Was there any particular song that prompted you to post this question??
I'm not even sure what prompted the question !
In saying that though, there's been a long debate in England about the relationship between the newspapers people read and how they vote. I've felt for over 33 years that the same questions apply to song lyrics.
Aside from the multitudes of stuff that I've read from others over the years in which it's pretty clear to me that some peoples' behaviour has been influenced by films/programmes they've watched or magazines/books they've read or songs they've listened to, I've actively known and know people who are influenced by the same. As a teenager, some of mine was.
But it doesn't seem as simple and straightforward as that. It's not like it happens in isolation or overnight. If it does happen, it's over a period of unspecified time and in conjunction with many other factors.
Hero worship is a little different to being influenced by lyrics
Yes and no.
If you hero worship someone and they write or sing songs, certainly younger minds are more likely to take on board what is in those songs, lyrically.
For example, many young Black people in the UK in the 70s and 80s either became Dreads {Rastas} or developed a lengthy affinity with Rastafarianism and much of that was down to the lyrics in the reggae that people listened to. Not solely, but in part. I watched it happen. In the 90s I watched a generation of kids take on views that had begun with many of their parents' reggae subject matter reinforced views; these were compounded by the NWA led rap lyrics. Again, not solely, but certainly as part of the stew.
Both the punk and hippie movements gathered ground before the bands took hold of the messages, but both became grade A
national and then global when artists and theaccompanying songs began to hit.
On the other hand, as you pointed out in your first post, many people are already on or are heading towards a particular path and lyrics of songs they like don't necessarily
cause the change. Taking on messages in song lyrics isn't necessarily a conscious thing, either.
The meaning of the lyrics of a song exists only in the mind of the listener. The composer's intentions (if any) for the song are irrelevant, because the song will be interpreted by the listener according to his or her own frame of
reference
There's a heck of a lot of truth in this.
But that sometimes presupposes that the writer has no specific aim in mind as far as the listener goes and I just do not believe that is true, not when you have so many writers of songs admitting that they have an agenda in mind. When you're up against 'the establishment' or whoever you feel your 'enemy' is, you have an agenda and as such, are seeking to inform
someone of
something.