There's No Good Music Left!

"There is no good music around anymore! I feel sorry for your generation!" My boyfriend's relative said to us recently on a car trip tp their hometown of Philadelphia. We were in for an 8-hour drive, and she was determined to make use of the time that she had with us. I could tell that she enjoyed speaking with us. We defied her stereotypes of the typical 20-year-old college students.

I shook my head as I glanced at her from the rearview mirror. I loved having conversations about current music. I'm not the typical music listener of my generation. I barely listen to the radio in my car. The freshwomen in my residence hall (I'm a Resident Assistant) keep me current with what's going on in the music world...which furthers my hesitance to turn on the radio.

In a sense, I told my boyfriend's relative, I agreed with her. If all I did was listen to the radio, I would be disheartened to hear bitch and hoe after every line, said by both men and women. I would turn up my nose at some of the lyrics. The most recent one to make me shake my head in disgust?

"You wanna see some as*? I wanna see some cash...and that's gon' make me dance."
Make It Rain- Travis Porter

So yes...I understand why she would say that. Only IF I listened to solely the radio and mainstream music.

But since I don't, I have more of a variety to choose from, which led me to say that there IS good music in our generation. Beyond good music. A lot of this music, however, does not make it to mainstream radio. The artists that make this music are fine with that, as well, I added.

I say that because by the time the music makes it to mainstream, it goes through so much changing and forming to fit what is believed to be popular that I'm sure it is unrecognizable.

The true fans of these artists know how to find their music. They know that it most likely won't be found on the radio, their concerts aren't at sold-out venues and they may not have the most downloads on iTunes. But they also can trust that the depth and meaning of their message won't be lost among the many other songs on the radio that already have. Those who want to find good music, do and will continue to.