Introduction
Music has a strong impact on the social life of youths and children. Due to the advances in technology, many miniature gadgets allow children and youths to listen to music without any restrictions. Thus, parents and older generations do not have control over which songs their children and youth should listen to. There are different types of popular music genres in America. Some examples of modern popular music genres include rap, country, pop, rock, and R&B.
The goal of this paper is to analyze how drugs are represented and discussed in popular culture through music lyrics. To achieve this goal, the paper will be divided into three sections. The first section will constitute an analysis of several songs on how they address the drugs problem among the youths and children. The second section will be an analysis of two articles that address music and drugs issues. Finally, the last section will be conclusions drawn from the analysis of this subject.
Songs addressing drugs problem
Most popular songs in America tend to glorify alcohol and drugs. Instead of putting drugs and alcohol in a negative light, most of the modern popular music ganger put alcohol and drugs in a positive light. Several songs associate drugs and alcohol with humor, sex, and partying. This section will discuss several songs and how they address the drugs problem.
“Tequila makes her clothes fall off” is a country song copyrighted in 2005 by an individual singer (Wiggins, 2005, Track 3). The artist is praising an alcohol brand name tequila. The artist creates a lot of humor when describing how someone behaves after having taken tequila. Throughout the song, the audience is encouraged to drink this brand because it creates more fun than any other drink. Drinks like Smirnoff, Bacardi, and Champagne are used in the song to see that Tequila is a good drink compared to them.
This brand is described as one that will make someone go out of his/her senses and do extraordinary things which will make him/her wonder what has happed the day after. The artist seems not to be worried about how the brand is misleading someone, but goes ahead and praises it on how it creates fun. This song is glorifying alcohol and in particular, the Tequila brand.
“Billy’s got his beer goggles on”is another country song copyrighted in the same year by an individual artist (McCoy, 2005, Track 3). The artist is trying to portray how drugs temporarily fix our problems through the feelings they create after taking them. Billy, the person who is being referred to in this song, forgets his worries and problems after smoking and drinking. He feels good and this temporarily fixes his worries, but it does not solve any problem. The artist is trying to create a picture of how alcohol and cigarette are useful in times of stress and other personal problems.
It makes someone enjoy many things in the bar like what Billy was enjoying. For instance, he could dance in the bar, yet at home, he could only picture problems. He could also laugh at many things happening in the bar and the only thing which could make him feel bad was when someone spilled his beer. This indicates that the artist is trying to encourage people to try and get high when they are facing problems. Going high will not solve anything, instead, it will create more problems afterward as you can leave the bar being broke like Billy did.
“All jacked up” is also a country song copyrighted in 2005 and produced by a single artist (Wilson, 2005, Track 1). The artist uses the title of this song to refer to the degree of “highness”. The song starts with how the drunkards cheat themselves that they will just take a few bottles and leave, but they find themselves drinking till morning. It explains how taking too much alcohol causes the drunkard to misbehave leading him/her into trouble. This song sounds different from others in that the artist concludes by urging people not to drive when they are drunk and also should not begin a fight when they are “all jacked up”.
“Stay fly” is a rap song done by many artists and copyrighted in the year 2005 (Three 6 Mafia’s, 2005, Track 2). It is a song of its kind. It praises all kinds of drugs, urging all the American youths to stay high as this is the American way. The artists of this song are encouraging the youngsters to smoke through the night and sleep all day calling it an American way. Words like green and weed are used in this song to refer to Marijuana. The artist is praising the issue of staying high and urges the youth to stay high till they die.
The “Soul Survivor” is another rap song released in the same year and done by two artists. The artist acknowledges that whatever he is doing is not good and he asks God for forgiveness (Jenkins, 2005, Track, 2). He explains how the drugs make him suffer being in and out of jail now and then. He feels that due to addiction, it is hard to stop taking the drugs, but clearly says that he knows what he is doing is wrong and he will not benefit from it. He hates the drug club but he is unable to leave it. At least this song does not praise the drugs, and it is encouraging the youths to stay away from tacking them.
Articles analysis
The first article is entitled “Content Analysis of Tobacco, Alcohol and Other Drugs in Popular Music”, has a similar outcome to the analysis of the songs presented earlier in this paper. The research carried out in this article revealed that the youths are exposed to drugs through the popular songs they listen to. The research found that the exposure varies depending on the music genre. Rap songs topped (77%) the list with pop songs having the least percentage (9 %). Marijuana and alcohol were the most common references in these songs (Brian et. al, 2008).
The second article is addressing the impact of music lyrics, music, and music videos on youth and children. This research found that children and youths can listen to any kind of music because it’s easily available through many channels such as the internet, radios, and other new technologies. This means parents cannot restrict what their children are listening to. The research revealed that music has adverse effects on social interactions, schoolwork, mood, and behavior of children and youths (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2009). Youths were found to prefer certain types of music lyrics, such as rap for example. Due to this preference, the research concluded that youths become involved in certain behaviors such as drug-taking due to the influence of the lyrics. Considering that rap music praises alcohol and marijuana a lot, youths can consider taking drugs as normal behavior.
Conclusion
Music is good to listen to, but there is a need to restrict our youths and children on what they listen to considering the harmful effects some music genres are causing to them. The messages in this music encourage youths to indulge in drugs. Education intervention is necessary to enlighten our youths and children and reduce the impact of the negative messages on youths and children.
References
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2009). Impact of Music, Music Lyrics, and Music videos on Children and Youths. Pediatrics, 1488-1494.
Brian, A. et. al. (2008). Content Analysis of Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drugs in Popular Music. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, 169-175.
Jenkins, J. (2005). Soul Survivor [Recorded by Young J & Akon]. On Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 [CD]. New York; Def Jam Recordings.
McCoy, N. (2005). Billy’s got his beer goggles on. On That’s Life [CD]. Texas; Sony Acid Music Studio.
Three 6 Mafia’s. (2005). Stay Fly [Recorded by Mike Foster]. On Most Known Unknown [CD]. New York; Vinyl Records.
Wiggins, J. (2005). Tequila makes her clothes fall off [Recorded by Joel Nichols]. On album III [CD]. Rogers, Akransa; Universal South Records.
Wilson, G. (2005). All Jacked UP. On All Jacked Up [CD]. Oceanway, Nasville; Debonaire Records & Recording Studio.