Is there any song subject matter that you find hard to listen to ?

[grimtraveller]

In the thread on song subject matter, Pete the Heat made a rather interesting observation that was never really picked up on or explored by anyone else. After stating that he didn't let the lyrics get in the way of his enjoyment of a song, he stated

Having said that, I'm sure if the subject matter was like offensive to me or something, that would matter and would probably make me avoid a song regardless of whatever else it had going for it

I can be like that on occasion. Anyone else out there ? Are there/have there been songs that touch on things that really rub you up the wrong way or cause you to reach the point where you feel or have felt "I just can't listen to that" ?
Or have there been artists whose views or life choices have been such that you've felt that you just don't want to listen to their songs ?

 

[miroslav]

Offensive subject matter doesn't bother me....what does bother me is that usually the offensive stuff is pretty stupid in its effort to be offensive.

 

[Greg_L]

Doesn't bother me in the least. Subject matter means nothing to me. I'm not one to be swayed by anything some dumbass singer says.


I do like offensive though when done with wit. I like it. I cheer for it. Piss people off and hurt their feelings without being mean. That's awesome.

 

[rayc]

I do turn the song off it the politics is clearly apparent and is too right wing. I will listen far enough to work out if it's real, satirical, a rant etc. Then again I may listen to the whole so that I can argue it.
So that puts cultural imperialism, racism, sexual exploitation, inciting violence and deliberate sexism on the short listen list.
I don't listen to much sexual bragging except in old blues.

 

[Greg_L]

I do turn the song off it the politics is clearly apparent and is too right wing. So that puts cultural imperialism, racism, sexual exploitation, inciting violence and deliberate sexism.

That leaves out country, rap, and white power music. Aint nothing wrong with that.

 

[Greg_L]

I used to be good friends with a guy that went full white-power. When we met in grade school, I was a skate punk kid, he was a headbanger guy. I stayed with regular ol punk music through our teens and he slowly morphed into real hardcore death metal shit and then into white supremacy stuff. That was into our 20s and I stopped hanging out with him at that point. White power music was horrible. Forget the subject matter, that's a given, but just the music itself was piss-poor. Poorly done riffs and poorly done production. There was one white-pride pro-nazi song in his rotation that I really liked though. I'm gonna hunt it down...hang on......

 

[Greg_L]

Lol. here it is. That was easy. White power!

Ok not really.

So it's not as good as I remember. I like the music of it though. Cool punk riffs. Terrible lyrics and vocals.

 

[miroslav]

 

[Greg_L]

Speaking of nazis.......I used to listen to this song a lot, and my parents hated it bad. I listened to a lot of questionable subject matter stuff as a kid, but this was the one my parents hated the most. I didn't really get what it was saying, I just liked the song. I still do, I don't care what the lyrics say.



And yeah, that terrible bass sound? that is the actual Sid Vicious. What a putz.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Besides the nazi references, that Stuka pilot song kind of sounds like a bad version of Sabaton.


Subject matter that insults my intelligence (I Kissed a Girl), mindlessly explicit lyrics (some of the filthier rap and metal), and lyrics that posit half-baked social/political ideas (see above nazi punks) tend to be difficult for me to listen to.

 

[rayc]

Belsen, I loved it as I rated it bait/satire.
The bass - yeah Sid just wasn't anything really.
It's really high in this mix - I'l have to go back to my LP/Cd to suss it out again.
Oi was the UK variant of White powere wasn't it?

 

[Track Rat]

Lol. here it is. That was easy. White power!

Ok not really.

So it's not as good as I remember. I like the music of it though. Cool punk riffs. Terrible lyrics and vocals.

That was fucking HORRIBLE. And I mean the music (music?) and vocal style. I couldn't hardly make out what he was saying.
I admit I can be switched off by subject matter. I can stand the christian/worship stuff. I've never been able to relate to any "rhymes" in rap. Yelling over a drum machine about how bad you are or about "cash money" goes no where with me.
If I zero in a lyric in any genre of music that is counter to my way of thinking will torpedo that tune for me, even if the music would otherwise be something I'd like.

 

[Greg_L]

Oi was the UK variant of White powere wasn't it?

I'm not sure. My understanding of Oi was that is was sort of working class music for working class white guys. Not really hateful or supremacist, just for white guys. Sort of like modern soul/R&B in the US. It's not anti-white music, but it's clearly for and enjoyed by black people more than anyone else.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Not really hateful or supremacist,

At least not universally explicitly. There is non-racist Oi; but there's a lot of it that is pretty racist too.

