I'm sick of all the goddamn love songs... Anyone???

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:46 pm

It seems like if you turn on the radio 90% or more of the music you hear centers around relationship topics. ie:

- someone wants someone
- someone cheats on someone
- someone breaks up with someone

It is making me SIIIICCCKK!!!!

I try but can't understand how these same repetitive topics can be the only ones that reach major success in pop/crossover genres. Currently EVERY SINGLE SONG in the Billboard top 10 is about something to do with this, lyrically.

In addition, just about the only successful songs I can think of that have come out in recent years and NOT been relationship based are non-pop in nature. eg. Hip hop tracks like Lose Yourself by Eminem, Hate It or Love It by the Game. Rock music can also tend to move around outside the relationship genre as well like Simple Plan (which makes me and probably everyone else here gag for other reasons...), but not very often with major crossover to the pop market for success. For example, Stopped to Fill My Car Up by the Stereophonics was smart as hell and very different (brilliant mix of suspense, storytelling, and comedy), but did little business in North America.

If the basic reality is that the only things that are on the minds of the masses are (a) who they're f*cking/loving/dumping, and/or (b) who they want to f*ck/love/dump, I could get used to it. However, I just can't do this, because I know from other forms of entertainment (and day to day life) it's not true.

Here's another way of looking at it. The current top 5 box office:

1) Night At the Museum - COMEDY - silliness, no significant romantic undertones
2) Pursuit of Happiness - DRAMA - fatherhood and making it big in the world, moderate romance
3) Dreamgirls - DRAMA - success, pursuing a dream, some romance
4) Charlotte's Web - CHILDREN'S DRAMA - life and death, friendship, no romance
5) The Good Shepherd - ACTION/DRAMA - politics, espionage, death, minimal romance

If successful songs were made into movies, 99% of them would be sappy chick flicks starring Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, or whichever generic actress will next fill their usual shoes.

Again, why? Why can movies be action, sci fi, horror, adventure, fantasy, crime, drama and pull HUGE $$$, but successful music can damn near only be romance?

The same analysis can be made with books. If 99% of successful songs were made into books, they would be drugstore romance novels with topless Fabios on their covers and titles like "The Wounded Heart". However, if you look at what novels DO sell, you see the same thing as with movies: all genres are represented. eg. JRR Tolkien - fantasy, Stephen King - horror, Danielle Steele - romance, John Grisham - crime/drama, Dan Brown - religion ...

I would just forget about the mainstream and stick to writing only what I want to ..., but I don't want to write stuff no one else wants to hear or pay for - songwriting/production is also about $$$ and commercial success for me as well.

So this is the question: Why don't we as musicians get the same artistic license as other forms of expression?

Why don't movies and books have to be so narrow in their focus while we are stuck rehashing the same things over and over and over again with only one basic genre/theme to write along?

Thanks for any insight or guidance. I'm really feeling myself at a loss here in a big way.

Confused

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 8:38 pm

Everybody wants to make a fast buck. Everybody wants drive through. Everybody wants to win the lottery. Everybody wants to be homogenized. Everybody wants to be a Democrat or Republican. Some people want to be boys. Some people want to be girls. People like API. Some People like Neve.

But of course not everybody.

Obviously you fall into that in between category? You like music that isn't. Ain't never going to be. Certainly possesses no melody and speaks nothing of love. Yeah, that sounds relaxing and enjoyable? Talent not necessary. And of course your rap doesn't sound like the other rap that sounds like the other rap which sounds like other rap that's completely original?

I think stupid love songs make sense? It made Paul McCartney a lot of money those silly love songs. Most guys know with love songs, they get chicks. Barry Manilow gets guys. Melissa Etheridge gets girls. What do you get?

I get paid!
Ms. Remy Ann David

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:27 pm

RemyRAD wrote:

You like music that isn't. Ain't never going to be.

Actually, you're wrong. But don't sweat it, so was I. It just took me a few hours of thought after my first post to realize it.

