how far have we fallen with televsion and music since the 50's?

Comment #33

justxploring — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:15:51 GMT

Tenaj, in a way I think I do know what you just wrote. In the 60s when the so-called hippie movement was all the rage, a lot of rich kids dressed up like poor people and "hung out" to look cool. There were teens/college students from nice homes on street corners asking for spare change. So for some what was reality and a way of life was a fad to others. Not long ago someone said to me "Why is it that when I had a dollar in my pocket at 18 I didn't worry and at 45 I'm terrified?" I said "Because back then you had somewhere to run home to."... [ More ]

Comment #32

Tenaj — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:33:19 GMT

I have no problem with Hip Hop. Like I say before, they tell us what's on their mind - good and bad. As far as degrading women, you didn't hear that before integration. You heard songs like, "Have you seen her", "Hey There Lonely Girl", those I can't live without you love ballads that will always be classics. You figure it out.

Comment #31

LOTTOMIKE — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:26:55 GMT

i'll go ahead and say its damn near getting unsafe in some places to even walk out your door and thats sad.

Comment #30

LOTTOMIKE — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:25:36 GMT

i read something on a website about the new rage with kids in gangs is something called a potshot.where they get real high,listen to music and go shoot at random people walking down the street or sitting on porches.the rules of the game is 'subject' where they'll say blue shirt and they'll go shooting at people just in blue shirts or maybe the next 'subject' is red hair so they go shooting at just people with red hair.whatever it is it makes me very uneasy that kids are really getting off on different forms of violence as sport.... [ More ]

Comment #29

justxploring — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 06:59:28 GMT

I don't think it's just a Black or White thing anyway, I once read that the majority of teens who buy rap are White, but I can't confirm that statement. After all, 2 big rappers were Emimen and Vanilla Ice. The latter was just released from jail in FL again. I don't want to misquote anything, so I'll cut & paste something from Julian Bond I heard last year. "We don't believe it's a violation of the First Amendment to say to somebody you ought not to talk that way, you ought no... [ More ]

Comment #28

truecritic — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:01:35 GMT

If it represents society, then that is exactly what Mike said. It is a mess. It is a subculture that should be illegal. I am for freedom of speech just so far.<br

Comment #27

Coin Toss — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 04:07:38 GMT

These kids see these "artists" as heroes and become wannabes, but no one tells them that without connections they aren't getting anywhere, just like with a lot of other things. I may not understand the "music" (it''s NOT music, it's anger put to a voo doo beat) but I do understand that for all the wonderful things being claimed about it here that the people who play it assume that the rest of the world wants to hear it, too and that's hardly the case. I'm hoping some... [ More ]

Comment #26

Tenaj — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:23:13 GMT

Justx, you would have to understand the community before you can understand the music and that's just a small part of the big picture. That's what I call ignorance to say something about something you don't know about.

Comment #25

justxploring — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 23:22:32 GMT

http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_3_how_hip_hop.html (good article) I enjoyed watching Kayne West perform at the Grammy Awards and was touched by the song he wrong for his mother. There is good and bad in everything. Also, you obviously raised your kids right. Many parents don't and they just know what they hear from the popular songs that are played all the time. That goes for both White & Black families. Same with TV and the movies. The influence of a good parent i... [ More ]

Comment #24

Tenaj — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 23:01:53 GMT

We were throwing food and chairs in the caferteria from school integration so we can go home early and high fived on the bus cause we pulled it off. It's a different world. Get a clue. Music is the reflection of the society. And Jarasan, yes I felt the say way you did about Hip Hop until I learned to dance it and it ain't nothing rudimentary about it. Both my kids grew up with Hip Hop and Rap but they also listened to Gospel, Funk, Blues, Disco, Jazz and R and B, Motown Love... [ More ]

Comment #23

jarasan — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:30:07 GMT

@lottomike, yeah it had a good beginning but didn't evolve, it went the way of the devo. Everybody wanted in; Eminem as an eg. it became about the word, message etc.. not the music.

Comment #22

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:21:49 GMT

i was a big fan of james,brown,michael jackson,the commodores,stevie wonder,etc. and still are to this day and i've even read interviews where lionel richie denounced a lot of rap music as trash because of the lyrics.rap only got vulgar as the years went on because when it first came out run dmc and groups like that didn't cuss much on the records or talk about dope.

Comment #21

justxploring — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:11:02 GMT

Does anyone remember the Blondie song "Rapture?" Deborah Harry started to rap about a man from Mars who was eatin' cars. That was weird. I think then it was called New Wave. Hey, I'm a White girl from the burbs, so I am not judging anyone. However, I was a big James Brown fan and I never heard him tell people to go out and shoot cops or call women whores. Yet he inspired a whole generation ..just look at the lyrics from "Say it Loud."

Comment #20

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:29:48 GMT

i agree justx about the rap,i've always loved music and i love rock,pop,country and heavy metal plus some rap as long as its not the gangster stuff.back in the mid 80's i started liking rap and all the kids thought i was very strange but then five years later all of them were then listening to it too after giving me crap about it.i used to like stuff like tupac,coolio,biggie,etc. but i really quit listening about ten years ago and i'll listen to the older stuff but the new stuff is just not listenable anymore but thats my opinion.... [ More ]

Comment #19

justxploring — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:50:27 GMT

Anyway, to clear up what I was saying...I don't think all rap is bad. I just think some of the "gangsta" style is giving kids the wrong messages. Remember the contest that a member (DucksAFloat I think) asked us to vote for? Those were rap songs. It can be a poetic way of expressing yourself, but I wouldn't call it music, but that's just my opinion. A gang member who was in prison was on Fox (I can't believe I'm actually quoting Fox news) Anyway, he was a member of a gang called the... [ More ]

Comment #18

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:31:41 GMT

i need to edit mine too,i said fewsh but meant new.

