The Rise of The Little Guys and The Continuation of Legends

The 2010’s

The technological advancements and creativity of the new generation has made creating music easier than any other decade. There is no longer a need for a record label or a recording studio to get big. The amount of independently created music has now surpassed the amount of officially published musical content. Felix Kjellberg also known as Pewdiepie on YouTube created his own music back in 2018 and with 2 songs reaching a combined 400 million views.

Being creative has never been easier and this has caused a huge multitude of music to be released to the world. Apps like Tiktok and Soundcloud paving a path for many creators to share their talents and make it big with a budget. No more need for a garage to play instruments or moving to a new city just to hope for a chance. It can all happen in your living room and all it takes is the drive to do it. Artists like XXXTENTACION and Post Malone made it big after making their debut on Soundcloud and major pop star Billie Eilish making her 2019 album “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO” in her brother's bedroom. That album alone has over a billion listens across all songs.

For me, my favorite music has come from the 2010’s. The band “Black Veil Brides” who took the emo genre and twisted it into a more positive spin. The emo genre which is about relating to teens and understanding the emotional struggle of life. The 2000’s features emo music about being in pain and hopelessness but black veil brides taught people that hard times can be overcome. Their 2011 album “Set The World On Fire” about being yourself and joining together to be comfortable with non conforming behavior. Their 2013 album “Wretched and Divine” being a concept album about a group of rebels rising above adversity and fighting for their freedoms of self.

This music changed my life because early on in my teenage years I went through some hard stuff as life started to change and I sat in my room having no clue how to handle my stress. I turned to my knife and I opened it thinking “Cutting helps people? Could it help me?” As I was thinking about cutting myself to try and help my thoughts escape, the song knives and pens came on (Black Veil Brides 2010). The song is about wanting to cut but turning to more positive alternatives. Choosing the pen to be the weapon of choice because a pen represents endless possibilities. The scene was as if it came straight out of a movie. As I paid attention to the lyrics blasting out of my terrible speaker system I decided to write down my thoughts and then I drew some things and tried to do what I could to express my feelings in a more positive way. To this day I have never turned to self harm and I thank the positive messages in Black Veil Brides lyrics.

When we think about which decade of music is the best we think about which sound is our favorite. Thrash metal and classic pop? Then you love the eighties. Grunge and stunning boy bands? The 1990’s. Every decade has one thing that defines it but when we think about the 2010’s there is no one sound that defines it because all sounds define it. Think about only being able to listen to one kind of music for the rest of your life. No matter how much of a super fan you are, the popular songs of a decade will always get old. Every genre and every type of song and creative twists were tried and done in the 2010’s. Listening for 1000 hours would leave you still finding more.

Music is never lost, it is found in the new. We still hear bands saying that the Beatles is their greatest inspiration and we still hear music coming out today that sounds like Frank Sinatra or Madonna. There are various songs that will be lost but the artists that we adore can be found in new ways. For example Metallica is still making new music and released an album in 2016. Cyndi Lauper released an album in 2016. The legends never die and they still make music today.

If we are getting technical there were a lot of covers in the 2010’s of old songs. The most well known being the sound of silence which was originally by Simon and Garfunkel which was covered by Disturbed. The new version, which has gotten 600+ million views and a Grammy nomination, could be argued as the better of the two and it still held true to the original. SO much old music can be found in new ways today but you cannot find new music in the past. There is no Justin Bieber in the 80’s but there is Ozzy Ozbourne in the 2010’s. The amount of covers make almost every song imaginable in the 2010’s. In 2019 there was a movie called “yesterday” about the Beatles and the soundtrack includes many Beatles covers. The 2010’s is the only decade where we can find the Beatles, Elvis, and Queen.

The quality, quantity, and variety makes the 2010’s the ultimate decade of music. The world is forever changing and music will always learn to evolve with it but there is no better time capsule than the one’s within our own new artists. Music today is just a continuation of what once was and today is the cornerstone of what will be. There is no other time period I would rather listen to than the one that represents all.

The picture:

This picture is an example of how easy it is to do content creation in this day and age. I personally do not create music but I am creative and I decided to make my own album cover as if I was making music. The album cover features me under a bridge and the term “youth to death” represents me living life to the fullest until I die. There is no gap between youth and death because the transition to me will be instantaneous. It is a kind of positive spin on hard times that I mention in my story. The parental advisory sticker is a personal touch because I am not perfect, no one is.