Young People Ask . . .

When the Music Ends, How Do We Solve the Problems?

ANOTHER day of school was over at last. Susan, happy that it was, could now head for home, retreat into the privacy of her room, drown herself in music and forget the world!

Is this an apt description of you? A study made of the musical interests of young people, conducted in Berlin and Hamburg, Germany, revealed that they spend one and a half to three hours a day listening to music. Six out of ten put music with a heavy beat, and pop, at the head of their list. Why the major interest in this type of music?

Interviewed young people said it was because of their disappointment with the world around them and their desire to be distracted from their problems. This was an essential reason in Susan’s case. Admonishing teachers, anxiety about schoolwork and exams were all forgotten at the first sounds of music. Often forgotten, too, were the chores and the homework.

Susan had little contact with her parents. She saw her father seldom, perhaps fleetingly on weekends. “He works a lot,” her mother explained. Susan was not so sure. But of one thing she was sure: this was not the kind of marriage she would have. Her husband would have time for her and the children, just as one of her favorite songs described it.

Her mother, who also worked outside the home, always seemed nervous. She seemed to be always under a strain, always on the run, unwilling to listen to anyone who might want to talk to her. She would fix supper in a hurry, do a little housework, and then either slump down in front of the television or fall dead tired into bed.

Susan knew many other young people who had complaints about their parents too. It is a fact that, in recent years, the bond between parents and children has weakened considerably. Many parents no longer listen to what their children want to tell them, and large numbers of children no longer look to their parents for guidance in solving life’s problems.

Young people, however, generally want help in planning their future. They need someone who can show them understanding, someone who will listen to them talk about future plans or past disappointments. Since music is such an important part of their lives, it is small wonder that oftentimes they look up to musicians as examples to follow. Yes, at times they even idolize them.

What Do Pop Stars Have to Offer?

Modern songs often deal with contemporary fears and disappointments. So young people who actually have these problems feel understood by the performers who sing about them.

Of course, simply complaining about today’s deplorable state of affairs​—even when done in the framework of music—​does not really change things or solve problems. So it is not strange that those who sing about their apparently healthy world, or at least dream of such, are afflicted by the very same problems that are common to all of us.

The world of happiness and harmony that pop stars sing about sounds good. And they may be very good in vocalizing what is wrong with our present world. But knowledge of a condition does not change it. And their life-style is in contradiction to their dreams of a sound world, the one they cannot create for others, not even for themselves. Sooner or later the music ends, leaving both singer and listener still loaded down with problems.