Comment #17

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:29:38 GMT

i wonder how far things will go.i overheard these two teenagers in a restaurant a year or so ago talking about killing some guy and i laughed and they looked over at me real serious and said they weren't playing.i told them they needed to go play some more video games instead or go jog off al that negative energy.seems like there are a lot of negative vibes floating around with young kids these days.for instance at work i trained a fewsh 18 year old security guy i came back and the word murder was scratched all over the desk in different spots.he was listening to a walkman and repeating these rap lyrics,i wish i was dead,i'm gonna die anyway,murder murder murder is how i live.i told him that those lyrics were pretty scary to older people even someone like me.he said its just words but i told him it affects the way people look at you though by the way you dress and act.... [ More ]

Comment #16

Rick G — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:08:22 GMT

Wish we could edit our blog replies...when I said "beat down" I didn't mean physically but rather, mentally.

Comment #15

Rick G — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:03:49 GMT

I'm going to add one more thing here. If a parent beats down their kids all of the time, how is that child going to grow up to be a self-confident adult? Adults with low self-confidence or self-esteem cause most of the problems in the world.

Comment #14

Rick G — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:45:33 GMT

Mike, I kind of agree with your "shock value" thing, but I think it's more of an "identity thing". In a world with six billion + people, we as individuals want to be unique and kids need the individuality more than the oldsters. Encourage your kids' individuality when they're young so they won't have to show their boxers when they're 18.

Comment #13

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:22:29 GMT

something i noticed also is every generation also has a 'shock value' thing where they try and get kids to love them and parents to hate them.it was elvis hips in the 50's,the beatles hair in the 60's,kiss spitting blood in the 70's,heavy metal lyrics in the 80's and in the 90's for the first time rap music started outselling rock because more kids were liking the shock value and alternative rock wasn't pissing off the parents as much as rap.rap in the 90's started shocking with the drug use,the degrading of women,the use of violence such as guns which is why biggie and tupac are dead and on up into this decade right here lately with the gangster images,the money,nice clothes,cool cars.the kids feed into that even though its mostly bad.... [ More ]

Comment #12

Rick G — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:53:35 GMT

Don't get too worked up about it. Every generation has its "thing" and in 20 years we'll be watching the History channel and laughing at ourselves.

Comment #11

Tenaj — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:30:36 GMT

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Comment #10

jarasan — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:07:18 GMT

If anything RAP is a form of poetry. Have you ever seen sheet music for a RAP "song"?

Comment #9

justxploring — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:13:55 GMT

I was recently talking to a friend about this and she doesn't want her son to listen to hip-hop, but he's 18 and in college. She believes it has taken everything she fought for and set back the clock 30 years.

Comment #8

Tenaj — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:21:19 GMT

That's where they are and how they see the world. It belongs to them. Main stream adopted it and even the Pillsbury dough boy dances to it. It says, this is what you are doing but is dishonest about it and hide it. It says I got woman, money, and great sex. It says, I feel good about myself and go to hell because you are a fake. I give it great respect. (not always have - because I didn't understand) Everything you hate about it is their response to the world. <br... [ More ]

Comment #7

jarasan — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:06:16 GMT

Wonder why they don't do a RAP night on American Idol? Do ya think it's because it isn't music? Anyone who can't carry a tune can be a rapper.

Comment #6

spy153 — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:46:09 GMT

And what you are talking about, lottomike relates to what I was trying to say in Justx's blog about the media. I usually don't watch the news, because I find it too disturbing. But my hubby has a bad habit of doing it while I'm in the room anyway. Six cheerleaders beat up one little girl for supposedly making a bad comment on their blog. They recorded the whole thing hoping it would become a viral video. The girl they beat up on lost her hearing in one ear and is going blind in the ot... [ More ]

Comment #5

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:06:27 GMT

late at night now i'll catch stuff like seinfeld,king of the hill or news but for the most part i'm content with a book or renting a movie.

Comment #4

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:04:49 GMT

a lot of people won't believe this but somewhere around the start of the 90's i literally stopped watching televsion for about 14 or 15 years until the last few years.never saw an episode of friends,seinfeld,etc. none of it.people that knew me well knew i just didn't care for television,if i wanted news i read the newspaper every day.i love seinfeld re-runs that come on because i watch what i missed all those years but i'm still not a big t.v. person. right now i don't even have cable and won't have it.... [ More ]

Comment #3

Coin Toss — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 06:38:31 GMT

Look at the old series Combat vs today's The Unit. Combat was about an infantry squad in Europe in WW II, and the story line stuck to that. The Unit is about SF soldiers but has to throw in the home front and a soap opera element to appeal to the females. And rap indeed is not music. It's just noise. <br

Comment #2

emilyg — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:23:04 GMT

Then it's sad if that's what the world is becoming. Rap to me is not music.

Comment #1

Tenaj — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:24:31 GMT

The same thing is said with every generation. Look how long rap music has hung around. It just didn't come, stay a little while and go away like disco music and other genres. Music, dress, ideas, art, etc. are the reflection of the society. It's what's going on in the world.

Original Blog Entry: how far have we fallen with televsion and music since the 50's?

LOTTOMIKE — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:10:02 GMT

since the 50's up until the 2000's i think music and television shape a big part in kids thinking growing up.all throughout this city i live in you see kids wearing tacky stuff and saying the things they say because of what they are influenced by in music and television.when people imitate trash they become trashy.like someone said it might drive up ratings for advertisers but at the cost of gullible kids being influenced by questionable subject matter and repeating the things they see or hear thinking its cool.i might've had long hair from being influenced by hard rock music back in the 80's but i'd hate to have been growing up these days influenced by all this gang stuff infesting the airwaves.

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