Today’s Lyrics Are Pathetically Bad

To quote Tom Waits "The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering."

remember when before the internet everyone thought the lack of information is the reason for stupidity? Well, it isn’t.

I love how rick has the balls to say when something is not only bad, but complete trash. We've reached a point where any type of criticism is badly viewed and tbh in so many cases the criticism is what makes something better in the long run. We need more people like this and maybe the music industry will go back to caring about the songs they make and what is actually in them.

Thank you for speaking the truth. Much needed. Don’t ever compromise.

Hey-ya by Outkast said it best: "yall dont wanna listen to me you just wanna dance".

"Lyrics do matter, but they don't matter to most people." Well said. Couldn't agree more.

7:45 those little "whoo!" chorus lines are designed so when a bunch drunk people who cant sing or remember words hear it in a bar they can just scream "whoo!" It's social engineering. The basement tornado references are probably because they did a focus group and found out most of her fans are in Oaklahoma Kansas etc.The whole song is basically a commercial.

As a person in their mid-20s, I've come to the conclusion that the charts are often not the place to go for songs with profound and poetic lyrics. I can give you many artists who consistently write amazing songs and are either still fairly obscure or have not reached the level of mainstream that you get with the top 10. Gregory Alan Isakov Lisa Hannigan The Staves The Oh Hellos Mother Mother Poppy Florence and the Machine (ok she's made it a bit more mainstream now and I'm very happy for her 😊) All of them have beautifully poetic lyrics and songs that say something. You just don't find that kinda thing in the charts anymore. Perhaps that is a reflection of where the music industry's gone but these good songs still exist and millions of people listen to them so don't despair. I've created Spotify playlists where every song was post-2000 and it was a beautiful poetic journey. You generally find it in more Indie spaces so go explore if you haven't yet :)

The issue here is that there is no message to send , and whatever message there is, is superficial .

I was once at an acoustic open mic night in a little venue when a young lady sang "Across the Universe" accompanying herself on her acoustic guitar kind of like you just did, Rick. She sang it sweet and simply, and I thought to myself, "this is so beautiful even when just sung by someone with just an acoustic guitar." She flubbed the second chorus a little and made an embarrassed face, and someone in the audience began singing the chorus along with her to help her; that got her back on track and then the whole audience began singing impromptu along with her for the rest of the song. In that communal setting of people who all loved acoustic guitar, the Beatles, and John Lennon, the sound of everyone singing together this beautiful song was a almost a spiritual experience, with the chorus expressing something universal, and uplifting. It was one of the most profound moments of collective joy and togetherness I have ever felt at a performance.

it's amazing how much standards have sunk, most of today's music is terrible. And the masses just suck it up.

Saw a BBC interview with Frank Zappa where he said that as a kid, studying science, he heard that the most abundant element in the Universe is hydrogen, he now realizes it is stupidity….

"Old man yelling at clouds." I felt that.

“Lyrics do matter but they don’t matter to most people.” That sentiment is so profound I feel it transcends music.

Lyrics didn't matter to me when I was i small kid, not understanding English (as I am not a native speaker). Once I came to understand the language, many songs dropped in my liking due to their horrendous lyrics. I then dove into the 60s. 70s, 80s songs from my father's library and even now, being past 30, I cannot stand most modern songs, so I'm stuck in a nostalgic loop of the "good old times" (when I wasn't even alive). Love your thoughts on the music industry and its intrigues. Greetings from Germany!

So true, for most people the only things they look for in a song are vocals and vibes.

The saddest part is there are some really talented song writers and great songs being made now that won't even get anywhere near the top 40 because they will never get the exposure they deserve

Lyrics matter to me. I spend an inordinate amount of time working on them for songs no one will ever hear.

"Love, love me do You know I love you I'll always be true So please, love me do Whoa-oh, love me do Love, love me do You know I love you I'll always be true So please, love me do Whoa-oh, love me do Someone to love Somebody new Someone to love Someone like you Love, love me do You know I love you I'll always be true So please, love me do Whoa-oh, love me do Love, love me do You know I love you I'll always be true So please, love me do Whoa-oh, love me do Yeah, love me do Whoa-oh, love me do Yeah, love me do" Really beautiful and poetic

i'm gen z, growing up i LOVED the beatles, still do but back then i was obsessed and i couldn't stand the garbage i had to constantly hear on the radio at school. my classmates constantly made fun of me and would be really cruel about it. watching your analysis of across the universe reminded me why i loved them so much for so many years