Music genre impact on society

“Music can changed the world” - Ludwig van Beethoven, the well known composer and pianist. The music industry has been with mankind for decades. The music now and then have varied significantly. We can see the variation from the genres of the songs during each era. Nowadays, music has become part of ones life in many different ways. Music has always impacted our societies in so many ways, but we must be aware that there were positive and negative impacts.

New Wave

New wave is a music genre that originated  in the 1970's. New wave was a hit during the 1970's until the 1980's. Wisegeek (2013) offers information about, 'new wave music is often thought of as an outgrowth of punk music that became popular in the 1970's. 

New Wave was pop music, pure and simple which it retained the fresh vigor and irreverence of punk music, as well as a fascination with electronics, style, and art (all music, 2013).

New Wave music had also brought a few impacts to the society. According to Michael Wolfe 2013,

Mixing of High and Low Cultures

• New Wave was to introduce the "high culture" of visual arts and literature into the "low cultures" of rock music. Band suchs as the Talking Heads were openly influenced by contemporary art, mixing of the techniques of these artists, such as collage, into their songs, while songwriters such as Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe offered complex, overtly literacy lyrics. Socially, this complicated the popular conception of rock music as the domain of unsophisticated teenagers, transforming it into a vehicle of expression for a wider swath of listeners and performers.

Paved Way For Other Genres

• Although New Wave has been critized for its lack of an overtly political viewpoint -- in contrast to radical anger endemic to the punk genre -- New Wave's expansion of rock's musical purview paved the way for a number of other genres that did have an overtly political and socially minded focus, such as grunge and certain types of political ska.

R&B - Rhythm & Blues

2000- In the late 1940's, R&B was first used in the Billboard Magazine. The name was created for music marketing term by the Billboard. The meaning behind the name is this: the " rhythm" part comes from the music's typical dependance upon four-beat measures or bars and employ a backbeat (beats two and four accented in each measure). And the 'blues' portion came from the lyrics and the melodies of the songs, which were often sad, or 'blue' during the music's emergence in the World Was II era. It was an African-American urban sound that evolved from blues and jazz. This music genre was described as rocking and jazz based with a heavy and insistent beat. R&B was becoming popular because of it dance ability. By 1949 the term had replaced Billboard’s category Harlem Hit Parade. The lyrics of R&B music were about everyday life and this is also one of the reasons it became a hit as people find these songs relatable. 

R&B artists like Usher, Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Little Richards, Keith Sweat, Back Street Boys, Boyz II Men have made changes to R&B music. They have included New Jack Swing, Hip Hop,soul, funk rock, love songs, etc. into R&B music ! From songs like Tutti Frutti by Little Richard to I Do by Olivia ft. French Montana, we can see the changes throughout these years for R&B music. 

Meanwhile, the R&B has also brought the new fashion trend to the society. From the 1960's glamorous gowns, wigs and heavy makeup to 1970's over-sized earrings and sun glasses to 1980's Whitney Houston's shoulder pads, pantsuits and leotards to 1990's over-sized sweaters and t-shirt, leather jacket to 2000's low-rise skinny jeans, tunics' worn with a belt and knee-high boots.

Kpop - Korean popular music 

2010 - Korean music is a internationally known music genre and is becoming increasingly popular in our society today. For instance, Psy 2012 music release 'Gangnam Style' had broke the record for the most number of YouTube views. His music video had gone viral that thousands of parodies were made and uploaded on Youtube. It has indeed impacted younger generations in many way in which he is an example to never give up in pursuing your dreams. 

In a conclusion, music can be divided into various type of genre such as pop music, R&B, k-pop and many more. These music genre kept increasing over the years from 1960-2010. Different types of music genre had influence the society and cause great impact through it's music video, lyrics and the way of their dressing. 

Reference list:
- Ellis-Christensen, T 2013, What is New Wave Music, online, viewed 17th April 2013,
<http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-new-wave-music.htm>
- Punk / New Wave 2013, Rovi Corporation, viewed 17th March 2013,
<http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/punk-new-wave-ma0000011872>
- Wolfie, M 2013, Effects of New Wave Music on Society, viewed 17th March 2013,
<http://www.ehow.com/list_6323837_effects-new-wave-music-society.html>