There are actually plenty of examples of songs that step outside this love/sex-song norm and succeed. In addition, there are plenty of songs that play with it all in new and interesting ways. They are just the minority.

A few examples (there truly are a tonne once you stop and think):

U2 - Beautiful Day
Green Day - Longview
Sublime - What I Got
Incubus - Megalomaniac
The Rolling Stones - Paint it Black
The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby
Sum 41 - Fat Lip
The Fray - How to Save a Life (on the top 10 now actually - my oversight)
BEP - Let’s Get It Started (/retarded)
BEP - Where Is the Love?
Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal
Three Days Grace - Home
Bob Marley - Jammin
Blur - Song 2
Eminem - My Name Is
David Bowie - Space Oddity
Beastie Boys - Intergalactic
Linkin Park - Somewhere I Belong
POD - Youth Of The Nation
POD - Alive
Nas - One Mic
Jimmy Eat World - The Middle
A Simple Plan - Just a Kid
A Simple Plan - Untitled
Tears for Fears /REM - Mad World
Third Eye Blind - Jumper
Britney Spears - My Prerogative
New Radicals - Get What You Give
Bush - Machinehead
Cake - The Distance
The Offspring - Why Don't You Get a Job
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
Everlast - What It's Like
Matchbox 20 - Unwell
Foo Fighters - My Hero
Xzibit - Paparazzi
Garbage - When I Grow Up
Good Charlotte - Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous
Korn - Falling Away From Me
Live - Lightning Crashes
Lindsay Lohan - Confessions of a Broken Heart
Lindsay Lohan - Rumors
Hilary Duff - Fly
Marilyn Manson - The Dope Show
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. II
My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
Nickelback - Leader Of Men
No Doubt - Just a Girl
Billy Joel - We Didn't Start the Fire
The Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
Pearl Jam - Do the Evolution
Simon and Garfunkel - Sound of Silence
Arrested Development - Mr. Wendal

... that's more than I meant to list but I got carried away.

Now I guess I was somewhat correct in saying songs of a more unusual nature have a harder chance of cracking the 'Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On' & Michael Bolton markets, but it's satisfactory for me to see that they can get out there and do pretty well every now and again.

I'm glad I wrote that all out because it helped me work that out in my mind and realize it and where I want to fit in with my lyrics.

Mental crisis resolved. Feeling much more balanced now and happy with the world. Smile

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:28 pm

regardless of what the topic of this thread is actually about and whether or not you like the
Love Song
(but let me just say that I think it is here to start whether we like it or not)

THAT LIST
is really cool
Cool

lots of diverse stuff there

a new musician trying to learning song writing skills
or a new commer to production in general,
could learn a great deal for any of those listed

but
drop a couple of the lighter weights
(oh - that was cruel Kev)
and add at least one Beatles and Stones tunes
Smile

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:55 pm

What can you do? Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs. But what's wrong with that?

I'm so sorry. I couldn't help myself.

I'll go sit in the corner now.

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:35 pm

"Poets, priests and politicians,
have words to thank for thier positions"-The Police

Say anything you want if you put it to a driving danceable beat. Will everybody be listening to the words? But the melody and beat are still hormonally driving. You can't get away from it, so you may as well go with it. Nature and record sales.

Write a romantic or personal song, with a beautiful melody, then change the words later. No one but you will know what the original song was.

Case in point: The song "Satellite" a Dave Matthews Band song, was evolved from an earlier tune called "After Her" (heard only on bootleg).
I personally like the original version better.

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:04 am

audiovisceral wrote:

Here's another way of looking at it. The current top 5 box office:

1) Night At the Museum - COMEDY - silliness, no significant romantic undertones
2) Pursuit of Happiness - DRAMA - fatherhood and making it big in the world, moderate romance
3) Dreamgirls - DRAMA - success, pursuing a dream, some romance
4) Charlotte's Web - CHILDREN'S DRAMA - life and death, friendship, no romance
5) The Good Shepherd - ACTION/DRAMA - politics, espionage, death, minimal romance

If successful songs were made into movies, 99% of them would be sappy chick flicks starring Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, or whichever generic actress will next fill their usual shoes.

