Rebellion in Music

“How is it that music can, without words, evoke our laughter, our fears, our highest aspirations?” ― Jane Swan

Music has the power to reach potentials unknown but music has only moved forward when a new rebel genre has come into the mainstream, with the rebellion in Jazz, The birth of Rock in the 50s leading to its supremacy being legitimatized in the 60s and early 70s. Rock and Roll was seen as the ultimate form of rebellion. But Disco which originated in gay clubs in the mid to late 70s tried to prove them wrong. Disco itself was the antithesis of Rock. Punk, Heavy Metal & New Wave with their ridiculous hairstyles and choice of clothes was another. Some white collar folks saw Punks as the scum of Earth while others saw Heavy Metal as the runt of the society but some of them also got the title of Devil Worshipers. The 80s also saw a Pop scene being established with the release of “Thriller” though now in this day & age Pop is not such a rebellious genre, In those days it was different, Michael Jackson an African-American had the biggest album in the world & Madonna with her sexually charged lyrics and music videos which could be dated back to the Feminism movement of the 70s.

By the Mid 80s a new genre developed out of Metal called Glam Metal this was a mix of both the elements of metal and Glam rock. The music industry at the time then became saturated with such bands. The overflow of these type of glossed up rock then lead to the beginnings of the alternative scene. The late 80s brought 2 different but equally important genres to the forefront of World music it was Rap & Alternative Rock. Both have taken today different trajectories while one genre can be found in the mainstream of every country, the other genre Alternative will be found in the underground scene. Both Genres were born out of rebellion, Alternative was the rebel to the rock scene and in general to the whole music industry too. Rap originated from the disco clubs of 70s and did not use original beats or sounds rather invented a new way of creating beats through mixing, scratching & sampling. Rap in the 90s was more anti establishment then rock. Alternative Rock faded out and the influence of Rap also started seeping into Rock with the invention and quick fame of nu metal. Rap shocked mainstream audiences by sharing the reality of the situation or by verbal imagery intended to shock. Though by the time of the late 90s came, the boy band or teen pop phenomenon took over and according to me that’s when the rebellion in Music stopped.