Now before I go into rant mode, I must admit by doing so I will be possibly committing hypocrisy against my own musical creeds. One of these creeds that I believe is true beyond all else is that there is no such thing as "good" or "bad" music. There is only music made by musicians that have developed their craft to a level where there lack of knowledge is hidden by the amount that they have accomplished and musicians that have not yet developed enough to write, play and/or perform what ideas are inside their mind without their lack of knowledge obscuring what they meant. Besides that, all music is simply a matter of taste. Another creed of mine is that you should shut up and enjoy music. Never criticize. Find music you enjoy. If you don't enjoy it, don't listen.
That having been said, what the hell is wrong with music in the past few years? Remember the 90's when artists could write? The 80's when it was cool to have a guitar solo or a high proficiency on an instrument? When production value was just enough to smooth out the sound of the CD? When the radio played more than 3 genres?
It seems like every artist that comes out is an image-heavy singer that writes nothing but glam-pop and dance music. The hooks are relentless and simple, albeit extremely catchy, but thats all the music has got going for it. The artists themselves are usually very talented singers, but as writers I can't really say the same. Every song takes place in a club or is another remake of a remake of a cliched break-up song. Song ideas have all slipped into a few generic genres that new artist rarely seem to care enough to escape. Image and fan frenzy have become more important than the quality of the art; a sad day indeed. A part of me blames the record companies for desiring money of the quality of their service of the artists they provide, but real culprit is my own generation. How many of us have taken the time to savor the lyrics of Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan? How many of us can sing along with the Beatles other than Hey Jude? The creative fire that kept artists at the top of their craft has died, and it's up to my generation of artists to try and rekindle it.
Here are some classic lyrics to older songs, observe:
"I've seen your flag on the marble arch love is not a victory march, It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah"
- Leonard Cohen, Halleluja..potent, beautiful and driving...if this song doesn't give you chills, something is wrong with you.
"Warm summer night on Copperline, I slip away past suppertime, it was woodsmoke and moonshine down on Copperline"
- James Taylor, Copperline...Within a few words you're already beginning to imagine what Copperline looks like, this is how you paint with a pen.
"Have you come here for forgiveness, have you come to raise the dead, have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head?"
- U2, One...Haunting isnt it?
"Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where the wedding has been....she lives in a dream"
- Eleanor Rigby, the Beatles...The opening line in the song and you instantly feel pity for this poor Eleanor who is wishing she could have a wedding of her own.
AND NOW........................
Here are some lyrics that are currently topping the charts,
(proof of how much we either dont pay attention to the lyrics or are just borderline retarded)
be prepared to be amazed at creativity and philosophical wonder :
"Im trying to find the words to describe that girl without being disrespectful.....you's a sexy sexy bitch"
- David Guetta f. Akon...On, Akon, the guy that forcefully humps 13 year old girls on stage during his shows, no wonder.
"Soulja boy off in this oh, watch me crank it watch me roll, watch me crank dat soulja boy, then superman that oh"
- Soulja Boy.....WTF!? Was that English? Are you in the middle of repairing a grandfather clock?
"It's 4:03 and I can't sleep without you next to me I toss and turn like the sea if I drown tonight, bring me back to life"
- Shinedown...well, not as bad as soulja boy, but this is a tad cliche. Very stereotypical "I miss you" song you guys can do better.
"Im a be Im a be Im a Im a Im a be Im a be Im a be Im a Im a Im a be Im a be Im a be Im a Im a Im a be"
- Black Eyed Peas, you have fallen so far since "Joints and Jams"...what the hell is this!? No really? This is like someone with turrets AND a stutter on a Tilt-a-Whirl trying to introduce themselves using Ebonics.....rubbish! Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man" was more concise with his words.
"Im talking bout everybody getting crunk crunk, boys trying to touch my junk junk, going to smack him if he's getting too drunk drunk"
- Kesha...Im not even going to start on this....I would undoubtedly develop carpal tunnel from how much I would have to write to approprately slam this steaming dump of a song.
"Dont be a little bitch with your chit chat, just show me where your dicks at"
- Kesha again.....see what I mean? Need I even say anything?
Can you see the difference in quality? Is it obvious now? Why do we let them get away with this crap?
Of course, you must realize, when I say "it seems like every artist", I do not mean EVERY ARTIST.
