Sign of the Times: The Cultural Moments That Changed Music (Without Us Noticing)

Music, like all art, is influenced by the world around it. Some songwriters are reactionary, while others are subconsciously influenced by cultural shifts. Whatever the reason for musical trends, they occur without much say from the audience. The three cultural movements below all informed certain musical moments, whether the artists of the day knew it or not.

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1960s Wartime Folk

Starting with a pretty obvious one, we have the rise of politically or societally minded folk in the 1960s. Artists knew what they were doing with this particular musical moment, yet cultural tides remained an uncontrollable force. Songwriters didn’t have any choice but to react to the world around them, which at the time was riddled with war.

[RELATED: 3 One-Hit Wonders From the 1960s You Didn’t Know Were Sampled by Other Songs]

Musicians of this era—Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, and Joan Baez, to name a few heavy hitters—were shaken by the political movements around them. Whether music wanted to evolve in this way or not, the societal shift was so stark that artists couldn’t help but be influenced by it.

2000s/2010s Recession Pop

A little less obvious to culture at the time was the “recession pop” of the late 2000s and early 2010s. In hindsight, the correlation between hard times and blithe pop tunes is easy to see; nevertheless, back then, it was largely a subconscious, pervasive trend.

Artists like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and The Black Eyed Peas were making music with one goal: partying all night long. It’s somewhat of a pop-music cliché of this era that everything rested on one perfect night out with friends, living like there’s no tomorrow. But that kind of wild, carefree spirit was precisely the opposite of the sentiment much of the U.S. was experiencing at the time. These artists were making the sonic antidote to a recession, whether conscious or by accident.

2020s Algorithm-First Hits

In the 2020s, the internet has greatly influenced music. It’s not something we’re able to combat, really. It’s a constant part of our lives, making it one of the world’s biggest tastemakers. Moreover, the advent of social media has made it “easier” for artists to be discovered, putting at least some of the power in the hands of the creator. But, in order to be discovered, you have to play into the hands of the algorithm. This has led to choruses that can stand alone as 15-second videos and formulaic songwriting that can work as soundbites.

Many artists can toe the line between this approach and something earnest, while others struggle to express their identity within this framework. It’s too soon to tell the large-scale effect this trend will have on music, but it certainly has sway.

(Photo by Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star via Getty Images)