Essay On Cultural Differences In Popular Music

In a sex-dominated society like present day America, the content is prevalent in all media, specifically music. Music has always been sexual, it is just that as sex became less taboo, people were more free to express themselves, but there were still restrictions set in place, which made people more inclined to break them. This is shown in music for all audiences from adults to children, but there is one main difference in the way that the content is expressed, and that is cultural. White and black performers as well as audiences have always had contrasting differences between them, musically and socially, which is a discourse that is prominent in popular music. These issues stem from post-slavery and segregation in which the music of blacks and whites could not be acknowledged as overlapping although they have always influenced each other. Over the past fifty years, though, this …show more content…
This leads to people openly comparing white and black music and noticing these contrasting lyrics although the messages are the same. As a case in point, about fifty years ago, in 1969, Led Zeppelin released “Whole Lotta Love.” “Whole Lotta Love” became one of the most popular rock songs that a lot of people do not even know is about sex because of the extensive use of signifying, or singing lyrics about something noncontroversial but with a deeper meaning so that people do not see the deeper meaning unless they relate. It includes a psychedelic electric guitar solo that just screams rock by Jimmy Page, while Robert Plant alternates vocally between croons and orgasmic belts laced with euphemistic obscenities riddled with phallic undertones. “Gonna give you every inch of my love” is repeated throughout the song with the chorus in order to imply sex, but it could be misconstrued into something