Thursday, May 1, 2008

Good Lyrics Lost In Bad Music

I wanted to go over a music genre that I think wouldn’t have been covered otherwise. Country, good lyrics that get lost in bad music. Not to say that all country is bad, I do like some songs. I thought that it was important to add this type of music because it is one of the few genres that still talks about real issues. A lot of Latino music is about love, rap mostly deals with drugs and pimps and I’m not really sure what rock and punk talk about (I can’t make out the lyrics). Although some of these songs do address political and current issues, my personal opinion is that it is found more in country music. Like the Dixie chicks, I’m not ready to make nice. I believe that a lot of popular music doesn’t deal with real issues because we don’t want to have to think about what is going on in our society, in this world. We listen to music to escape, we watch movies to escape, and we read to escape. There are many problems in our society and in our world, but its just easier to ignore and not think about them.

3 comments:

theDestroyers said...

I think this blogg can make a great song
-Dan

theDestroyers said...

I completely agree!!! I listen to Country music alot, and there are constantly songs dealing with the problems and issues of our daily world. I guess because Country music has been known as the All American Music, so it must include the American Issues also.. Many of the Country Singers only write about controversial issues such as Martina McBride (ex. Concrete Angel, a song about child Abuse).
There is this song by Rascal Flatts thats called backwards, and it is basically an example of self-reflexivity. Here is the chorus: "You get your house back
You get your dog back
You get your best friend Jack back
You get your truck back
You get your hair back
Ya get your first and second wives back"
It's not necessarily talking about issues, but it's bringing the 'idea' of country music to the floor.
-Mary S.

Anonymous said...

Punk lyrics deal with a lot of issues, yes there is a lot of politics but it can be about anything. Take the Minutemen for example, they were great lyricists that sang about everything. Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys wrote about what pissed him off, Henry Rollins of Black Flag sometimes did poetry over the distorted guitars in the background, Ian MacKaye's Minor Threat sang about their principles, and another one of Ian MacKaye's bands Fugazi seems to be completely open to interpretation. So I think in punk rock, you'll find some very poetic lyrics, you just have to know where to look.