Been thinking a bit about this, popular music (the ones that hit top 100 charts or whatever) never has lyrics that point out real problems or point to culprits and how they’re fucking our shit, which is very easy to find in punk rock and some variations, as well as rap.
Of course, part of the problem are the record labels themselves, which often hold artists “hostage” in order to profit off them. Bigger ones will obviously prefer to avoid having such lyrics become popular.
Still, there seems to be absolute zero songs in certain genres that even come within 10 meters of talking/singing/teaching/bringing awareness about situations that affect a LOT of listeners, even from far away, and would be extremely helpful in spreading some knowledge.
Granted, doing so is easier said than done, a catchy tune that calls out big oil’s many attempts to burn the world, or big pharma’s frequent price gouging, aren’t things “any idiot” can come up with. But that nobody outside “angry” genres seems to be doing it is what saddens me.
Dude, you are overthinking this. Like, you spent longer thinking about the alleged pacification of masses by agenda driven producers than said producers spent thinking about the songs in question.
There is no agenda and/or purpose behind this. You just made the mistake to assume your views on one of the most subjective topics possible (music) are fitting for music in general. That’s not the case.
You might like a little rebellion, commentary, what have you in your music. You might like to express the issues that move you via music. Many others don’t.
The charts are, what people are actually listening to, so don’t mistake the charts for something that’s only pushed by labels or something. It takes listeners and labels to push something into the charts.
That doesn’t say that there are never songs of the critical variety in the charts or anything. It’s just rarer.
Fair points
you are overthinking this. (…) You just made the mistake to assume your views on one of the most subjective topics possible (music) are fitting for music in general. You might like a little rebellion, (…) others don’t.
Guess that’s why it’s a shower thought :P
Still, it’s something that I (over)think about every now and then, probably for dumb or wrong reasons.
“And all she wants to do is dance.” Nobody ever remembers the rest of the lyrics.
There’s a great podcast called Wind of Change on if the government is involved in music and specifically that song. I’ve never seen it and most government programs are highly documented and focused on Hollywood by giving them access to resources. The US Army is not going to let you borrow tanks if you are going to put them in a bad light. That’s just dumb. This is actually one of my dream programs to become involved with on a personal level.
the charts are what people are actually listening to
But this statement by itself is incredibly disingenuous. Artists and record labels literally have to pay Spotify to get their songs to be played in the algorithm. Yes, it is technically what people are listening to but it’s actually almost always which record company decided to break open their wallet the most for that particular song.
While there may very well be a conspiracist element to this, I suspect that it’s simpler than that. For a lot of people music is meant to be their escape from reality, so having reality interject ruins the experience - as such any songs that try to capture that simply don’t get as popular, so end up in alternative genres
Yeah, popular music - by definition - is going to have a broad appeal, and pointing out major problems with our society is always going to be at least a bit divisive, especially when the issue is split in party lines
That is it for me. Music, like PC games and Movies/TV Shows, are my escape from reality and I don’t want to have that tainted and ruined by real world, politics or the like.
I always thought it was pretty stupid that rage against the machine was criticized for simultaneously being anticapitalist and commercially successful. What do we want, commercially successful bands to all be bootlickers or completely apolitical? Much better to reach more people.
How is rage against the machine reaching more people when their latest concert tickets were going for like $500 a piece. Seems like they’re only reaching the wealthy at this point. I mean rage is a band that loses its meaning the moment they get big and wealthy. Now we got a bunch of millionaires on stage, singing to the children of millionaires, about how unfair society is. It’s kind of a joke
Alternatively, most people don’t want to hear about such things in music because it’s an escape for them. When I’m listening to music its because I want to zone out and forget the world. Often because I’m stressed or overwhelmed. I can relax to the music and drift off.
Every other part of the world is enraged about social issues. Social media, news, TV and movies, advertising, politics, idle chit chat, even the products you buy when they have banners and shit on them. Art can be used to heighten social issues but it’s also used just as frequently to hide away from them and give yourself a reprieve from the storm.
Record companies are complete shithouses but they’re not part of some global conspiracy
Rage Against the Machine and Public Enemy come immediately to mind.
Edit: I guess those would fall into, what you call, “angry genres”. Not sure if that matters when it comes to spreading information. Popular is popular regardless of tone, and what is popular changes pretty regularly.
Someone clearly hasn’t been listening to the lyrics in pop songs.
Some modern pop songs are actually about some pretty dark subjects and aren’t happy at all. Pumped Up Kicks immediately comes to mind.
Listening to the radio in the car its 75% breakup songs, 20% about sex, and 5% butchered rap that have any possibly “sweary” word taken out.
Music of rebellion makes you wanna rage; but it’s made by millionaires who are nearly twice your age.