So who is keeping the good writing, originality and melodies alive? IMO, here are a few artists whose lyrics you can compare to the massive waves of crap crashing against our heads and notice they contain much more originality and character:
Muse
Damien Rice
John Mayer
Norah Jones
Rufus Wainright
Coldplay
Sara Bareillis
Eminem (Yes, even him, although I'm not personally a fan of a lot of his subject matter, like killing and raping a pregnant girl or tripping on mushrooms, but time after time he builds stories seamlessly with a ferocious tandem of rhyme scheme and emotion)
Corinne Bailey Rae
Each one of these artists seems to rise above the ranks of the others in their genres. Keep in mind these are only those who fall close to the Pop/Rock category. Each one of them has an instantly recognizable sound, strong, clever and/or original lyrics and and image that does not overshadow the talent presented on their albums.
Kudos to you elite few (including the many many artists I did not mention) who take pride in your craft. Keep rocking. If you read this and don't agree, let me know! Also post any artists who you think I left out, either from the crap list or the good list.
And remember, there really is no such thing as "good" or "bad" music...just opinions. You've heard mine. Let's hear yours.
5 foot something, cherry balm she had everything going on
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that caught my eye
She was rockin’ the beer gut and I love the way she’s not ashamed
Rockin’ the beer gut well it’s just some extra love around her waist
Rockin’ the beer gut she’s more than hot, she’s everything and with the blue jeans a little tight around her butt
Rockin’ the beer gut
Wow, I just wrote a like.. dissertation comment and it didn't let me post it... this type I will copy it all before i try to post lest it happen again lol. let me try this again. =(
ReplyDeleteDylan -
I completely 100% agree with everything you just said here. Today's music is so mentally unstimulating. I may listen to it for things such as ... partying purposes ... but really, the best music that I can think of is music that makes me think and invokes some sort of emotion.
The song that strikes me most when I think of something like that, and I know I've mentioned this song many many times to many many people, would be 'Sometime Around Midnight' by The Airbone Toxic Event. It starts beautifully slow and sad, and crescendos to a climax where (I think) it feels like your heart has been rended out right along with the singers.
"As you stand, under the bar lights. And the band plays some song about forgetting yourself for a while. And the piano’s this melancholy soundtrack to her smile. And that white dress she’s wearing you haven’t seen her for a while.
But you know, that she’s watching. She’s laughing, she’s turning. She’s holding her tonic like a cross. The room’s suddenly spinning. She walks up and asks how you are.
So you can smell her perfume. You can see her lying naked in your arms.
And so there’s a change, in your emotions. And all these memories come rushing like feral waves to your mind. Of the curl of your bodies,
like two perfect circles entwined. And you feel hopeless and homeless and lost in the haze of the wine.
Then she leaves, with someone you don’t know. But she makes sure you saw her. She looks right at you and bolts. As she walks out the door, your blood boiling your stomach in ropes.
Oh and when your friends say, “What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”"
In each stanza of the song the music rises. It goes from a slow steady piano to mezzo piano, to mezzo forte, to forte and ending in a crashing fortissimo full of anger, hurt, betrayal and fear and then it winds down again as the song closes. The vivid story-telling they use combined with the gradual crecendo of the music makes you experience all the emotions that the singer does, add in the use of the pronoun 'you' and it feels as if you are the one in the story of the song.
Another band that I've come to love the integrity of their lyrics is the band 'The Dear and The Headlights.' I've listened to their first album "Small Steps, Heavy Hooves," literally probably 100 times. and there are still songs on it that 'get me.' Their new album, "Drunk Like Bible Times" has some of the most amazing lyrics I've heard. "Then the howls and moans pour from the black and it's a sea of blank faces straight to the back / Aggressively mediocre in every single way." and "You're like a two stepping tongue on a flesh dance floor / You're the eulogy I can't avoid anymore / That tumor in my side celebrating malignance: / "Surprise! I'm moving in; I think I've grown on your parents" / You want to talk about all the feeling I'm feeling? / I'm a passed out priest in an AA meeting / And they're checking my pulse, trying to make a decision / I've got those rolled back eyes but nothing's clouding my vision"
ReplyDeletebrillant, in my opinion.
Lyrically the Blood Brothers are genius! Musically.... they are not for everyone. Seriously. haha they are way expiremental and anyone who doesn't like dischordant guitar chords or screaming or.. sound.. don't listen to them.
but honestly, "The hangman selling tickets to the sparkling death scene. / Tonight we watch the rope choke a conscience clean. / See it up close, see it in person! / His lips spun like revolving fun house doors as the hush kisses at our neck nape. / "Any final words for your loving audience?" / says the man with the dazzling sapphire cape. / So won't you hold me closer / just one more minute / until the executions over?" or "You hold each other by well groomed hands, / mumbling prayers to a neglected jesus. / The matradees quiver as they watch you shiver as the mask / and the mouth knit into each other."
lyrics like that give me chills.
