You're taking this completely out of context. And way too generic. Try answering this:

Specifically what musical works have had an appreciable effect on the world?

define appreciable affect. how big of an affect are we talking.

and how was that out of context....

:facepalm:

Try answering the question I just asked you.

firebird
rite of spring
eruption
anything of duke elignton
the white album
the planets
marriage of figaro
dont wanna miss a thing
im yours
off the top of my head

Because why? What outstanding contribution to the non-musical world have these been? What great message do these albums connote to the world?

well for example after the rite of spring was played for the first time there were riots for weeks because it was so radical and new. that alone must count, it changed they way people viewed the world after they heard that peice.
people were changed in different ways by different works and in turn they changed the world.

and i just thought of another example- obama used lyrics of a song in his speech

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 friends 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

Trends 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?

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: