I'm usually not a great fan of music with lyrics. Hence, most possible messages bypass.
I guess 'A Wolf At The Door' conveys how we should all curl up and die in a corner quite well. Get to it, folks.
If you ever look at the lyrics to some of Cradle of Filth's songs (whilst bypassing some of the more... disturbing content), they're really poetic.
Spawned wanton like blight on an auspicious night
Her eyes betrayed spells of the moon's eerie light
A disquieting gaze forever ghosting far seas
Bled white and dead, Her true mother was fed
To the ravenous wolves that the elements led
From crag-jagged mountains that seemingly grew in unease
Through the maw of the woods, a black carriage was drawn
Flanked by barbed lightning that hissed of the storm
(Gilded in crests of Carpathian breed)
Bringing slaves to the sodomite for the new-born
On that eve when the Countess' own came deformed
A tragedy crept to the name Bathory
The entire album this song was on is a concept album based on Elizabeth Bathory.
That's something most bands these days fail to do; actually care about what they're writing.
Also, Dani Filth (the frontman of Cradle of Filth) is a fucking genius.
Dani Filth isn't a genius, but he must read a lot. Don't get me wrong I like Cradle of Filth, and I agree the lyrics are good for a metal band, but if you really look into it and read a lot you can realize that he just takes slices of different poets and writers and adds his own twist. But I can say that he is a marketing genius because think of all the money they made off of merchandise. They definitely have over 50 different T-Shirts. Cradle of Filth is probably number 2 to KISS in crap that they sell.
I'm not physically unfit - pretty average. Some muscle, average height, etc.
I'm like you were, and yeah, I may change, but I really don't want to.
Everyone else is so worried/obsessed with sex, even at this age. It's honestly a little pathetic.
They're just junkies looking for a fix at worst, or animals in heat at best.
Also there are no jobs in Florida that don't involve lynching "them there black folk" or serving burgers at McDonald's.
It never became an obsession or addiction for me. I've not been a virgin since fifteen (had the attitude I'd described, but I also had a very shrewd girlfriend that knew exactly how to get what she wanted). As awesome as it was, I never found myself seeking it, and was virtually repulsed by advances from anyone other than her. When she moved away, I was completely uninterested in any sort of sex.
But now that I'm getting out of that DO NOT WANT phase, it's still not a compulsion of any sort. It's just a general feeling of "oh, okay then, this should be fine" when a proposition is made. I've not turned into one of those assholes that constantly seeks to wet his willy, just one of those guys that takes pleasures as they are presented. It's actually proved to be an extremely enjoyable change of pace.
Also, you're Floridian, too, eh? That makes me somewhat hesitant to recommend the labor-intensive job, considering the latest weather we've been having down in the bay area has caused me to collapse several times. Ninety degrees, humid as a jogger's taint; I imagine it's none too different where you're located.
Well guys like Immortal Technique are political, and I enjoy listening to him. I love love Rise Against as well, I have seen most band I like live. I listen to Motion City Soundtrack because it has meanings and stories about life and values. While I listen to all these different bands because I ejoy the way they sound. Not because of any lyrical value. Remember all music is, is a mind stimulation; different stimulations work for different people. I.e different kinds of music.
Bad Religion managed to be a hardcore/punk band with anti-government messages while still being unique in its message, and very much unlike all those alt-rock bands, whose "anti-gov't" message is usually something like "the government sucks, let's stand up and fight it".
Here's a few lines from Atomic Garden:
Everybody wants do dance in a playpen,
But nobody wants to play in my garden.
I see the hippies on an angry line,
Guess they dont get my meaning,
Im enchanted by the birds in my blossoms,
Im enamored by young lovers on the weekend,
I like the forth of july,
When bombs start flashing,
And Let Them Eat War (reference, of course, being to Let Them Eat Cake)
There's a prophet on a mountain and he's making up dinner
With long division and writing crop
Anybody can feel like a winner
When it's served up piping hot
But the people aren't looking for a handout
They're America's working corps
Can this be what they voted for?
Let them eat war [x2]
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war [x2]
There's an urgent need to feed
Declining pride
From the force to the union shops
The war economy is making new jobs
But the people who benefit most
Are breaking bread with their benevolent hosts
Who never stole from the rich to give to the poor
All they ever gave to them was a war
And a foreign enemy to deplore
Let them eat war [x2]
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war [x2]
There's an urgent need to feed
Declining pride
We've got to kill 'em and eat 'em
Before they reach for their checks
Squeeze some blue collars
Let them bleed from their necks
Seize a few dollars from the people who sweat
Cause it's freedom or death and they won't question it
At a job site the boss is god like
Conditioned workhorses park at a stoplight
Seasoned vets with their feet in nets
A stones throw away from a rock fight
But not tonight, feed ?em death
Here comes another ration (feed them death)
Cause they're the finest in the nation (feed them death)
When there's nothing left to feed them
When it's freedom or it's death
Let them eat war [x2]
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war [x2]
songs by my favourite band, Rise Against, and a lot of others i listen to always have a meaning, whether about politics, the environment, relationships or something else. If you ask me, this makes them much better. The artists seem to transfer a lot of their passion that they feel over the issue often making it sound better.
When compared to other music with no meaning such as rap that seems to be all about hookers, guns and killing people or bands like the killers and many pop artists, who's songs make no sense, that just sound plain awfull and that are purely designed to make money i cant understand why people would listen to them.
"My shadow's
Shedding skin and
I've been picking
Scabs again.
I'm down
Digging through
My old muscles
Looking for a clue.
I've been crawling on my belly
Clearing out what could've been.
I've been wallowing in my own confused
And insecure delusions
For a piece to cross me over
Or a word to guide me in.
