Evidence that pop music is getting sadder and angrier

To give some examples of this phenomenon, Shamir pointed to a string of hits in the 1950s with the dominant feelings of ‘joy’ – songs like Elvis Presley’s All Shook Up, which scored 0.702 for that emotion, or Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally, which scored 0.82. Batt agrees that a more negative tone in today’s pop music also might reflect social changes, though – and even if the reactions to political events are not overtly expressed as protest songs, they may still influence the overall mood. The composer tunes into the zeitgeist, and the resulting sadness or anger is, in turn, more appealing to us as consumers, who recognise our own feelings within the music and lyrics and propel those songs to the top of the charts.

Source: www.bbc.com