ALCOHOL is a favourite theme in international hits and local songs in many cultures, but it is becoming less commonly referenced in music.
According to one study, references to drunkenness, and more broadly to alcohol, have become less frequent in British pop music in recent years.
What is behind the dwindling references? Young people are no longer interested in alcohol.
Alcohol is a major element in the lyrical inspiration of various genres of popular music from rock to rap and alternative.
Kurt Cobain and Nirvana did not just sing about it, they hammered home the idea that drinking was an inescapable part of life, as in “Beans”, and sometimes even to the point of obsession as in “Alcohol”.
Guns N’Roses paid tribute to their favourite wine in “Nightrain”, while Australian rockers AC/DC invited listeners to share a glass in “Have a Drink on Me”.
Just as cigarettes were considered a “cool” accessory in the aftermath of World War II, alcohol has long had a similar image in many musical works and in the rock scene in general.
However, the music scene may be undergoing a cultural turning point.
That is the conclusion of a study analysing the greatest hits of the British pop scene since 2012 carried out by the DASH Water brand and reported on by industry news website Foodnavigator.
An analysis of the lyrics of the top ten hits every year from 2012 to 2022 in the UK charts shows that references to drunkenness or drinking have dropped by 79 per cent since 2017.
Between 2021 and 2022 alone, the study indicates that there has been a 40 per cent drop.
This is a recent phenomenon, since in 2017 this analysis found that half of the tracks selected for this study had some lyrical connection with alcohol.
According to this analysis, the decrease in references may be linked with younger generations’ “more mindful approach” to what they put in their bodies, which translates into less alcohol consumption than previous generations.
In the United Kingdom, one in five young people under the age of 25 say they do not drink alcohol, according to a Drinkaware study. – ETXDailyUp
