Tequila!
Around the world, around the world…
…but Tequila! was the first one that came to my mind as well.
Before detailing how lyrics have become more basic, the study pointed out that US singer-songwriting legend Bob Dylan – who rose to fame in the 1960s – has won a Nobel prize in literature
After reading this article I must get stoned
Commercial pop dumb. Shocking.
Have you heard that new song FUCK? It goes fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck
So hot.
That’s the cover. I liked the original 2Live Crew version.
Wasn’t the original by the Fucky Wucky Boys?
reminds me of American Fiction
Kind of points out the obvious, but at least it’s scientifically proven now.
It doesn’t matter what I say, as long as I sing with inflection
Counterpoint: MF DOOM
A dead rapper who’s two most significant albums came out 20 years ago this year is not a counterpoint.
Counterpoint: he’s dead.
Too soon, man. Too soon
Counterpoint: fuck this world
*Back where his brother went
Counterpoint: that’s exactly what a supervillain would want you to think.
Mf doom has unbelievably layered lyrics, but a true counterpoint of lyrical complexity is Aesop Rock. Here’s a good article on how expansive his vocabulary is.
This is that “How would you feel if you didn’t?” “But I did” meme
Also: Ren (still alive despite best efforts of man and beast)
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When did you get out of high-school? Not being facetious or rhetorical. Most people stop expanding their tastes about then, and it’s common for people to think that there is no new good music.
I’ll concede that pop music has gotten worse over the last 4 decades, but other than that? Music has been fairly consistently good. And you might be limiting yourself and not finding music that fucking goes hard due to being in that rut.
The mainstream corperate space is trash and always will be because of the economic pressure towards conformity and predictablity. There’s a hell of a lot more space to be a musician these days though, most of what I listen too is niche
Which has always been where the good music has been, outside the control of shareholders. Like you said, once corporate gets a say, it’s trash. And for the reasons you said.
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There’s a whole world of new music out there that is sure to be appealing to you. Don’t be so quick to judge, especially about musical tastes. It’s not all simple, repetitive pap. The modern landscape of music publishing and distribution has lead to immense gains in independent artists ability to reach a large audience. Go digging. I’m sure you’ll find something incredible
You mentioned metal and hard rock so I thought I’d leave some recommendations
Electric Wizard - dopethrone (2006) a truly innovative metal group. Blending elements of sludge, noise, doom, stoner, and space metal
Chat Pile - God’s Country (2022) a relatively new band. Their music is largely post hardcore and noise, with elements of sludge. Perhaps they aren’t to everyone’s taste. But if you enjoy visceral music, this will be right up your alley.
Liturgy - 93696 (2023) Self described as “transcendental black metal”, you can accuse them of plenty of things but they certainly aren’t repetitive or simple.
Show Me the Body - Dog Whistle (2019) Post-hardcore and post-industrial outfit from New York, good shit.
And to mix it up a bit Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There (2022) An eclectic post-rock and art-rock group that has easily become one of my favorite bands. Their music is beautifully composed and the lyrics are incredible. It may be in your comfort zone, it may not be. But its certainly worth a listen if you’re even slightly interested in rock that isn’t hard rock or metal
Sick list, but I’d point out that Dopethrone came out in 2000. One of the greatest sludge records of all time, and I’ve heard it called the heaviest record ever cut. Absolute banger.
I could’ve sworn it came out earlier but my cursory glance at Spotify said 2006 so I just went with it haha. Dopethrone is top tier for sure! They were my intro to sludge and doom and now I’m hooked
Why is this a NSFW account?
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Because it’s in a NSFW instance.
I had to block that specific instance because it shoved porn on my feed all the time.
Oh boy, you’re gonna make sooooo many friends like that.
Since you’re a metal head, Mesguggah’s ObZen came out in 2008, Mastodon’s Leviathan in 2004, Gojira’s From Mars to Sirius in 2005…
I could keep going. There’s always new, great music being created
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That’s your opinion, so the only way I could change it would be by introducing you to something you like even more.
Modern power metal is amazing.
No u
To be fair, it depends on the genre.
Interesting read. Never thought about how the emotions of songs have changed. I wish they discussed more on how the different ways people listen to music affects the complexity of the song lyrics.
They briefly mention how most people listen to music as background noise and that the first 10-15 seconds are crucial to whether people listen to the song or skip it.
But there are also other factors I wished they mentioned like how easily accessible songs are (you don’t have to go out and buy a physical copy) or other types of audio competition (like audio books or podcasts). Since musicians have to try to appeal to as many people as possible to compete with so many other choices for people to listen to, the lyrics have gotten simpler and more repetitive/catchy.
But I guess it’s not so much an explanation of why lyrics have changed but proof that it has.
Oh yeah…
Reflective of society?
