Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (رحمه الله) said:[1]
Musical instruments are the intoxicant of the souls, they do to the souls greater than what is done to them by the wine of cups. When they are intoxicated with voices [accompanying instruments], shirk occurs among them, and they incline towards lustful deeds and oppression. Thus, they commit shirk, kill the soul which Allāh has made unlawful and commit fornication. These three (sins) are found with those who listen to musical instruments and listen to clapping and whistling.
Music and musical instruments stir the baser instincts leading to corruption in intellect (leading to shirk), anger (leading to murder) and lust (leading to fornication) and these three grave sins are mentioned in the verse at the end of Sūrah al-Furqān (25:68-). Hence, these affairs are found with those who listen to music (and the singers). These three affairs, shirk, murder and fornication, are the eventual outcomes of intellectual corruption, unrestrained anger and unrestrained lust respectively, and in between there are pathways, with music, instruments and singers comprising one of the vehicles to that end.
In the modern era, the music industry is used to promote foolishness, ignorance and backwardness (intellectual corruption) and to idolise celebrities who are the most vile and lowly of people and are used for social indoctrination. Likewise, to market lifestyles centered around illicit relations (which lead to commercial gain for the purveyors), and also (in some genres) to promote gangsterism (which leads to killing). It is indeed a powerful intoxicant, and intoxicates the minds and hearts in ways that alcohol cannot.