Socially acceptable music
Currently, in this society, there are forms of music that are unacceptable and should never be played in public or to the majority of people. Looking into this, what makes a song socially unacceptable? From asking a few people and doing a few polls, I’ve come up with the list below of socially unacceptable traits in music.
- Heavy music, such as metal. Metal uses distortion and muting to create its signature heavy tone, which is deemed socially unacceptable.
- Screaming vocals, prominently in metal are too harsh to be socially acceptable.
- Non-standard time signatures/polyrhythms, as they’re difficult to listen to. While some forms of jazz use this and can get by, most genres in 15/8 are too complex and confuse their listeners. Making it socially unacceptable.
- Fast music. While I can’t say all forms of fast music are socially unacceptable, a majority are. Anything over 200bpm will be too fast and intense for an average listener
- Vulgar lyrics. If the song has vulgar lyrics that are not too obvious, it can be socially acceptable so this is an interesting point.
- Themes of politics and religion. Once again, depends on the song but these themes could be against someone’s ideals.