Does music have the capacity to change the world?
 

I've been grappling with this issue for a while now and I think the answer is rather ambiguous. I'd like to hear other people's views on the matter, because it's certainly a discussion worth hearing.

I'm not talking about within the music community; e.g. psychedelia on hippies, but a broader sense of music's influence on how the world revolves.

Are there any outstanding contributions to the world by musicians?

http://www.bilerico.com/2007/06/2002...-bono-bush.jpg

(politically no, culturally yes)

On the local more so than anywhere else.

yeah if you go by Last.fm the most far-reaching and influential bands are Radiohead, Coldplay, all that sh*t, and to their credit they seem to realise their position to influence but they waste it and make me want to drive forks into my eyeballs into the bargain

I was thinking more along the lines of Steve Reich's "Different Trains" than whatever political candidate Bono is endorsing today.

It changed my world and that's good enough for me.

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

Yes...see the 60's.

absolutely, although i can't name any of the top of my head. the best examples i can think of are propaganda soundtracks, the bombastic military pieces that precede speeches by heads 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.

Food Not Bombs is fairly successful.

There was a Frank Zappa interview where he's comparing types of record company executives: the ex-hippy children of the 60's and the old-timers.
He concluded the emasculated hippies were a far bigger pain in the ass, because they thought they knew what the kids wanted to hear, kept editing you. The old guys were sucking on a cigar looking out the window and just took a 'you know best' approach.

Point being the 60's changed the musical landscape and defined pop culture for years to come; but the world keeps turning and free love was quickly exploited, branded and sold back to people. The original participants inherited the system that they opposed and i'm still moaning

Yes, but I'll be cynical and say that it's very rarely in a direct or dramatic fashion.
Music can't start a movement, but it can inspire and unify people around a cause. Music is the strongest facet of pop culture/youth culture. Anything with such a strong impact upon our culture will usually have some trickle down effect upon our politics.

And in a multitude of small ways, music provides a voice for people, and articulate the protest of a group. As a potentially flawed example, look at the length dictatorships will go to censor any music that goes against their policy.

Any change no matter how small changes the world. Music inspired you to ask the question so therefore must make a difference. Without music the question would not exist:)

I highly doubt that.

Why do you doubt it? As far as I know, The "concept" of the world belongs to every individual. We all have different interpretations of the world. Music affects us and therefore can change our perception of the world. The world will always remain a concept...

As Woodie Guthrie had written on his guitar "This Machine Kills Fascists"

Quite


I think music can change elements to the world, like with the Tropicalia movement in Brazil; it changed Brazil but didn’t necessarily change anything else.

Likewise Punk I believe changed Britain forever but saying that, that statement does depend on where in Britain you lived at the time both socially and geographically.

Also I do think that if music is solely based on making a change, like Live Aid for example, it can bring some exposure but ultimately the point is lost after the euphoria dies down.

However if a musical phenomenon is organically grown and just happens, then I think it has the promise and ability to alter anything it touches………problem then is to ensure it stays true to itself and doesnt go up its own ass, which it rarely does.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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:

...word.

Like Jackhammer said, it can change individual lives. Which I guess in turn can influence of other people's lives. But I do not believe that one band can change the world. One band can change a genre of music, but ultimately no band has the power to change the world. If a band could the government/crazy idealistic hippies would be using bands left and right to change the world.

if by change you mean changing people's views of the world, then i'd say yes. there's good music and bad music, but there's those special kinds of music that just make you think.

agreed, but bad music makes you think too ;)

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.

Yea I read that somewhere. What was the story of Stalin sitting there angry but the crowd giving a 40 minute encore. Reportedly saved Shostakovich's life.

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 climb 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.

There isn't a consistency in most music to change anything, though there is plenty that should be considered "conservative" by its nature to remember fondly, tout values, and cement a way of life.

Music tends 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.

Music festivals like LiveAID did some good.