Music stereotypes

[estemshorn]

Except 80's rock actually made good, respectable songs out of those themes.

[RedShadow]

What? How can you "respect" that kind of music.
I'm not saying they are bad. I love the sounds of most 80's rock. I'm also not saying they aren't influential to other types of rock or metal.
But really, I see no reason to have respect for music that talks about sex, parties and alcohol (also, I'm not naming any band. I know there are loads of exceptions, etc. I'm just generalizing, lol stereotypes).
It's sh*t... but good sh*t.

[aander91]

Plus, that's the stuff that made it through the filters. Just like today, there's garbage and good stuff. The good stuff lasts. The garbage, people forget about it in a few months. I do think we're worse off musically then we were then, but I'm sure people were having the same discussion then that we are now.

[mrstuprigge]

Except 80's rock actually made good, respectable songs out of those themes.

eh, i'm not a big fan of 80's hair metal and such. but i guess "girls, girls, girls" by motley crue is quite a bit better than "tik tok" by kesha.

[estemshorn]

What? How can you "respect" that kind of music.
I'm not saying they are bad. I love the sounds of most 80's rock. I'm also not saying they aren't influential to other types of rock or metal.
But really, I see no reason to have respect for music that talks about sex, parties and alcohol (also, I'm not naming any band. I know there are loads of exceptions, etc. I'm just generalizing, lol stereotypes).
It's sh*t... but good sh*t.

well you can respect it a lot more than 90% of the popular songs made in the last 5 years.

[Jama7301]

What? How can you "respect" that kind of music.
I'm not saying they are bad. I love the sounds of most 80's rock. I'm also not saying they aren't influential to other types of rock or metal.
But really, I see no reason to have respect for music that talks about sex, parties and alcohol (also, I'm not naming any band. I know there are loads of exceptions, etc. I'm just generalizing, lol stereotypes).
It's sh*t... but good sh*t.

well you can respect it a lot more than 90% of the popular songs made in the last 5 years.

Musical hypocrisy: Liking the same themes and generalizations made in Genre A over Genre B, simply because you prefer A to B.

I.E. 80s Metal to Pop/Hip-Hop/Rap.

Same things, different genres.

[aander91]

^This. I guess they wrote their own stuff though, so that should count for something.

Err, actually, I'm just assuming they wrote their own stuff. Pop musicians today don't, so I'm not really sure if they did either.

[Nathaniel607]

What? How can you "respect" that kind of music.
I'm not saying they are bad. I love the sounds of most 80's rock. I'm also not saying they aren't influential to other types of rock or metal.
But really, I see no reason to have respect for music that talks about sex, parties and alcohol (also, I'm not naming any band. I know there are loads of exceptions, etc. I'm just generalizing, lol stereotypes).
It's sh*t... but good sh*t.

well you can respect it a lot more than 90% of the popular songs made in the last 5 years.

Musical hypocrisy: Liking the same themes and generalizations made in Genre A over Genre B, simply because you prefer A to B.

I.E. 80s Metal to Pop/Hip-Hop/Rap.

Same things, different genres.

Wow. Silliness. There's more to music than just lyrics. In fact, they're probably one of the least important things.

[Jama7301]

well you can respect it a lot more than 90% of the popular songs made in the last 5 years.

Musical hypocrisy: Liking the same themes and generalizations made in Genre A over Genre B, simply because you prefer A to B.

I.E. 80s Metal to Pop/Hip-Hop/Rap.

Same things, different genres.

Wow. Silliness. There's more to music than just lyrics. In fact, they're probably one of the least important things.

The discussion here was about the themes in the songs, so yes, the lyrics were the central part of them. Respecting the lyrical content of a hair metal song that covers the same topics as a rap song should mean you should respect the rap song, through transitive property.

Also, "lyrics" ar the most important part of a song to me. Human adds more to music that an instrument ever could.

[aander91]

I'd argue against that last point, but I'm with Jama on this one. The lyrics of a song dictate emotional responses and can override the feel of a song. Imagine Cannibal Corpse lyrics being sung to Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On. What kind of emotions does this create? You might be disgusted or confused, or you might even find it funny. But while you might recognize the songwriting as being aimed towards a more beautiful tone, the comical or contrasting elements would pretty much prevent you from building up much of an emotional attachment to the song in the way that it was designed.

[Ambiguity]

Then again though there are bands and shredders out there that purposefully only write instrumentals, which I personally have no problem "feeling" the emotion in the songs. This is in the same way dancers perform to evoke emotion, using a somewhat abstract means to tell a story.

BTW I like how we still haven't gotten back on topic, truth be told I kinda like this discussion better.

[aander91]

This was the point I was disagreeing with Jama on. Shawn Lane's Powers of Ten is one of the most emotional and well written albums I've ever heard in my entire life, and no lyrics.

[KenshinHimuraRK]

My favorite stereotype is that people who listen to pop music are unsophisticated. It's demonstrably untrue in the sense that they can recognize good non-pop music of many varieties. It's just not that important to them. They listen to the catchiest tune coming out of a radio, steal the album, and sing it badly while they do the dishes. I wish they were simply unsophisticated.

I tend to agree with this.

People connect with music in different ways. I believe that, for pop fans, it's probably in a more (if not exclusively) physical way.
Pop music is (usually) enjoyable for the ears and the body, and that's what they're probably looking for. When the brain is involved, people tend to differ a lot in taste, but our bodies don't have opinions. That's why it's so popular.

I do prefer more complex structures to analyze and appreciate, to invoke different feelings, and in a certain way to keep my brain satisfied, but I'm definitely not part of the majority that keeps the music industry alive.

I'm not talking about lyrics though. Pop lyrics pretty much suck, a lot.

[vedicardi]

^This. I guess they wrote their own stuff though, so that should count for something.

Err, actually, I'm just assuming they wrote their own stuff. Pop musicians today don't, so I'm not really sure if they did either.

yeah they did, thought essentially they were all drawing from the same pool, they actually wrote their own songs and had to play instruments.

[Electro Tomato]

There seems to be this cesspool opinion that complexity and technicality equate to good music, which is bullsh*t. I'd rather listen to a poppy Ultra Saturday song that conveys emotions well and correctly than some circle wanking over-the-top tech death that's only made to show how fast he can play and how many time changes he can memorize.