SLMC

Silas Scarborough · Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Posts: 1635 Location: None

When I write that rock lyrics suck perhaps it's perceived that I'm bitter about not being much of a guitar player and never getting a call from MTV. That's not it at all and it's a question that fascinates me. If the thread dies, so be it but at least you'll know where I had hoped it would go.

Leslie Gore gave us some of the most irritating song lyrics that have ever been written. Teen angst at it's pukiest nadir.

Neil Sedaka gave us schmaltz at rate that would stun the hacks who write romance novels.

And they were geniuses.

If I played "It's My Party" right now, even if you haven't heard it before, that song will stick in your head. The same is true for pretty much anything Neil Sedaka wrote.

So how can this be.

Maybe you're nodding wisely right now and thinking, man, it's the hook. Maybe so but how can you know that.

I'd really get off on it if people talked about musical stuff like this. Maybe it's something that belongs on a different site but it seems appropriate. Djai has his holiday collaboration he does every year and that's cool but what about the rest of the year.

Maybe it'd be an interesting experiment to write some deliberately bad lyrics and pose that as a 'class' exercise to see if it's really possible to take some utter tripe and make it rock. I'm not being facetious. The phenomenon really fascinates me.
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Bibi Ballinger · Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Posts: 367 Location: surfing venues

"It's the beat" and "You can dance to it". That's what the TV dance shows audiences used to rate songs on. I don't know what people do now. The songs that stick in my head now aren't about either. It's a good question because we still have a huge gap in what SL musicians are creating and what gets to market.

What is it that music producers are looking for that is going to put dollars in their wallet?? Maybe it isn't about the music at all anymore. Is it a persona that can be developed into tabloid news and t-shirt and jewelry sales? If so then there will never be much RL success of SL artists unless SL gets left behind. What's the intangible that links SL to RL success that we're missing??
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EvaMoon · Joined: 30 Nov 2007 Posts: 748

It's the knife in the heart of lyricists everywhere.

Repetition and simplicity are probably key. (Do you know ANYONE who can't sing the Batman theme?)

I remember reading a short bio of the guy who wrote The Bunny Hop. He actually had a long, interesting career as a songwriter, musician and band leader for many, many years. But for the rest of his life it was "YOU wrote the BUNNY HOP?!?"

Be careful what you wish for.
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Silas Scarborough · Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Posts: 1635 Location: None

To me, asking what producers like is a different question. My example on this one is "Mona" by Quicksilver Messenger Service. The lyrics are unbelievably stupid but I've loved the song for years. "Mona" had a beat and you could damn sure dance to it.

After some years of being rock big shots, they cranked out a tune called "Fresh Air" which is one of the most heavily-waxed pieces of pseudo-rock that ever went out on FM. It's got all the ingredients as it had a great beat, you could dance to it and the lyrics were horrendous (i.e. have another hit of....fresh air....)

Whether you blame the band, the producers or both for devolving that band is impossible to figure. Listening to them doing "Mona," it's pretty difficult to believe any of them would dream of doing "Fresh Air."

Another example is Steve Allen doing a dramatic reading of "Hound Dog" sometime. You'll be crying laughing.

I have no interest in fighting anyone. I'm sorry it may appear that way. If I fight anyone, I lose even if I win. I do not want to fight. My friend Ticious advises me that what I see as sarcasm for comic effect is frequently perceived as combative. I have a fairly good understanding of pain and I'm not going to explain that at all except to say that the last thing I want is to cause it in anyone else.
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Silas Scarborough
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Find a place to play and I'll roll the P.A. anywhere
If you want to play, bring yer guitar

ticious · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 2600 Location: Chicago

My big brother once said to me "once a bubble gummer, always a bubble gummer." And of course, since he was the epitome of cool (I was 14, he was 17 and had a band!!!), I was crushed. These days, I'm proud to say, I'm still a bubble gummer!

The reason bubble gum pop works is simplicity and lyrics that any heartsick teenie bopper can relate to and sing along with. Heartsick teenie boppers were the main record buyers back in the day when they still sold records.

Anyway, that's my theory.

Where the meaning is totally obvious, he/she cheated and broke my heart, well, everyone can relate to that without even thinking about it and lots of folks just don't like to think.

On the flip side, bad lyrics are often vague lyrics and that lets folks read stuff in without really trying. There may be nothing there at all, but that makes it like a blank canvas which you can paint with whatever happens to be on your mind as you listen.

So here's the question . . . . why are you writing lyrics? Yeah, it would be GREAT to express your artistry and get rich at the same time. But if you have to choose one or the other, which is it gonna be?

Eva Moon, don't you DARE change a thing!!!!

/me wanders off humming about being a millionairia with cash from Nigeria. . . .
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Sanity Inn · Joined: 27 Dec 2007 Posts: 28

" Ba ba ba baby , you ain't seen nothing yet " BTO.... the story i heard on this tune was the singer studdered, wasn't even supposed to be on the album, but look what happenned to it,,

" Da da da da" need I say more lolol

Sanity Inn

" Logics rules, emotion wins "

Silas Scarborough · Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Posts: 1635 Location: None

Silas Scarborough · Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Posts: 1635 Location: None

torben asp · Joined: 17 Jul 2008 Posts: 61 Location: Denmark

In an opera you do have an extra add-in, namely the scenery and the acting which is helping you getting in the right mood.
At most operas you get a little story about the play because many people attend the opera for the first time...so they are already put in the mood from the beginning.
An opera is like a 3 hour long musicvideo trying to illustrate the meaning and the feel of the music on stage and in the play.

**I guess only Michael Jackson would try to make that long a musicvideo...heh**

There's lots of beautiful music in the operas and the audience is just waiting for that famous aria or that lovely piece.
When they don't know the lyrics or understand them it just makes the voice of the singer an extra instrument as we all know...and with the scenery and acting it creates the moving feeling inside.

There is some magic in music as how to the chords are put together and how melodies are composed which makes the lyrics kinda secondary.
It's the music/ composition that digs into us and makes us feel.

You can then turn it around and use very basic chords if you want the lyrics to be the primary messenger to peoples minds whether its protest songs/ sing a-longs and you just want people to move their butts on the dancefloor singing:

"Da Da Da - Ich Liebe Dich nicht, Du liebst Mich nicht - Aha"...

Which we often experience in rl and sl.

-TA-
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Silas Scarborough · Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Posts: 1635 Location: None