Can we please get some better lyrics?

[hoodaman]

I have about lost all patience for music with bad lyrics. SO MUCH otherwise good music is ruined because the lyricist couldn't come up with a different way of saying what they want to say than about a billion other songs already have. Hard Rock/AOR and Power Metal in particular have a very high concentration of bad lyrics.

There HAS to be another way to say most of the shit these bands write about that doesn't include the following phrases:

point of no return
falling to pieces
breaking down
feels like I'm going insane
falling to my knees, beggin please
nothing left to lose
cuts like a knife
cold as ice
burning desire
moth to a flame
tearing down the walls
won't back down
lost without you
need you by my side
crossed the line
infinity
eternity
destiny
legacy
comes to an end
answer is right in front of you
in your eyes, realize
comes from within
fall like rain
the hour is at hand, final stand
can't take anymore
writing's on the wall

I think these are some of the most offending ones and there's obviously more but it's getting less and less often that I give a song or album a second listen if the lyrics are cliche. Anybody else got some they want to add?

 

[MelbCro]

Listening to power metal, that's where your problem is mate

 

[labarum]

My peeve is iterations of "Away" (as a whole chorus a lot of times) IE

Go away
Walk away
Stay away
Run away
Pull away
Look away

Basically any away you can phrase it. Dang it.

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

I couldn't care less about lyrics. A good song is a good song regardless. Not everyone is a poet.

 

[hoodaman]

Listening to power metal, that's where your problem is mate

Yeah. I listen to it way less often than when I first discovered the genre mostly because over time it becomes so derivative but every so often something surprises me that has some originality to it.

I couldn't care less about lyrics. A good song is a good song regardless. Not everyone is a poet.

Great music makes it easier to forgive atrocious lyrics but it's by no means a get out of jail free card to me.

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

Yeah. I listen to it way less often than when I first discovered the genre mostly because over time it becomes so derivative but every so often something surprises me that has some originality to it.



Great music makes it easier to forgive atrocious lyrics but it's by no means a get out of jail free card to me.

You can not believe that a lyric writer can be more than what they are if they are not able. You have unreal expectations that every lyric writer should be a Charles Dickens or Edgar Allan Poe.

 

[hoodaman]

I cannot say for certain that they are able or not. I'll concede to the notion that its unrealistic to want for lyrical depth from certain genres of music when it appears that the overuse of cliche is intentional. That doesn't stop me from holding my breath during the first few seconds of hearing a new band that has very promising music and thinking "please don't let the vocals ruin it, please don't let the vocals ruin it."

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

I cannot say for certain that they are able or not. I'll concede to the notion that its unrealistic to want for lyrical depth from certain genres of music when it appears that the overuse of cliche is intentional. That doesn't stop me from holding my breath during the first few seconds of hearing a new band that has very promising music and thinking "please don't let the vocals ruin it, please don't let the vocals ruin it."

To quote Bill Parcells. "You are what your record says you are."

 

[nailz]

Here you go.

 

[hoodaman]

I like it. "put your mouth where my money is". Good twist on a boring phrase.

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

You can not believe that a lyric writer can be more than what they are if they are not able. You have unreal expectations that every lyric writer should be a Charles Dickens or Edgar Allan Poe.

I will stick with this.

 

[See You In Hell]

There was a time, ages ago, that whenever I picked up a new album, I'd play it several times, go over all the lyrics, and usually memorize them. Back then, the lyrics seemed to be almost as important to me as the music. Somewhere, also many years ago, I lost interest in lyrics. I still had to like the vocals (or at least be able to tolerate them) but the words' meaning had diminished. I'm really not sure why that happened. There was a time when I was buying lots of albums on a regular basis, at times several a week, and it would have been impossible for me to find the time to sit with all the stuff coming in a really devote myself to the lyrics. But I think I lost the lyrical interest even before then. Now, at best I will sit with something and gloss over the lyrics to get a general idea of the concepts but that's about it. Sometimes I don't even go that far. Certain bands (Rush being at the top of the list) I make exceptions for and read in detail the lyrics multiple times to really get the gist of things and, at times, memorize them. But probably 95% of the time or more, I just don't really pay attention. If it's a catchy chorus or something then by default I likely memorize that just because I may have listened to the song enough times that it invariably sank in. I find it a bit sad in a way because I know I am missing something that in many cases gives the song a deeper dimension. There are some really capable lyricists out there. Other times, lyrics seem to have been given little or no thought.... they just wanted a few lines that rhymed. But since the music calls my attention much more so than the words do, I suppose I have simply resigned myself to being really entertained if the music is good. And I suppose in many respects that's fine. But in other respects I sometimes feel this is the equivalent of going to an art museum and consciously deciding to look at every other painting, irrespective of its artist.

Am I the only one who really just doesn't pay attention to the words anymore?

 

[euleria]

Most of the bands I listen to these days sing in languages I don't understand. For that I am grateful.

 

[Rezz]

Am I the only one who really just doesn't pay attention to the words anymore?

I'm the same way. I pay much more attention to the harmonies, melodies and instruments than the lyrics. I have had entire albums ruined for me by paying attention to the lyrics and realizing how bad they were (looking at you Beto Vazquez).