Music, youth and society are more connected than we sometimes want to admit.
In this post, I write about music, youth and society – and why banning things doesn’t solve what we’re afraid of, but instead silences the conversations we need to have.
👉 🇸🇪 Läs inlägget på svenska: Musik – det vi är rädda för och det vi egentligen hör
Oh… here I go again.
My thoughts go everywhere.
And this time, they get stuck in music.
That’s kind of how I am – I dive deep.
You might have noticed that already.
All in.
Do you recognize it?
When you find something you keep thinking about…
and it just grows?
Becomes bigger.
Gets more angles.
And there’s just no stop.
It all started when Sweden Democrats wanted to ban certain types of music in youth centers.
I wrote about it.
But I didn’t stop thinking.
Because music reflects society.
It shows what time we live in.
That it exists.
I think even back in the time of Carl Michael Bellman, his lyrics reflected his reality.
He wrote about drinking, longing.
About life as it was.
And maybe…
he was part of it himself.
And even further back…
On cotton fields, where people worked until their bodies gave in, songs were born.
Songs that carried:
pain
sorrow
injustice
It wasn’t just music.
It was storytelling.
Right there. Right then.
And I land here:
All music carries its time.
Its wounds.
Its demands.
Its pressure.
Not just the music of today.
But everything that has ever been.
Jazz – Freedom Between the Lines
Jazz.
Freedom.
Improvisation.
A way to take space in your own way.
A way to express what couldn’t always be said out loud.
Elvis – When Adults Got Afraid
And then came Elvis Presley.
His hips.
Young girls screaming, crying, disappearing into the music.
And the adults…
they reacted.
Said it was too much.
Too provocative.
Too dangerous.
And yet…
young people loved him.
Maybe even more because of that.
Because he became theirs.
A wall against the adult world.
And something new was growing.
Youth.
Teenage years.
Before Elvis, you went more directly from child to adult.
But somewhere there, in the 1950s, young people were given space.
A time of their own.
And music…
became part of that.
The 60s – A Movement, Not Just Music
Then came the 60s.
Young people became a force.
A culture.
They wanted something else.
To break free from adult norms.
To search deeper.
Many turned to Eastern philosophy.
To spirituality.
To new ways of seeing life.
They lived together.
Shared life.
Shared thoughts.
And there was a strong longing:
Peace.
Love.
Understanding.
“Make love, not war.”
It was a protest.
Against war.
Against consumption.
Against a world they didn’t want to inherit.
And the clothes…
flower power.
Colors.
Flowers in their hair.
If you had asked them if it was fashion…
they wouldn’t have called it that.
It was a statement.
A way of living.
Voices That Carried Truth
Bob Marley.
Message. Struggle. Faith.
Cornelis Vreeswijk.
Songs about people. Life as it was.
Stories that hit something real.
The 70s – When Everything Expanded
Music became:
bigger
freer
more experimental
And most importantly:
it wanted to say something.
Rock grew.
Pushed boundaries.
At the same time:
Heavy metal – energy and frustration
Louder.
Heavier.
A release.
Disco – community and escape
Joy.
Movement.
Being in your body.
And in the middle of it all…
there were voices.
Just standing there.
Singing about:
love
loss
life
Punk – When Simplicity Became Power
When things got too complex…
punk came.
Simple.
Fast.
Direct.
Anyone could join.
All you needed…
was something to say.
Sex Pistols
Joakim Thåström and Ebba Grön
That’s where I land.
Because that was my time.
And I remember the feeling.
Not because everything was right.
But because it felt real.
And I think…
If my parents had banned that music?
I would have listened even more.
In headphones.
And maybe the rebellion would have grown.
Because there’s something about that.
What gets forbidden…
doesn’t disappear.
Today – What Are We Really Reacting To?
And here we are today.
Music, youth and society.
And we react to rap.
To lyrics.
To words.
And I get it.
I react too sometimes.
But…
if you stay a little longer?
You hear something else.
Not just the words.
But what’s behind them.
And what strikes me is this:
It was never just music.
It was always:
a protest
a release
a feeling
a way to understand
It reflects the world we live in now.
I don’t think music creates it.
I think it tells us about it.
When We Listen Instead of Ban
I’ve seen it.
How music becomes a way to talk.
To ask:
“What do you hear in this?”
“Is this the life you want?”
And suddenly…
it’s not about the song anymore.
It’s about life.
There’s research on this.
Young people use music to understand themselves.
To handle emotions.
To feel belonging.
And honestly…
we’ve always done that.
So maybe the question isn’t:
what young people listen to.
But:
what we dare to listen to together with them.
💬 Question for you
What did you listen to that adults didn’t understand?
Do you think we should ban what feels uncomfortable – or stay and try to understand it together?
Music reflects its time.
As it is.
Right now.
In every era.
So instead of banning…
we need to react together.
Talk.
Discuss.
Stay.
Because when we ban music…
we don’t just silence songs.
We silence time.
Struggle.
Voices.
And out there…
people are hurting.
And we look away.
Because banning feels easier than listening.
But children don’t do what we say.
They do what we do.
And that’s where we are.
We adults.
We are the ones who can show something else.
Not by banning culture.
But by stepping into it.
Listening.
Questioning.
Staying.
Even when it hurts.
🌿
Music changes.
But the need to be heard never does.
And maybe…
that’s where we meet.
👉 https://malix.se/09/musik-fritidsgardar-samtal-ungdomar/04/17/50/
👉 https://malix.se/09/music-in-youth-centers-conversation-everyday-life/04/16/54/
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Yesterday has settled into history.
Tomorrow is waiting ahead.
But right now – this is where life is.
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