As a writer (not a musical one, though) I appreciate the vividness and word choice in these lyrics.
More bands I feel have good lyrics:
Rory,
3,
Anberlin,
The Ataris,
The Gaslight Anthem,
Ted Leo and The Pharmiacists,
The Lawrence Arms (I love their lyrics so much I even have some of them tattooed on my wrists; "Steal this moment / Make it worth saving." ) ,
AFI (I know I might catch some flak for that one but honestly, some of the lyrics in Sing The Sorrow still make me cry. and their old punk stuff... "I never had the nausea of longing to feel nothing / I never wanted to cease to exist, just diappear" that's amazing.),
Millencolin,
Nikola Sarcevic,
Billy Talent,
Brand New,
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers,
Trevor Hall
Everyone should listen to the Beatles discography not just Yellow Submarine. Revolver, Help!, The White Album, Abbey Road, Let It Be... there is so much out there besides "Hey Jude" and "Yellow Submarine"
Please listen to the Eagles and NOT just Hotel California
Listen to Eric Clapton, and Cream!
Listen to the Bee Gees, Leonard Cohen, Pink Floyd, The Who, Boston, Chicago, Three Dog Night, James Taylor, Journey, Foreigner, The Doors
Seriously what does "Rah rah ah-ah-ah, Roma- roma-ma Gaga Oh la-la" even mean???
I think Americans jsut don't want anything to overtax their tired inept little minds these days, i even just wrote a paper about that. But anyway, I could wax poetic much longer but I'm late for class.
I do appreciate this post, Dylan! It's amazing.
Hope you are well.
~Amanda
A brave new world. I am positive that this is relevant.
ReplyDeleteThe music today is for the ADD generation. Every kid today would be considered a ADD kid when we were younger. Instant gratification, cellphones, etc have demolished the youths ability to look past the surface. Because of this all they want is a catchy hook and chorus. There is no meaning to these songs, just ear sex.
They are to music what Transformers was to movies, flashy and pretty without any substance.
sorry about how ridiculously long that is, the downside of being a passionate english major, haha.
ReplyDeleteWe were born 30 years to late dude.
ReplyDeleteIt's not about artistry, bud. It's about making a buck. Hence the difference.
ReplyDeleteVery, very well said. Unfortunately, now a days it's not quality that counts it's quantity and number of hits that an artist can produce.
ReplyDeleteAlan, what are your thoughts on The Killers? Or Jet?
ReplyDeleteThey're two of my favorite bands from the last half-decade.
Amanda; Bad Romance is a fantastic piece of music. Lady Gaga is a work of art in and of herself, and to focus on her lyrics (brilliantly crafted to the current climate, as were the Beatles' early works) over other elements is to deny the bigger picture.
ReplyDeleteThere's more to a great song than great lyrics, but I think your fear that lyrics are dead is unfounded. I know a myriad of songs from the 80s with awful lyrics. That old bastion, "Never Gonna Give You Up" is a prime example. Lyrics are not historically celebrated except by the elite; by fellow lyricists and people who have a passion for lyrics.
As for Ke$ha and Soulja Boy, I have great respect for artists who are so incredibly on the pulse of the western world. I have even more respect for the producers who knew they had a good thing when they saw it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I feel like there are terrible terrible things happening to my generation, especially music wise, and then I read something like this that gives me faith there still exist people with some sense and taste. Great blog. :) I fully agree with all of it.
ReplyDeleteDude you really need to take a dip out of the mainstream and then you may realise how much good, original, well written and completely awesome music there is out there infact there is way too much for me to even comprehend im a massive music lover, i live off my band and we play with hundreds of different bands when we are on tour, and sometimes its just soo overwhelming the amount of good music there is out there.
ReplyDeleteYeah pop music sucks, it always will suck because its made to appeal to people that don't really care, aslong as its got a catchy chorus soo they can have it as background music and sing along easily regardless of what the lyrics are actually saying (If they are saying anything at all)
Everynow and then you do get some well thought out music slip into the charts like you have have said but you gotta dig deep to get to the good stuff. Like them feast chocolate ice creams.
You've been all over--and it's been all over YOU! not a huge U2 fan, but love that line.
ReplyDeleteDylan I can't agree more about the shit the kids are been marketed these days. With one teenager and one almost, it's all I hear. Difference is they know better. They still get a regular dose of Rubber Soul, and can identify Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Stones, MJ, Flaming Lips, Hendrix, and Mozart. Hopefully with all their piano lessons they'll carry their own tune one way or the other. Even if they don't they'll always appreciate. And btw, my 7th grade daughter is a big fan of DG's music!
