Music Is History: Billie Holiday to Carly Rae Jepsen

Music is a language we all speak, it documents a collective experience. From Billie Holiday's 'Strange Fruit' to Marvin Gaye 'What's Going On?' to Carly Rae Jepsen 'Call me Maybe' the pop music charts are a strong reflection of the time and the culture we are living in. So, in this episode of The Coalition we take a look at the top Pop Music charts over the last fifty years and we ask you to think about how pop music today tells your story?
Additional music used to support the discussion in this video includes:
Billie Holiday - 'Strange Fruit' - bit.ly/Z6Y4op
Rolling Stones - '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' - bit.ly/xNHNPw
James Brown - 'I'm Black and I'm Proud' - bit.ly/13VrxWK
Marvin Gaye - 'What's Going On?' - bit.ly/YtwRMF
Pink Floyd - 'Another Brick Wall Pt 2' - bit.ly/XzXqmq
Public Enemy - 'Fight The Power' - bit.ly/12Tt5Bz
Britney Spears - 'Baby One More Time' - bit.ly/fAXRmb
Carly Rae Jepsen - 'Call Me Maybe' - bit.ly/znQPTA
The Coalition - Music Is History
by Tomás Whitmore & Julianne Waters
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[@0TheVegan0ThatCould0]

Music impacts me in so many ways that I can't even describe them all. So I'll try to put it into the most simple explanation I can comprehend. Music to me is a tool. It guides me in my life like an invisible friend that understands exactly what I'm going through. It picks me up when I'm down, helps me search for answers when there are none, and even helps me reflect on who I am and where I stand in the world. So I guess what I'm saying is that "Music is a part of me..."

[@thecaffeinefiend]

Can't live without music. I need it like I need air.

[@jackitallin]

My parents run a music festival and from a young age i was listening to the Beatles, The rolling stones , Talking heads , David Bowie and loads more and it has shaped me into what i am today , i feel sad for the children of today . Because pop music these days has no meaning and just goes in one ear and out the other . Now one will be talking about Call me maybe in 20 years, but people are still talking about the people i mentioned before to this day and most likely for many years to come.

[@7Underwood7]

The sad thing is that, that kind of music exists - it'll just never see the light of mainstream.

[@axeiston]

Music was something that forced us to look at reality but it's now become something to escape from reality, which I feel is a massive, massive issue. We literally look to pop charts to dumb ourselves down. It's literally become synonymous with clubbing and alcohol, both of which follow the exact same philosophy of out of sight out of mind. If you ask me, its dangerous and totally unproductive in evolving as a society.

[@Chadneytube]

I've been trying to explain some of this to my kids...might have to show them this video!

[@yannickbigras2890]

"we are just chill'n right now" yeah man we are just chilling. consequently 10s of millions of people and animals are dieing for things that could be prevented like "the war on terror", global warming, starvation, drug trafficking and an inability to access clean water -just to name a few-. but lets just keep chill'n and listen to some 'call me maybe'

[@TheSaul97]

Did expect call me maybe in this list

[@reecord2]

Someone tell me, definitively, why 'Call Me Maybe' is a "bad" song. What makes it so? Music hasn't hit rock bottom, this is the greatest time IN THE HISTORY OF EXISTENCE to be a music fan. We have access to EVERYTHING that has ever been recorded. Nostalgia always wins; yesterday's songs will be better than today's. You can bet that when Elvis broke, that when the Beatles broke on Ed Sullivan, there were people with their arms crossed, angry how this new 'rock and roll' was destroying music.

[@youngritchey]

Take a look back at the kinds of vids they used to make, then try to say that this series is comparable in quality. Can't be done.

[@TheSavvyBox]

Wanted to be a pro gamer new music I find helps me push for it. Because I dont listen to music besides when im playing

[@charleeriverbear5153]

I don't think music has changed at all im sure there was the same type i music before just more limited.. I do believe tthat society has changed and people simply don't care about the art they just go with what sounds good. Which is why everything is more simplistic . I love music. The art form

[@perlmutterful]

Producing some good stuff keep it up

[@henriquehda]

I think music has changed a lot. Back on the days music had a bigger meaning, it was created to represent something, to fight for something. Nowadays, music is seeing just as a form of entertaining, specially POP for me pop changed so much that most of artists I hear that are on the top are completely lyric less. I don't think their lyrics are here to represent something or give us a message; it is here for amusement and it implants in our head by repetition, and for me this is sort of cheating

[@Crystalvampire66]

Are you guys still making factuary? Cause that's what I subscribed for.

[@jvillavoh]

Super Dope! great upload @thethrashlab

[@RachacucaTV]

I don't get why all this hatred. Thrash lab is pushing the KZbin production forward on every video. If you don't like, then unsubscribe. Simple as that.

[@RobertLeeP]

Obviously, digital music sales will peak when the emotional attachment is greatest and for those older songs, that was a while ago. So many of today's problems are hidden and don't affect our daily routine and the songs that do acknowledge them are passive. 99%, gay rights, gender equality, sex trafficking, and all the others need activist songs - a call to arms. Not just empathetic slacktivist songs.

[@Andrea.Fernandez.3.0.5]

How come you skipped all the way from 98 to 12..?

[@marbarosi]

The fact Carly rae is number 1 is sad.... Though, there is some clarity knowing that maybe music has hit rock bottom. Like what does it have to compare to? at music today is alot more accessable then it would be when marvin gaye was around. So, what is really going on?

[@js024861]

No mention of Nirvana?

[@youngritchey]

Call me maybe breaking that kind of record...im sure i dont stand alone when i say that that is a disgrace

[@RemySerenes]

where's the factuary?

[@kembowhite1903]

It missed a lot but you can't do much in 4 min :)

[@montypython1533]

"Pink Floyd-Another Brick Wall." No. That isn't what it's called.

[@4ppleseed]

Maybe you've never written a book or rendered a pot from clay but I'm pretty sure you could be critical of either if you thought they were bad. If every time someone said a movie was poor and the director retorted, you have no valid point until you make your own, it sure would be an odd world. Creative People's work doesn't need some impenetrable dome of protection just because it might hurt their feelings. If you think about it, it's quite the opposite. I'm not alone, read the other comments.

[@oi_mate613]

they are talking about pop music dude. not alternative

[@pikkon38]

I feel like in order to be a guest on this show. you have to be a hipster.

[@jdp609]

These are a bunch of business people talking about music.

[@awfulawfulawful]

Can anyone find a single salient point in this video? I can't. You're taking what ought to be a highly nuanced argument and glossing over 99% of the data in favor of nice drawings.

[@jokertownrecords]

WOOF

[@duranarts]

No. I won't join the discussion.

[@4ppleseed]

This has to be the worst series on KZbin right now. Especially when it comes to the ratio of production values to actual relevance. Banal writing, trite guests and mundane subjects - it's quite an indelible stain on what is usually good programming from thethrashlab.

[@rawxrawxrawx]

„Music is a language we all speak“… Really? Is it 1993 again? C'mon, you can do better than that.