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Pop Music sounding more and more the same

When I was nine, my older sister dragged me into Beatlemania and the house was filled with Beatles. My dad heard one of the records playing and told me that it could never be played in the house again. He told me that one of the songs was about a murderer pursuing his victim and gloating about it. (This was five years before Maxwell's Silver Hammer, if you're trying to anticipate his reasoning.) I incredulously asked him what song he was talking about, and he said, "The one that you just played! The one before this one!!" The song in question was I'll Get You ("I'll get you! I'll get in the end, yes I will!!")
Me (incredibly bashful to have to find the words for this): Dad, that's not a murderer. That's a boyfriend talking to his girlfriend.
Him: Oh.
 
ideologyhunter said:
When I was nine, my older sister dragged me into Beatlemania and the house was filled with Beatles. My dad heard one of the records playing and told me that it could never be played in the house again. He told me that one of the songs was about a murderer pursuing his victim and gloating about it. (This was five years before Maxwell's Silver Hammer, if you're trying to anticipate his reasoning.) I incredulously asked him what song he was talking about, and he said, "The one that you just played! The one before this one!!" The song in question was I'll Get You ("I'll get you! I'll get in the end, yes I will!!")
Me (incredibly bashful to have to find the words for this): Dad, that's not a murderer. That's a boyfriend talking to his girlfriend.
Him: Oh.
Click to expand...
I wonder what his take on Mack the Knife would have been?
 
couch_sloth said:
ideologyhunter said:
When I was nine, my older sister dragged me into Beatlemania and the house was filled with Beatles. My dad heard one of the records playing and told me that it could never be played in the house again. He told me that one of the songs was about a murderer pursuing his victim and gloating about it. (This was five years before Maxwell's Silver Hammer, if you're trying to anticipate his reasoning.) I incredulously asked him what song he was talking about, and he said, "The one that you just played! The one before this one!!" The song in question was I'll Get You ("I'll get you! I'll get in the end, yes I will!!")
Me (incredibly bashful to have to find the words for this): Dad, that's not a murderer. That's a boyfriend talking to his girlfriend.
Him: Oh.
Click to expand...
I wonder what his take on Mack the Knife would have been?
Click to expand...

While we didn't give the lyrics to The Beatles songs much thought when we were kids, my husband and I were listening to "Run for your Life" a few months ago and we were pretty appalled at those lyrics.


Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or I won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl

Well I know that I'm a wicked guy
And I was born with a jealous mind
And I can't spend my whole life
Trying just to make you toe the line

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl

Let this be a sermon
I mean everything I've said
Baby, I'm determined
And I'd rather see you dead

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
I catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl

I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or you won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl
 
southernhybrid said:
couch_sloth said:
ideologyhunter said:
When I was nine, my older sister dragged me into Beatlemania and the house was filled with Beatles. My dad heard one of the records playing and told me that it could never be played in the house again. He told me that one of the songs was about a murderer pursuing his victim and gloating about it. (This was five years before Maxwell's Silver Hammer, if you're trying to anticipate his reasoning.) I incredulously asked him what song he was talking about, and he said, "The one that you just played! The one before this one!!" The song in question was I'll Get You ("I'll get you! I'll get in the end, yes I will!!")
Me (incredibly bashful to have to find the words for this): Dad, that's not a murderer. That's a boyfriend talking to his girlfriend.
Him: Oh.
Click to expand...
I wonder what his take on Mack the Knife would have been?
Click to expand...

While we didn't give the lyrics to The Beatles songs much thought when we were kids, my husband and I were listening to "Run for your Life" a few months ago and we were pretty appalled at those lyrics.


Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or I won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl

Well I know that I'm a wicked guy
And I was born with a jealous mind
And I can't spend my whole life
Trying just to make you toe the line

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl

Let this be a sermon
I mean everything I've said
Baby, I'm determined
And I'd rather see you dead

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
I catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl

I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or you won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl
Click to expand...

I would assume that they weren’t promoting such behavior (or thoughts), only that they do exist; and that there is some entertainment value in writing from a perverse perspective.
I don’t remember people making a big deal about that song when came out. It was on the Rubber Soul album, with the song Norwegian Wood. Some were upset by the latter song because it vaguely suggested a guy was after a ‘one night stand’. Back then, I guess that was considered more appalling than killing your girlfriend. (?)
 
To his credit, John did later disavow Run for Your Life -- said it was a hacky song and the lyrics embarrassed him. I would classify it as a Randy Newman type song -- giving voice to an obsessed character that isn't necessarily the artist. There are plenty of songs like that -- didn't Rodgers and Hart write To Keep My Love Alive back in the 40s, in which the singer describes how she murdered all her exes? And any number of outlaw songs have antiheroes as the narrators -- think Jack Straw by the Dead. I don't like Run for Your Life because the narrator is such an ignorant, possessive git.
 
ideologyhunter said:
To his credit, John did later disavow Run for Your Life -- said it was a hacky song and the lyrics embarrassed him. I would classify it as a Randy Newman type song -- giving voice to an obsessed character that isn't necessarily the artist. There are plenty of songs like that -- didn't Rodgers and Hart write To Keep My Love Alive back in the 40s, in which the singer describes how she murdered all her exes? And any number of outlaw songs have antiheroes as the narrators -- think Jack Straw by the Dead. I don't like Run for Your Life because the narrator is such an ignorant, possessive git.
Click to expand...
Sting's Every Breath You Take also wasn't promoting stalking, though it is definitely a better crafted song that the Beatles song. Take the Money and Run wasn't beautifying a Bonnie and Clyde life (or decent story telling for that matter). Man, if a song pisses me off it is Take the Money and Run as it had so much potential, but they ran out of ideas and ended it.
 
In the 70s it was disco 'hard rock'. It was all formulaic.

In the 50s and 60s8it was doo wop and rock and roll, all formulaic.

Black R&B and soul became formulaic.

What I hear today is a lot of repackaged stuff from the 70s-80s.
 
I would love it if someone brought back the Stax and Mussel Shoals sound of 1965-1968. Otis, Wilson, Aretha, Clarence, Joe Tex...godamighty. Don't tell me you couldn't have a top ten song with the right tune. That stuff just rips when I'm driving around town playing it.
 
ideologyhunter said:
I would love it if someone brought back the Stax and Mussel Shoals sound of 1965-1968. Otis, Wilson, Aretha, Clarence, Joe Tex...godamighty. Don't tell me you couldn't have a top ten song with the right tune. That stuff just rips when I'm driving around town playing it.
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Too expensive. One or two people with a computer is much cheaper.
 
Steven Wilson wrote in a song for PT's In Abstenia album:

The music of rebellion
Makes you want to rage
But it's made by millionaires
Who are nearly twice your age

In general, there generally will be pop music because it is easily accessible to the most people. A lot of people don't want complex. So it is somewhat a of Catch-22. Music Industry keeps putting out repetitive stuff and people listen to it because that is what they want. On the other hand, the consolidation of radio stations hasn't helped much to even test the waters. Luckily, thanks to the Internet and in-home music production, it is easier to produce and distribute your music.
 
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