I wanna feel the changes coming down.
I wanna know what I've been hiding in
My shadow.
Change is coming through my shadow.
My shadow's shedding skin
I've been picking
My scabs again.
I've been crawling on my belly
Clearing out what could've been.
I've been wallowing in my own chaotic
And insecure delusions.
I wanna feel the change consume me,
Feel the outside turning in.
I wanna feel the metamorphosis and
Cleansing I've endured within
My shadow
Change is coming.
Now is my time.
Listen to my muscle memory.
Contemplate what I've been clinging to.
Forty-six and two ahead of me.
I choose to live and to
Grow, take and give and to
Move, learn and love and to
Cry, kill and die and to
Be paranoid and to
Lie, hate and fear and to
Do what it takes to move through.
I choose to live and to
Lie, kill and give and to
Die, learn and love and to
Do what it takes to step through.
See my shadow changing,
Stretching up and over me.
Soften this old armor.
Hoping I can clear the way
By stepping through my shadow,
Coming out the other side.
Step into the shadow.
Forty six and two are just ahead of me."
Even though I hate the guy, and most of his music, I will give him that his songs do actually have meaning. But I guess that's what makes him outstanding in the eyes of so many others.
For someone reason I just can't take "deep" songs seriously. It just doesn't seem... right. I can never shake the feeling that meaningful songs are just trying to be moneymaking songs (not to mention that most meanings in songs have been thoroughly clichéd by now), which takes all the meaning out of meaningful songs. Rather, I think that emotion is best portrayed through the instrumental aspects of music itself. It's much harder to fake playing with emotion then to fake words with emotion.
EDIT: whoa, in my mind "meaning" sounds really weird now.
But I can say that he is a marketing genius because think of all the money they made off of merchandise. They definitely have over 50 different T-Shirts. Cradle of Filth is probably number 2 to KISS in crap that they sell.
Agreed! That band has a really good marketing plan. They realised that most of their fans are kids who want to be different so they make a bunch of t-shirts with a crap load of shock value. Now the kids who wear these shirts are seen as 'edgy' by their peers (assuming their peers are 13 to 17 year olds) but the reality of the situaton is the band are making a truck load of money and I am laughing to myself whenever I see someone wearing a CoF shirt, its even funnier when the person wearing it is over 20. I would like to add that I don't hate the band, I just can't take them seriously.
On to the topic at hand.
I believe that all music has an emotion, a purpose and a meaning. Even the most simple, music-by-numbers songs have these. Lets look at Trance for example, a genre that is pretty much based around a set of rules. Trance songs have an emotion (happy/up-beat) a purpose (to make people dance) and a meaning (Trance lyrics are pretty much "You are gone but I will be okay, I'm glad you are with me or you make me happy" and even songs without lyrics imply this through the melody and overall feel).
Then there are some songs that are designed to not make any sence, but somehow people hear the lyrics and apply them to their own situations. These songs still have meaning, they will just have a different meaning for different people.
The best music is the music which can evoke emotion without resorting to cheesy lyrics, after all, lyrics are topical pieces. Limited in their range and meaning. Not everyone speaks every language, and not every topic stays relevant. Your bands will fade and be forgotten.
Meanwhile music such as Beethoven, Bach and Mozart shall remain forever. Hell, that music could outlive humanity itself seeing as it was part of a program to broadcast into space in search of life. Ten thousand years from now a fledgling race in a solar system far away could find themselves listening to Moonlight Sonata and wondering what amazing far-off race could make such beautiful sounds. That would never work for any other music, it would just be incomprehensible babbling and strange noise, but the classics? They were crafted in such a way that transcends time and race.
I can think of worse legacy for mankind.
Moonlight Sonata: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQVeaIHWWck
Meanwhile music such as Beethoven, Bach and Mozart shall remain forever. Hell, that music could outlive humanity itself seeing as it was part of a program to broadcast into space in search of life. Ten thousand years from now a fledgling race in a solar system far away could find themselves listening to Moonlight Sonata and wondering what amazing far-off race could make such beautiful sounds. That would never work for any other music, it would just be incomprehensible babbling and strange noise, but the classics? They were crafted in such a way that transcends time and race.
The Beatles and SOAD are the only 2 that come to mind. While more or less all music has some message it is trying to convey, not alot of musicians go out of there way to put meaning into song rather opinions and personal feelings towards things they identify with. There is nothing so deep as words wrought of hardship. I'm glad someone mention Eminem but you have to look for it, alot of his music is nonsense or utter fiction. Maybe its just because its 3:27am, but alot of music I have listened to doesn't take itself too seriously. Marilyn Manson clearly has a thing for himself, but his music doesn't put across any ideas futher than generic shock value imagery. Take The Nobodies or Disposable Teens for example, both more less a litany to his antipathy.
The 60s - 90s were a time of musical revolution, no we are all too apathetic.
EDIT: Also fighting the government by singing? I never really understood that. The government couldn't care less if you stand in a big field and scream how they suck. It might be alot of fun, but your not changing anything. Changing the system takes hard work.
I can barely stand my mother barking orders, and I kind of owe her for giving me birth and all of that.
I am a very special (or maybe not) brand of fucked up.
Though I appreciate the effort.
You know you could be the one barking the orders to others, depending on your options that is. I'm talking about patience, or going into an Academy or the Reserve Officers Training Corps. Thought I'd at least inform you of it.
This. A thousand times this. A lot of their later stuff, especially In Rainbows, is some of the most meaningful music I've ever heard.
What I can't stand, however, is the super-political bluntness of bands like RAtM and SoaD. Don't get me wrong, I love (most of) their music, but when it comes to lyrics, Bush-bashing can only go so far.
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