Music holds a great influence and importance within culture, especially on the internet. Many people online, whether it be for humor, enjoyment, or personal creative projects, music has a large grasp on culture. Modern music that was released within the past five years is without a doubt influential; however, older music, whether from the early 2010s or even as far back as the 1900s, tends to have significant cultural value on the internet.
For example, “Heartaches,” by Al Bowlly is a song released in 1931 and is massively influential on the internet. The song itself has a nostalgic feeling and speaks of the heartaches of a past relationship. The song gained a new meaning however from the album “Everywhere at the End of Time,” by James Leyland Kirby, also known as The Caretaker, from 2016. The album samples “Heartaches” towards the start and slowly deteriorates into a cacophony of noise as an allegory for dementia. Through this album, “Heartaches,” gained a wide range of popularity online and gained new meaning through The Caretaker’s music as many utilized the song in various contexts such as humor, videos mirroring the tragic feeling of “Everywhere at the End of Time,” and sometimes even in horror content.
Music such as “Faint,” by Linkin Park and “Monster,” by Skillet, is also widely popular on the internet. Songs like these are often edited over, with images and videos of various popular characters such as Tien from “Dragon Ball” for example. One of the most popular examples of this being clips of the Spinosaurus from “Jurassic Park III,” being edited together with “Animal I Have Become,” by Three Days Grace. The original song was about addiction and, in turn, was changed into a soul-pumping video about the Spinosaurus. Videos like these give a whole new meaning to the song, as many even attribute it to the “Spinosaurus theme song.”
