by Jimi Cartwright

Created on: February 24, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Music has been through many changes through out its history. From the drums of Africa, to classical music, to rock and roll, music has taken many different sounds and forms. One thing that has definitely changed, especially in recent years, is not so much the depth of the music in general, but the depth of the music being put out for the masses by the mainstream music industry. Songs have always been written for a variety of reasons such as a political cause, to express an emotion, or just a song for fun to play at a party. There have always been songs with very deep and profound meanings and songs with no real meaning at all. The music that is being released in the mainstream makes it seems as if music as whole is losing its meaning but this isn't necessarily true.

There are still quality, meaningful songs out there written by true musicians who have something significant to say. What has happened is the mainstream music industry has lost interest in good music and gained interest in the best way to make the most money. There is too much focus how the performer looks and how catchy a hook can be rather than how much talent someone has and how good of a song they can write. Many mainstream performers do not even write there own lyrics. Record companies will hire profession song writers to write a catchy money maker rather than a song with some meaning.

Even though music in the mainstream is centered on making money, underground music is full of talented artists with meaingful songs. There are many singers with excellent voices, rock bands with an exceptional amout of skill and hip hop artists who's lyrics consist of much more than "look at my money and my rims". The majority of quality is found in the underground music scene. This seems a little backwards but that is what the music industry has come to.

Music as a whole hasn't lost its depth. There has just been more focus on catchy songs and good looks for the purpose of making money. Quality and meaningful music still exists, you just have to look a little harder for it.

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