation of culture has more or less ensured that people will be able to express all of their sincere tastes. They don’t have to pretend to like a particular musical style anymore. They will be able to like their older music styles if that is what they want. It’s common for people to brag online about the fact that they are still listening to a popular song after it is more than ten years old. However, this is nothing to brag about in the modern world. A taste for the ‘oldies’ is standard today, and it in fact represents the real cultural change in the modern world.

When people worry about showing their age with their musical tastes, it is ironically that worry that is truly outdated. It’s standard for people of all ages to like all songs these days. They will hear about them on social media or in the background of shows. They will find the songs while browsing on YouTube. When people get their music online, they will have access to almost all of the songs ever created. The songs that are not there will tend to get uploaded or added eventually.

Getting such a huge and diverse musical library automatically means that a lot of people will be able to experiment with different styles of music. This means that the eras will get mixed up and a lot of people will find it easier to find favorite songs from all different eras. They might be able to say that they adore rock ‘n roll in a way that might have seemed anachronistic in the past.

After all, people who have broad musical tastes do love entire huge categories in many ways. This is an attitude that is coming back as people become less likely to assign a particular identity to a particular music style. Specific eras are no longer assigned to particular music styles, either.

Header image by Jon Rubin (Flickr). Used under license Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

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