Does anyone find this boring?

[enjarcher]

Doesn't anyone find it boring that most lyrics are about love/breakups, sex or partying/clubbing?

[JHH]

Totally boring.
but then again if, as a pop singer for example, you want to reach out to an audience of young people that will most likely go partying or clubbing that's what you have to do to sell records I guess..
Because most likely that is what their life is influenced by.

[Multiman]

No. Only boring if they don't have an interesting perspective or too contrived or self conscious or a combination of these. There are as many interesting perspectives as there are people in the world.

[JHH]

No. Only boring if they don't have an interesting perspective or too contrived or self conscious or a combination of these. There are as many interesting perspectives as there are people in the world.

That is true.
Also: What is boring to some may not be to others.

I personally find it really boring after a while. Just as I get bored of (my personal favorite) Black Metal songs always talking about satan and nunrapinganalsex.

[Big Tim]

I agree with Multiman. Context is everything, and in the vast majority of popular music (whatever genre it happens to be within "popular") it's simply a case of the melody being simple and catchy and the words being simple and memorable. There's never been a whole lot of philosophy in the charts, because it's unusual for people to want to think too much about what the lyrics are saying.

That's why "Born in the USA" is a weird one and shouldn't be successful but is - people don't really pay attention. If people got past the chest thumping melody and music and actually listened to the words they'd realise it's a vicious anti-Vietnam song with harsh criticism of the way the state treated Nam vets, not the pro-American homeland heartwarmer everyone thinks it is.

There's plenty of good lyric writers out there, but most of them either disguise it well enough for their songs to occasionally crack the charts without people noticing, or they're more fringe artists who will never sell a million but make some good, serious music. Equally there's plenty of people who ply their trade and make a mint by putting together very simplistic but catchy words. Words in dance/pop music are usually little more than a reason to have a pretty face on screen, because in most cases the music is the main thing.

It's all an art form, whether you personally like the end result or not.

[BrokeManCaravan]

Depends how you approach the song.


I can write a 16 about drugs and you wouldn't notice it until the last line. Matter of fact, you wouldn't notice it until you play it back a couple of times.
[deleted] songs, will always be [deleted] and boring. But good creative music can be about the same topics all the time and still feel brand new.

[myeggsareboiled]

I'd also say that good lyrics can often be about trying to connect with the listener over a shared experience, to trigger an emotional response. Break ups, love and all that jazz are something the large majority of people have experienced. By writing about stuff like that, it's fairly easy for the song to trigger an emotional response in the listener, which in turn makes the song appear more moving or whatever.

[redheadbass]

Doesn't anyone find it boring that most lyrics are about love/breakups, sex or partying/clubbing?

Yeah, I feel you. Songs have been about that crap for 20 years now.

Or is it 500, I can't remember.........

[myeggsareboiled]

There is a fairly sound academic theory that there are only 7 basic story plots in existence, despite the myriad of novels out there. Everything from homer and shakespeare to harry potter the da vinci code can be 'pidgeon-holed' into one of the basic plots or a combination thereof. I dunno about other people, but I see music as another way of telling a story, and so I'd speculate all narrative type songs, and even (though admittedly more abstract) instrumentals could be slotted into the same 7 blueprints.

A bit depressing really, but I swear that as a writer, I've spent time off and on for the last couple of years trying to come up with something that doesn't fit any of these seven basics, and so far I've completely failed.

[redheadbass]

Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man against God, Man vs. Society, Man in the Middle, Man & Woman, Man vs. Himself?

[myeggsareboiled]

Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man against God, Man vs. Society, Man in the Middle, Man & Woman, Man vs. Himself?

Not too far off!

Overcoming the monster (whether it be the blob, the wicked step-father or aliens) - this one often includes the 'thrilling escape from death'.
Rags to riches (whether physical wealth, spiritual or whatever - harry potter, charlie & the chocolate factory, Oliver Twist)
The quest (most fantasy novels fall here!)
Voyage and return (Anything from Gullivers travels, to the tragedy that was lost). Sometimes the voyage is spiritual or cerebral as opposed to physical.
Comedy (this often is packaged in the 'disguise' of one of the other plots.)
Tragedy
Rebirth - (think neo in the matrix, the crow, most superhero movies when they get their superhero powers)

I'm not saying that everything can be neatly filed under those headings, but that ANY story will be based on one or more of these elements. Obviously I've oversimplified in places - the book I read on the subject ran to 730 pages, but I came to the conclusion the author was bang on.

Incidentally, Star Wars contains all seven elements, as does the Matrix.

[Multiman]

Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man against God, Man vs. Society, Man in the Middle, Man & Woman, Man vs. Himself?

Can't help hearing that in Yoda's voice with a few "mhmm"s in between.