Soulflower

Back during the 70's and civil rights movement we had artists like James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayweather etc who made socially conscious music that reflected the times.

I ask this question because currently it appears we still are a society that faces similar issues, Ferguson, Black Live Matters Movement etc.

However, none of the current music reflects any of the social issues or important conversations that evolve around the problems that affect Americans today.

Why should we always look to Stevie Wonder for social tributes when we have current artists today that can use their influence to talk about the same things?


I think it is quite alarming especially that NONE of the mainstream Black A list artists had nothing to say about Ferguson. As an African American, I was pretty disgusted by that. I am not trying to make this into a race issue but just expressing my personal experience and opinion on the matter. This is strictly about social issues


To me that speaks volumes anyway you wanna slice it. I am not asking for these entertainers to be politicians but if they are given a platform in which they can use their music and influence to broaden an issue or bring to light a problem, why not do that?

The current generation of artists doesn't seem to care about the problems "ordinary" people face the same people that puts money in their pockets and I have always found this disturbing.

Thoughts?

Do you think artists should make music that reflects the times? Do you think music that discusses social issues helps brings to light problems that we face? Do you think this has a positive or negative impact? Do you think music can be a powerful tool in aiding in social changes or social movements?

Personally, I really care about social issues so this really matters to me.

xoxo

YorkeDaddy

Posts a topic that's explicitly about race issues

"I am not trying to make this into a race issue"

Anyway regarding the discussion: I think there's more socially sensitive music out there than you think. Even unknown acts do it, hell my band's album "Frownland" is all about our ****ed up society. We may not have genuises like Marvin Gaye for example dropping stuff like "What's Goin On" anymore but none of the current A-list black artists today are anywhere near as brilliant as he or Stevie Wonder ever was so how profound of an impact would current artists be able to have anyway? I for one am not interested at all in hearing Drake or something attempt to make a political album.

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Soulflower

This topic is not about race issues specifically but more so the issue of social issues being discussed in music.

I think that pop stars can still incorporate social issues in their music. Its quite alarming with all that is going on with various issues that affect society that they dont seem to have an interest in talking about these issues in their music. I am not expecting the music to be the same artistically as Stevies or James but at least the thought is what matters. This current generation however doesn't seem to care about social issues and are more interested in their own wealth.

Zer0

It doesn't make sense to ask why pop artists themselves are not addressing social issues. The problem is why major record labels are not promoting artists that do.

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Chula Vista

They talk about it via Twitter these days.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Frownland

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YorkeDaddy

Yeah this is just a better way of saying my point. There are plenty of socially-conscious artists out there making interesting stuff. I don't understand why we need this to be in mainstream music specifically

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Soulflower

There are some pop stars though that do have a certain level of input in the direction of their music. Once they reach a certain level of fame or success for the label, they do have some input. Its interesting that some of the big name pop stars dont care to discuss social issues in their music like artists of the past. Yes, I agree this is also a big problem with major labels as well.

Soulflower

Some of the big name's oddly don't talk about it at all...

Soulflower

Thanks, but I am mostly talking about the big name pop stars.