Have you ever stopped and thought about how much music reflects society?

Think about this for a second.

During the ’70s, America was going through the “hippie stage” of our history. Potheads and whores roamed America with the one desire — to make love, not war.

Not a bad policy if you think about it. So what if hundreds of STDs came from this era; think of the memories those hippies must have.

Our generation can only dream of what the “real” Woodstock may have been like. Can you imagine a situation in which drugs were legal and sex was free to whomever chose to take part? I believe this era was the closest to heaven man has ever come.

And from this epoch came Humble Pie, Free, Sly and The Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix and my boys, Grand Funk Railroad.

These bands, along with many more, sang songs of love and lust for absolute freedom among mankind.

What a beautiful thing.

Then the early ’80s came along. Ronald Reagan’s presidency made America rich, and the vibe was jubilant.

Burger King became mother to our youth, and the television supplied the moral fabric to a generation that would soon be labeled “X.”

While all was not well, America celebrated the fact that it was now making money that was not going to fund a war. My parents, just like yours, pretended they lived in the best of times.

We laughed and said, “Buy me more.”

Hair rock hit American like a sledgehammer. Bon Jovi told us we were living on a prayer, but we were too caught up with his hair and makeup to catch his lyrical content.

Poison told us that every rose has its thorn, but the glare off of C.C. Deville’s ass was too blinding to see the truth.

Motley Crue even told us to shout at the devil.

Much like society, we celebrated these musicians based upon their visual appearance, never stopping to realize the ridiculousness of their very existence.

The youth of America began to awaken in the early ’90s. Generation X no longer embraced its given title. We were pissed off and wanted to kick some conservative crack.

America feared its own offspring, and the musical world began a civil war of justification.

Kurt Cobain and Nirvana let the world know how pissed off we were.

Soundgarden made songs of destruction, while Layne Staley and Alice In Chains told the world that we were a doomed culture with no way out.

So where are we now? Well, I just recently bought Vision of Disorder’s new record, along with those by Earth Crisis and Madball.

You tell me. My only hope is that the current music of today is reflecting a forthcoming war of youth vs. the elite.

If music has any reflection of our culture, we are finally moving into an era of anger, rage and frustration that will not be calmed down. At least I certainly hope so.

I think this world is pretty friggin’ unfair, and I’d rather see someone pick up a weapon before they pick up a pen. Maybe I’m an anarchist. If so, there are a lot out there like me.

I’m not the only one who believes you have to fight for the truth. I’m not the only one who thinks it’s bullshit that in order to gain intelligence in America, you have to literally pay for it.

I’m not the only one who truly believes in freedom of expression. Musicians are expressing those same viewpoints right now.

Reflecting or foreshadowing? Just think about that today, OK? Then go home, have an Icehouse and get ready for tomorrow.

We’ll talk later.

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Chad Calek is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Persia.