Response #1 (Lecture on music)

Edison's first phonograph (1877)

Woodstock (1969)

    Being a huge music junkie, I absolutely loved Friday's lecture. I loved hearing about how music progressed from Edison's first phonograph to Ipods today. I was surprised to learn that music used to be a way of spreading news, as I had always thought it was just a form of entertainment. But, now that I think about it, music has held important political messages before, such as in the 60s, to protest the Vietnam war and to promote peace and love. In the late 70s and 80s, punk emerged, and it was all about rebellion and questioning authority. Now popular music is usually meaningless, but a ton of people enjoy it nonetheless. Music has defined entire generations of people, and I don't know what else is powerful enough to do so. Take, for example, the hippies of the 60s and the grungers of the 90s. Without music, those generations may not have had any kind of defining factor. I think the music industry will have to demassify due to the prevalence of online piracy and music streaming, but it will remain a big part of everyone's lives, because music is a universal language. Although I may be one of the last people out


Some of my albums

Recently released record (yes they still make them)

there buying vinyl (One of the few I guess, record stores stay open for a reason) I even think the vinyl industry will stay around. There's just something about holding the hard copy of your favorite album. I'm not the intended audience for any of these albums in the picture ((Clockwise from left) The Beatles' Abbey Road, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, The Doors' The Doors, and Nirvana's Nevermind) But I am able to enjoy it because of Berliner's invention of the gramophone. I think music is one of the most important forms of communication, as you can bond over liking the same music as someone, and some music has been enjoyed from generation to generation. It is unifying, and with the right words, can hold an extremely important message.