Every decade has its music.

I was recently going through my itunes library. I realized I have a huge conglomerate of music in my library, being that music has pretty much been my obsession since I was 11 years old. Over the years, I've collected, bought, been exposed to so many different types of music, so many different sounds that it honestly surprises me I am not pursuing a career in music. But most importantly, it really amazed me how much music and pop culture has changed over the past 20 years.

 I'm a 90's kid and when I look back on the music of the 90's, I remember being in elementary/middle school, and watching shows like MTV's TRL, and being excited when Carson Daly would premiere the days top videos.

Carson Daly with NSYNC on MTV's TRL

There was no YouTube. There was no "i-anything." I  swore by my walkman, my radio, and TV. That was how I discovered music. And that was how I discovered a little band called, No Doubt.

I remember first hearing No Doubt's song, "Don't Speak" on the radio. I didn't know who sang the song, but I knew I loved it. I had to listen to the song 5 separate times on the radio before the DJ finally revealed to me, "that was No Doubt." Once I found out who the band was, I went to my local library, and checked out the cd. I fell in love. Two weeks later, I bought my own copy of the cd, and I've had it ever since.

Does anyone else remember rockin' to the radio?

But if you ask an 11 or 12 year old today how they discover the new popular sounds of the time, they're not going to be able to tell you a quaint little story like that. They'll tell you they found the song on YouTube, Spotify or Pandora, while they were looking for some other song on those same services. We live in a different world these days.

But what does that have to do with me going through my itunes library, you ask.
In going through my itunes library, I realized how much music is a reflection of the pop culture of the time period. In the 60's everything was hippie-ish, a reflection of the music. In the 80's, similarly  everything was hair bands/pop glam, a reflection of the music. In the 90's the sound was more punk-raw. As such, a more DIY aesthetic was embraced by the world. I remember splattering paint on my jean overalls because I wanted to be cool. Or because I saw that in music video or something.

Yes, the rumors are true. Overalls were a huge staple in the 90's.

The 2000's saw a split in music. Everything was either emo-fied to death (no pun intended) or hip-hopified to death. And look at the fashion of that time period. The emofication of the 2000's is the whole reason why skinny jeans emerged as a fashion trend. They were considered a staple of the scene mid-2000's, (only the cool "music" kids wore them) now they're so generic, it makes me sad.

Wondering where the skinny jean craze came from? Blame the

emo trend!

The 2010's saw the midst of an alternative universe, as I like to call it. Even the poppiest of popstars have committed to a more alternative vibe. Take Lady Gaga's latest release "Million Reasons" --which I'm proud to say I discovered her new song on my car radio. I still listen and love the radio. I guess I'm old school like that. But everything is "alternative" these days. And if you look at pop culture as a whole, you can see that reflection of the push for alternative.  Today, in 2017, it's okay to "be yourself," whoever you are. As a culture, we embrace the alternative. It's so much cooler to make a gofund me page than to work with a corporation. It's much cooler to post your music to sites like Soundcloud, or Spotify.

If there's one thing I learned from going through my itunes library, it's that music and pop culture intermix a lot. In going through my music library, it's almost as if I was able to pick out which song came from which decade strictly based on the song/style of music.

I think that's something that's important to point out, as it tells us something about the evolution of pop culture and society through the years.