DvO
Eddplant, I get where you're coming from. I enjoy lady gaga occasionally but I still don't see where everyone claims she's a "genius"
ReplyDeleteI have respect for artist that can fit the climate and remain respectable whilst doing so. Kanye West may be an asshole but I think his music is amazing. Eminem, as Dylan stated, is pretty damn amazing and so are a couple other current artists.
I think though, that unlike Ke$ha and Soulja Boy, you can be "hip" and have an "image" and still be unique and intriguing.
and Jonny Paula - I personlly think The Killer and Jet are RAD.
I avoid most radio stations like the plague for almost the exact reasons you talked about in the blog. However, I do differ slightly in that I don't consider the lyrics of a song to be tantamount to it's quality. I tend to err more towards the instrumental side of things as far as my enjoyment goes. That said, most mainstream stuff these days is pretty bad.
ReplyDeleteOf course, then I listen to bands like The Whitest Boy Alive, Little Dragon, Wooden Birds, Director, Kings of Convenience, The Decemberists, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures or How to Destroy Angels, and my faith in humanity is restored :D
(This is Dylan, by the way)
ReplyDeleteTo Eddplant - A part of me truly agrees with you...thats why I covered my tracks with my preemptive hypocrisy clause, haha; I know there is good in all things, even if at the time its impossible for someone (like myself) to see that good, however small and difficult to relate with it may be. However, I could more accurately say that my disdain for the majority of modern pop is fueled more by the musical ignorance of those who listen to these artists more than the artists themselves. Music tends to mirror its listener. The crowds that make these people famous (and Im only speaking for most of them, because you obviously are more enlightened than many others with whom I've had this conversation) seem to be mostly musically illiterate. Their tastes are as limited as a child's flavor palette. They don't own a single Jazz album, couldn't recall three great composers, and think Bob Dylan is stupid with a whiney voice. It's they who think all music except what they listen to (mainstream pop) is crap that makes me unable to resist the urge to retort. But yes....again, there is good in all and I guess I do have a bias since Im a songwriting major.
To Thysane:
I usually enjoy the melody and rhythm first, harmony second and lyrics third. I usually dont even absorb the story of a song until I have heard it about 10 times, but for me lyrics are the most important part, the part that gives me chills, the part that really moves me. I have found that the more types of artists I listen to, the more I am seeking good story. Its like the same for watching movies, you can watch your first 1,000 movies and enjoy almost anything (like transformers or freddy got fingered or suburban commando)..then you keep watching and watching and you begin to notice that any old story wont do. Sure the explosions are cool and the fight scenes were entertaining, but by the time you've seen your 10,00th you notice every little twist and bend in the plot and you get a much more subtle but potent excitement from great storyline.
I will check out some of those bands! I have only heard of a couple of them which is great, you got some new stuff for my ears!
To Amanda: your post made me smile the most, I know just from what you wrote that you get that same feeling when a good lyric hits you. And that was a good lyric! Ill write more, but Im late for an open mic!
=) yeah, my friends call me a snob when it comes to music, I just tell them I have 'extremely selective tastes.'
ReplyDeleteThis whole blog made me smile - especially your assesments of the various lyrics and comparing the Black Eyed Peas to Rain Man... I lol'd.
I also like the amount of intelligent conversation this has sparked. On the internet, no less! haha
Hope open mic night went well for you!
Hey D, right on with most of the comments including you're own. Lyricists are writers who send prose to muscians who have to give a voice to the story.....a simplified comment but true. Luthier's are folks who give stringed instruments to talented folks who interept the ebb and flow of the music being generated. Lord knows most artists don't know how to set their own working tools in order....but I digress. Delve deep into the old libraries of sound...."Blind" Lemon, Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, etc. So-called modern music is devoid of "talent" or "genious" as it is computer generated and is attached to your generation as a "my humps, my humps" stigmata.....I have hope though...the younger generation is listening to "old school" stuff.
ReplyDeleteI can understand the latest popular hits may be out of step with your sensibilities. But they're hits for a reason. They move and motivate people.
ReplyDeleteThey may be inane, trivial, and abominations of art. But someone is buying them, and it's obviously not you.
I can appreciate the artistry of a crafted song. My personal attempts aren't close to the masters out there. But complaining about the quality of what's out there isn't the answer. Supporting and nurturing the current crop of artists you enjoy is.
Otherwise, we're all just cranky old men, yelling at the kids to get off our lawn and pulling up our pants to our nipples. Not a pretty sight.