Themes+&+Messages

=__Themes and Messages__= Today's music features a wide array of themes and messages ranging from love songs and positive messages to political protest songs. Out of 24 students surveyed, 11 said love was the most prominent message in the music they listened to, 6 said war, 3 said politics, 2 said drugs, 1 said hope, and 1 said environmentalism.

Love
Love songs have been a staple of popular American music for the past century and are still featured heavily in popular music in 2011. One of the most popular songs of the past year is Train's "Hey Soul Sister", which is almost a cookie-cutter love song with lyrics such as "And so I went and let you blow my mind \ Your sweet moonbeam \ The smell of you in every single dream I dream \ I knew when we collided you're the one I have decided \ Who's one of my kind." Another popular love song is "Goodbye My Lover" by James Blunt.

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Anti-war and political messages re-entered popular music directly after the September 11, 2001 attacks and are still present in popular music today. Political messages are usually associated with either the punk or rock genres. Bands such as the RX Bandits frequently sing about war and politics. One of their songs, "Bury It Down Low" contains such themes: "From the mouths on Wall Street \ Never hear it mentioned \ In the hearts of these men \ Exists a dissention \ In the paper there were pictures of the war \ Got me feeling sick inside \ Oh, I want to leave it alone \ But I don't know where to hide." Following is an article written by Sam Smith on Music and Politics from a progressive point of view: []

Drugs
While drugs are a very controversial topic, a surprising number of bands have featured drugs as a message of their music. While most pop artists do not sing about drugs, many rap artists and reggae artists openly sing about drugs. One such rapper is Wiz Khalifa, who has many songs about marijuana. A reggae band that also contains drugs as a topic of their music is The Expendables, who also mainly sing about marijuana.