Music has long been a part of culture. No matter what the time frame or the era, there have been certain songs that have defined what is going on and been descriptive of the events. This means that in essence you can learn a lot about the time and get yourself some culture too if you were to look at the music from the era. In many cases, a song is telling a story, whether it be of a personal experience or of the events of the day, there is a message in there.
The thing that makes the music from each era special is the unique characteristics that each era has. No matter the genre or the style in many cases you will discover that there are similar messages in the music that transcend all boundaries. It is not only about the beat or the rhythm that the music provides but the underlying message that the writer is trying to get out through the lyrics.
Music has long been used as a way to keep people upbeat and to send messages. Whether it be about how they feel about a war or to encourage people to keep moving, there are always songs coming out that express opinions and ideas that the writers want to get people to listen to. These artists use music as their medium for portraying the message the look to send and to get it out to as many people as possible.
Consider music as a sort of Facebook of the past. It is a way for someone to get a message to many people all at once without needing to say and do it over and over again. No one would think twice about a song on the radio today, but what about during the American Revolution or the Civil War. Here it was mass media.