Music or Poetry?
Which came first, the tune or the tale?
MUSIC AND MEDIA
Kris Robertson
1/23/20252 min read
How Music and Media Shapes Our World
How much do music, movies, and TV series influence your thoughts, beliefs, and emotions? Do rappers and rockers shape public opinion more than politicians or preachers?
I’ve spent my life immersed in sound. I was a music major for two years, a member of my university choir, and have worked as a live sound engineer ever since—mixing for rock, jazz, pop, and country artists. Music has never been just entertainment to me; it has been a force shaping culture, identity, and even rebellion. The world of popular media has only grown in influence, consuming more of our collective consciousness than ever before. How did this happen? Why is YouTube today more influential than religious texts?
Did it start with the birth of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s? No, I take the idea much further back. To me, poetry is the foundation of modern rebellion. What is a pop song if not poetry set to music? Lyrics communicate love, anger, hope, and despair—the full spectrum of human experience. Strip the music away, and you find yourself staring at the same raw emotion that fueled the earliest published poems. If anything, the printing press was the true mother of artistic rebellion, making the written and shared word one of the most powerful forces for change in human history. Music, then, is simply that force set to a beat—a danceable tale of joy, loss, and struggle.
I was born in 1974, a proud Gen X survivor—the eye of the tiger and all. My generation carried burdens few others fully understand. We lived through the AIDS crisis, ozone depletion, video games rotting our brains, and alcohol as a deadly rite of passage. And through it all, one force reigned supreme over our minds: MTV.
Music Television wasn’t just a network; it was the gospel of youth culture. For years, it dominated our lives, shaping our fashion, our language, and our worldviews. Nothing else held sway over the youth of my day like MTV. We debated Axl Rose’s every move until the rise of grunge blew everything wide open. When Nirvana hit, the old guard faded fast, and suddenly, we had a new prophet: Cobain. His words weren’t just lyrics—they were scripture.
Back then, music meant more to us than any Bible verse. And looking around today, I don’t think that has changed. If anything, the power of music and media has only grown. I see our society ebb and flow in harmony with our art. Sometimes one is the influencing force and sometimes they swap places. Today this is a fearful time and the music will follow soon.
Hang on tight,
Kris Robertson