Beginning with the songs of ancient figures like Homer leading all the way up to modern songs by people like Juice WRLD and Coldplay, music has changed so much and it has a very interesting history.
Music written by Homer, around 450 BC is very different than that of music today. The Epics the Homer is known for, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are known as a form of song. Music was very similar to this for a very long time, and more instruments were invented and used in everyday songs.
Around Medieval times, music really started to take shape. here were early depictions of musical notes and instruments like the lute came around. People would play on the street for money and have small gatherings to listen to them play. Medieval era music is known as sacred and secular.
As we progressed toward the 1700s, the classical music era began to approach. The Baroque music period was beginning. In this period, composers began to add more musicality to their music and do more with the notes and instruments. It was an experimental period, to say the least.
The period that followed the Baroque period was the Classical music era. In this period, there are some household names such as Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, you know the rest. This period included music written more for symphonies and sonatas. This music followed the long-time traditions of music and was more serious or conventional.
The period that followed this one is the Romantic period. During this period, compositions became way more expressive and inventive. Composers like Brahms, Chopin, and Liszt became well known for their pieces. More symphonies were written and an advancement of music became evident.
After the Romantic period is where it goes into the 'modern' era of music. After World War 1, a new age of music started. In the 1920s, Jazz and Blues were king. People would get together and listed to these type of music. In 1936, the electric guitar was born when a man named Charlie Christian put a pickup on his acoustic guitar in order to play guitar solos in his band.
The 40s and 50s introduced rock and roll, which, in the decades following, would be a huge part of the music industry. People like BB King, Louis Armstrong, Buddy Holly, and more were big influences on Rock.
Going into the 60s, there were bands like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Beach Boys and many more who were all influenced by these people from a decade before, and eventually became influencers themselves. In 1965, with the release of the album Rubber Soul, which turned 55 years old today, The Beatles sparked a major change of direction in the music industry. With the help of some drugs like weed, LSD, and many others, they started the psychedelic rock movement, which many other bands followed suit.
The 70s consisted much of the same kind of material, and kept moving forward with music. The 80s were notoriously bad for music production, with the exception of a select few songs and albums.
The newest kinds of music (1990- present) has been a multitude of different things. There are still rock bands making music, and there is new bands making pop music, that everyone either loves or hates.
Spanning from thousands of years BC, music has changed so much and has gotten much better too.