Yeah, but look at it this way -

the porno industry is a multi-billion dollar a year industry...

That's the equivelant of a Britney Spears love song...

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:44 am

i think in a sense, you are right
in the crap i hear on the radio, EVERYTHING sounds the same. the lyrics are boring, unoriginal, and unrealistic in most songs that i hear on the 'pop' stations. the same chords are played for every song. here's how i explain it:

you go to a restaurant, and you dont know what to get, so you get a cheeseburger because you know what to expect and it tastes pretty good for what you pay for. (well, i get them because i love cheeseburgers)

but when it comes to music, or even movies, its what BREAKS THE BOX that earns the most respect. i highly doubt Howie Day or Maroon 5 will really be remember in even 5 years.
i mean really, napoleon dynamite was the worst movie ever, but it was funny because it was so bad

now call me biased because i really like the poetic words of jack johnson, and the rockin tone of joe satriani, the energy of the chili peppers, etc.

if you ask me, songs are supposed to bring back memories or create new ones as you go along. the songs of today can be applied to 'oh no im broken up with and sad again' and people feel like it applies to them.

i dont think that ive written one sad song out of the 20 that i have. if i wrote sad music, my life would be pretty depressing!

anyways, back on topic... love is a great driving force in life, but not everyones life is the same. on the contrary, every song on the radio IS the same.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:34 am

I think the main reason for all the crap on the radio is because ever since the advent of home recording, even the early 4tracks but especially since computer DAWs, anybody and everybody can call themselves a "producer". You don't even have to be a musican anymore. If you can cut and paste, you can make "beats". I think it's great but I also think it's horrible. I love monkeying around with audio. Heck I even went to a "school" for audio engineering. (foolish me). But, the thought of actually promoting my own music seems far off and stupid. I know that I'm not that talented. The bad thing is that for every one person like me there are a million others who think that they're the next Slim Shady. Just visit any indie "music" site and listen. It's amazing what people are willing to pass off as music.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:37 am

sarNz wrote:

in the crap i hear on the radio, EVERYTHING sounds the same. the lyrics are boring, unoriginal, and unrealistic in most songs that i hear on the 'pop' stations.

I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that many singers buy their music. Often you will find that songs sound the same because they are written by the same person.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:50 am

There has always been crap on the radio. But I think most of the crap on the radio today gets there because of the accompanying video.
IMHO, the best stuff on the radio today is spun by volunteers at community-run stations. Unfortunately, so is some of the worst. But such stations are the only stations I know of where anything fresh and unique is presented. Perhaps it's because volunteers by definition aren't in it for the money. Most are in it because they want to share something they think is worthy.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:31 pm

hueseph wrote:

sarNz wrote:

in the crap i hear on the radio, EVERYTHING sounds the same. the lyrics are boring, unoriginal, and unrealistic in most songs that i hear on the 'pop' stations.

I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that many singers buy their music. Often you will find that songs sound the same because they are written by the same person.

yeah... wow, how can you even call it 'your' song if you dont even write it? granted lyrics arent the most important part of every piece, but thats usually what people listen to. i love writing music and it seems like it comes naturally. i try to take in styles of my favorite music and blend them together. i just wish i could get recorded professionally so i would have something that sounds really good to give to all my friends!

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:08 pm

sarNz wrote:

love is a great driving force in life, but not everyones life is the same. on the contrary, every song on the radio IS the same.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:15 pm

Cucco wrote:

look at it this way -

the porno industry is a multi-billion dollar a year industry...

That's the equivelant of a Britney Spears love song...

lol. Can't overlook that one, I guess.

Love songs = audio porn for chicks (/'emotional' guys)?

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 6:48 pm

It's easy to get sick of love songs when you haven't heard a good one in a long while. Crappy song after crappy song, ad nauseum, regardless of genre, is enough to sour anybody.

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