My opinion on the harder punk genres these days is that if you're going to be into that music, you really need to pick a side. There's been enough racist hardcore that if you don't want to tacitly endorse it, you've got to explicitly say that you don't approve.

 

[Greg_L]

I got one....modern contemporary country music. The blatant pandering to america's lowest common denominator in country music makes me wanna kill someone. You want to make millions in music? Write a generic mid tempo song about how you want a football watching, beer drinking, truck driving, bible reading, flag waving, good ol american country girl. You'll make millions.

 

[Xdrummer]

I can't say any particular lyrical content "offends" me - some I can't relate to but that in it self would not turn me away - if I enjoyed the music, arrangement or recording quality.

Some of the "gansta rap" that promotes beating bitches, killing cops etc. is a little too extreme for me - but in general I don't relate to most of the hip hop, rap drums & bass genres - perhaps I was simply too established in my prepferred musical genres by the time those genres arrived on the scene. I've always felt that many musical genres are a reflection of society - and no doubt much of the angry content in some of the black dominated genres reflects the anger and agression that is part of the urban environment. Death metal and the general "goth" genre are also genres that I personally don't relate to - but I'm sure I come for a different cultural influence.

I do agree with a point Greg made - if the lyrics have a certain amount of humor or as long as it seems the writer is not trying too hard to be "offensive" just for the sake of being offensive - I can at least appreciate the effort.

 

[Xdrummer]

I got one....modern contemporary country music. The blatant pandering to america's lowest common denominator in country music makes me wanna kill someone. You want to make millions in music? Write a generic mid tempo song about how you want a football watching, beer drinking, truck driving, bible reading, flag waving, good ol american country girl. You'll make millions.

Hey - leave my mom out of this

 

[fritsthegirl]

I got one....modern contemporary country music. The blatant pandering to america's lowest common denominator in country music makes me wanna kill someone. You want to make millions in music? Write a generic mid tempo song about how you want a football watching, beer drinking, truck driving, bible reading, flag waving, good ol american country girl. You'll make millions.

Amen to that opinion. But not Amen to those lyrics. I don't much enjoy lyrics about women being portrayed as lame ass, or lyrics that imply or blatantly admit to raping women. Any sort of violence directed at innocent people is a no win for me.

Rolf Harris, he lost all his 'Glitter' for me and all. Don't tie me down. Sport.

 

[Armistice]

I find it hard to listen to sticky sweet lurve songs written in the first person... like some that show up here quite often. Also tribute songs, generally, marking some death or horrible event... songs written to celebrate the birth of your first child etc...

All these things can be done well, they just usually aren't.

I'm also over fantasy type lyrics that can infest prog - dragons and aliens and what have you - and the usual women demeaning rubbish that infects various subtypes of rap/ hiphop.

 

[grimtraveller]

I find it hard to listen to songs written to celebrate the birth of your first child etc..

Has Richard written any ?

All these things can be done well, they just usually aren't.

So true. That said, when Robert Plant's child died, he wrote "All my love" which stands for me as one of the saddest, most emotionally draining songs I've heard. I thought that for 26 years before I actually found out the circumstances surrounding it.
When my first child was born, I wrote a few songs but you'd never know that was what they were about or shining a light on. They had my oft found obscure cryptic edge. On one of them, I wrote according to how I felt in the raw. Because of the circumstances surrounding the birth, by the time our son came along, I was so tired, having been up for the best part of 25 hours with a full days work included and I was never able to feel any triumphant surge. Depth of joy came a day or so later but my head went through so many different twists and turns so I recorded those on paper. When I came to actually put a melody to the song some 11 years later, I looked at the words and seriously considered scrapping them. They look like the thoughts of someone suffering from too many psychedelic substances or going through some extreme mental trauma ! But actually, I can see they actually reflect joy and awestruck wonder.

I find it hard to listen to the usual women demeaning rubbish that infects various subtypes of rap/ hiphop.

Popular music has long been infested with that though. It's just that the lyrics were generally not so "in your face". You could easilly put "Hey Joe", "Norwegian wood", "Triad" and a plethora of Stones songs in that category, not to mention loads of others. There's not really a million miles between AC/DC's "She said she'd never been balled before/ And I think she'll ever ball no more ~ I fixed her good !" {Squealer}, Colour me bad's "I wanna sex you up" {"Don't be shy girl, rescue me/(I wanna sex you up)/ Open up your heart, and I'll set you free/Oh, I wanna touch you in all the right places, baby"} and the average "suck on my wood, ho" type lyrics that freely cropped up in hip hop of a certain period.
Not many women write or wrote those kind of songs !