Why isn't classical music more popular?

Question

Is it because the youth of our culture have developed progressively shorter attention spans, losing the ability to appreciate the subtlety of true art, and instead turning to the shallow, forgettable, instant gratification of the heavy beats found in hip-hop, rap, and pop music?

Answer 1

I totally agree with you.
Kids today think graffitti is art, rap lyrics are poetry, and Britney Spears is a singer.
They are incapable of thinking for themselves.
Just look at the amount of questions on this site that show a complete lack of imagination.
Who's better, Pete Wentz or Brendon Urie?
When does the next Harry Potter film come out?
What's the best movie of all time ever (sic)?
I thought the joy of the internet was to look things up for yourself, but no, it's just an excuse for people to be even more lazy and ignorant than ever before.
It saddens me that we are becoming a species of morons.

Answer 2

I listen to all types of music. I listen mostly to underground metal, but I have a sincere appreciation for classic music. I'd agree that it's due to short attention spans but however, I would not attribute that to age. I'm 22 years old and I in particular, enjoy Mozart's final two symphonies. If you want to find someone to blame, I'd have to say mainstream media. Since the 70's, they've force fed utter garbage down our throats (not to say it's all been bad, to be honest) and many people have had no problem swallowing. It's the large record labels that turn music from a form of expression and a piece of art into demographics and marketing. Blame them.

Answer 3

Shorter attention spans has to be a big culprit.

Bruckner, Tchiakovski and Mahler never heard of the "3 minute rule' which today's songwriters adhere to.

it's like going into an art gallery and seeing a Rembrant, looking at it for a minute, saying "that's nice" and moving on.

I used to be into Brahms, Beethoven, etc, but now I enjoy Bach and Vivaldi. Tastes change. but love of art never does.


it's a shame. People not into classic are missing an awful lot.

Answer 4

For one thing, it's not part of most youth culture. I'm sure the parents of most kids today do not really expose their children to classical music either. Kids that have grown up playing instruments, specifically classical music, will probably enjoy listening to it. It has also been stereotyped to be boring "sleepy" music. A lot of people also like to be able to sing a long to what they listen to or prefer to listen to lyrics that they can appreciate.

Answer 5

because it's old. rock is slowly dieing. one day rap will start to die. the reason people enjoy music is because it is a combination of unheard sounds, and a genre eventually reaches it's capacity to produce unique sounds.

by the way, hip-hop/rnb is a descendant of african music, so it makes since that african americans would enjoy this, more than the beatless sounds of classical music. a lot of hip hop music is actually made from classical instruments, such as the works from miri ben-ari. and you knew there are a lot of people out there who think rap (even rnb and gospel) songs go to long.

when i was younger i use to listen to classical music, and it seemed most of the songs the radio played where about 4-5 minutes, long, the average time of a track off a urban music album (forget the radio edits). of course i remember times when they'd play a 45 minute long song, but I think most adults have a hard time listening to something that long.

Answer 6

Look at how music is marketed and you get an answer. One person spitting into a microphone over top of someone else's sampled beat. Sell that all you can, bleed it dry and move on. Compare that to assembling an orchestra of professionals who spend their lives learning their craft, and you can see why they push the fast-food of music to the masses.

I like hip-hop though, and dance music, drum n bass, heavy metal, etc... it's not all bad. Especially heavy metal, a lot of parallels to classical music their.

Answer 7

i don't know. i know very few people who like classical music. actually the only people i know are me and my dad. and i think one of my friends. i am part of 'our' youth tho, and i do like to keep up with current music but i also like oldies, and jazz. so i am considered strange b/c i will listen to just about anything that you sit in front of me. i wish that more people would listen to classical, for if you dig deep enough you can find the poetry written throughout the song.

Answer 8

Because those songs don't speak to the kids of today. They can't relate to it, and that is mostly what people want in music.

Answer 9

How old are u 100? Music itself has progressed. Just because u can't relate to it doesn't mean it's shallow, just that ur lame

Answer 10

Cause classical music isnt fun or high beat so we tend to not really like it cuz we cant dance to it i sorta like it you know