-Porcupine Tree
Damn, that song was written for this thread.
But that nobody outside “angry” genres seems to be doing it is what saddens me.
There’s a lot of “non-angry” (ie no thick distorted guitars and screamed vocals) music that has strong political themes and social commentary going on. A lot of folk, blues, EBM, EDM, reagge, dub is about the struggles of the working class, people of color etc, has anti-capitalist, anti-war and anti-globalisation message.
Leslie fish
Asian Dub Foundation
Later VNV Nation (early works are stylistically more “angry”, but thematically similar)
Covenant
Chip Taylor
Shamen
And many more90% of people have never heard of Electronic Body Music. And that’s a conservative estimate lol. Same goes for dub. Most may have at least heard of reggae and passing. And only generally associate wub wub wub with EDM.
If it isn’t the forcefed to them over radio broadcast, most people have never heard of it unfortunately. But yes, EBM postpunk and all those others are all pretty good for calling out society and the problems in it. They just aren’t popular, or at least never played on broadcast radio so they can get popular. But let’s be honest, who doesn’t like a good song about eating the rich.
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You’re right, of course, but my point is that it’s not only metal, punk and other “angry” music, or more precisely, music that is aesthetically an acquired taste. There’s a lot of mellow, danceable and catchy music that has themes other than “Ooh, baby, baby, yeah, aha”. That this sort of music is not played on radio is a completely different problem.
Take a listen to eg VNV Nation’s Tomorrow Never Comes and tell me it couldn’t be a nr. 1 hit on radio and in clubs. It has all the making of a good catchy pop song, yet has some very thoughtful and contemplative lyrics.
I think it’s because the top 100 or whatever chart you’re looking at is meaningless these days. It used to be a fair representation of what people were listening to, I remember people taping the top 40 off the radio on a Sunday to listen to through the week, everyone was on the same page regarding new single releases.
Now we’re atomized, I don’t even know what the #1 single is on any given week and I don’t care. I’ve got 30,000 tracks on my home server. There’s no new artist who can speak for a generation like Dylan or Woody Guthrie could in their day.
Not to mention those charts are easily manipulated nowadays. The criteria changes depending on who they want to put at the top.
It’s a byproduct of diminishing sales of singles. You couldn’t rig the charts in the 70’s or 80’s without spending a small fortune.
I feel like pop songs are incompatible with the kind of message you’re proposing. Pop songs need to be generic, lighthearted and catchy to receive as wide an audience as possible.
U2, Midnight Oil both managed it
i don’t treat music, or any entertainment medium, associated with reality. whenever i watch or listen to something, i want to be transported to the world the artists created.
like listeners who listens to whatever top charts now, they want escapism and we should not give a damn about it. the real world is depressing enough, you want to extend it?
Escapism is a valid reason to enjoy music, but catharsis is a thing for some too. Sometimes it’s helpful to hear someone artfully articulate something I feel but haven’t put words to. When I’m frustrated with the world I put on some Against Me, rage about things for a bit, and then feel better.
System of a Down, Flobots, Rise Against & Rage Against the Machine aren’t popular music?
Yes, but how often do you see them in mainstream media these days?
So now the qualifier is mainstream media & popular music?
The qualifier listed by op was “popular music”
Those are definitely the most popular artists in our current day. Rage out out a new album only 20 years ago.
SOAD has new songs out now & are working on a another album.
Rise Against released an album last year & the year before that.
Tom Morello released an album in 2021 & also has an XM radio show.
Is SOAD currently popular? Ministry just put out an album with a lot of political lyrics (like they always have) but I wouldn’t consider them a currently popular band either.
Also, Tom Morello’s solo output is not Rage Against the Machine, and if you heard it, it would be pretty clear to you.
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True. At same time, permitting angry music subcultures keeps the angry masses docile enough to not completely lose their shit. Engaging in angry music is a bit the same like writing angry political comments online - it feels engaged but changes little.
About pop music, I do respect that some people enjoy catchy tunes, easy melodies, dance-able rhythm as a kind of escapism. Listening to political comment can be exhausting, and music is, among other roles it can play, meant to be enjoyed.
That said, give me punk rock before pop anytime. Most shallow music these days makes my brain melt with the use of autotune alone before I even try to make out the lyrics.
Rage Against the Machine has had a Billboard Top 100 song with Guerilla Radio. As have a lot of other angry songs over the years, especially in the 90’s, 2000’s and 2010’s when grunge and numetal were big.
Are you only actually looking at “pop music” which is itself a genre and doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s actually popular? Or do you just mean here and now in 2023?
Thinking more about genres than isolated songs. Down here (Brazil) the more popular genres completely lack anything that goes beyond typical party music.
