Most songs talk about romance and/or sex because it's EASY: Discuss.

I don't really think songs do affect what people do all that much....

Ardiente: Yeah, that's what I was going for.

Important to note, the inverse is also true. Areas with large Conservative communities will have a smaller Liberal base that people will pander to. Hence the fact that around here there are almost as many indie rock and techno stations as country, bluegrass, and classic rock.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....

Though I also do not find them relatable  ^*

, I wouldn't mind all the love songs if they weren't the musical equivalent of fast food. Unfortunately, pretty much everything on the radio is fast food music. There are good songs that talk about love. It's just that none of them play on the radio as they lack mainstream "pop" elements: shallow, straightforward lyrics and a beat one can dance to. If you want to find "deep" love songs, or insightful and complex lyrical content in general, you're going to have to look elsewhere.

(Argh, I feel like I'm becoming a superior Hipster type when it comes to musical tastes, but I'm from Portland so I feel like have an excuse. Almost everyone is like this here.)

Which makes me wonder, do artists wishing to get on the radio aim for shallow love song lyrics? Or are these just the songs that end up getting popular?

edited 12th Mar '11 9:21:57 PM by apassingthought

Bit of both.

And, you're entitled to your musical opinion. What makes you a hipster is being smug about it.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....

Why is being even a little demanding qualified as being a "hipster"? I don't hate the silly love songs, but it gets tiresome after a while and I want new stuff.

[[youtube:VroukwS8N7A&feature=related]]

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

Like I said, you're not a hipster if you don't look down on people who do like silly love songs.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....

Oh, I don't. There's actually a few that I like. It's just that hipster accusations and actual hipsters are so common around here that you sometimes don't know when you're crossing the line between "this isn't for me" and "music snob".

I can't remember the name of the song, but there's this album of Hawaiianish sounding songs that has one really good one that's basically a love song to a mountain.

I'd like to hear more songs about the joys and hardships of mastering a craft, personally.

I take that and raise you three dogs night:

edited 19th Mar '11 3:27:34 PM by Roman

| DA Page | Sketchbook |

This is why I don't pay attention to the lyrics in music, they're invariably insincere glop written to sound nice without any real emotional contribution from the author, which sucks all the respect I had for the song out. This is also why I like foreign music. Just as long as I don't read the subtitles, since the awesome anime OP I'm listening to usually proves to be a Silly Love Song with no real relation to the show's plot.

Eric,

You are wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start. For one thing, shounen songs are seldom love songs, they're more about stuff like "To Be a Master" or "The Power of Friendship" or just plain gibberish:

Case in point:

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

If anything they tend to be frightfully over-earnest in their moral message.

A brighter future for a darker age.

When I turned on the Music Choice (American cable) channel for the oldies, I heard nothing but love songs. Nonstop love songs. It vexed me.

edited 13th Mar '11 12:20:18 AM by Grain

Anime geemu wo shinasai!

Yeah, I think the Japs fake it too.

And that shounen mentality, applied to the workplace? Are they crazy? Or maybe it's us in Europe who are spoled and are constantly thinking of FREE TIME.

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

It's not a musical prefernce per se, more of a lyrical prefernce. I agree with the OP, but then classic rock and old school rap doesn't have a lot of love songs.

If you don't like a single Frank Ocean song, you have no soul.

What about sex songs?

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

Some time ago I noticed that a lot of songs on the radio by male writers/singers are about men being afraid their lady love will leave them despite how nice they are to them, which is besung with grave expressions of much machismo, while a lot of songs by female writers/singers are about independence and nice guys (note lack of capital initials).

This strikes me as unfortunatedly ironic.

edited 20th Mar '11 1:30:36 AM by TheStupidExclamationMark

"That said, as I've mentioned before, apart from the helmet, he's not exactly bad looking, if a bit...blood-drenched." - juancarlos

If you ask me, mass media always tries to net the largest consumer base with as little cost as possible. Hence radio using themes of romance and sex because practically everyone past puberty can relate (and is extending into pre-pubescent children nowadays, too!). And it has seen less need for niche stations from the advent of the Walkman, because it allows those whose tastes are less plain to listen to the music they like without threatening the consumer base radio stations build up.

"Wait, it's IV. Of course they are. They'd make IV for Dreamcast." - Enlong, on yet another FFIV remake

I think it's easy to talk about romance or sex because you can make up ANY line and it could fit.

Read my stories!

"Millenium hand and shrimp, if you weren't such a wimp, that caveman's really cruuuuuel, but I'm in love with youuuu"

edited 20th Mar '11 8:44:17 AM by Ardiente

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

First of all, the topic's title immediately reminded me of the song "Easier Than Love" by Switchfoot.

Second, I think that love and sex songs tend to be easier to write about because love is an emotion that many songwriters can channel into that emotion without too much trouble. Already, people make such a big deal about love and sex, and if current songwriters have pre-existing notions about love songs, they can therefore keep those ideas in mind when they write their own love songs.

That makes me wonder about the whole "evolution" of the love song. Surely even the most complex love songs had to start out from some simple ones. Any ideas?

edited 9th Jun '11 5:18:48 PM by Coujagkin

Alas my love, ye do me wrong / to cast me off discourteously / And I have loved you oh so long / Delighting in thy companie

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.

The reason why most songs talk about love and sex is probably because those things are something that 99% of people can relate to, as well as being easy to write since everything in that genre has already been done - motifs are almost always copypasted, and there are lots of tropes and cliches.

The sin of silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

I'm half-tempted to try writing a Bayes net that would pick buzz-phrases out of love songs and try to construct one itself.

Romance/love are written about in music because they are (virtually) universal experiences. On the artistic side, a good musician will often draw upon personal experience to write music and invariably that musician will have some experience of romance. Music is a means of expression and those musicians have a right to draw on that well of experience, regardless of whether or not you feel it's original.

On the cynical business side, the fact that it's almost universal means everyone can relate (e.g.; cha-ching).

edited 10th Jun '11 4:01:31 PM by DanEile

"You can only come to the morning through the shadows."

Of course, plenty of corporate pop stars today don't even write their own songs. They're written by somebody in an office with an MFA according to a formula designed to appeal to the target demographic.

Because music communicates to people on an emotional level it makes sense that they would focus on the strongest emotions. Love of course is one, and anger is another. Punk, Metal and other groups often have very angry/angsty lyrics. Naturally, few people take the lyrics seriously; listening to that kind of music is cathartic. It allows the audience an outlet for their feelings and lets the listener believe that he's not alone.

This reminds me of this exchange from Castle:

Castle: How do you know if you're in love? Beckett: All the songs make sense.

edited 16th Jun '11 11:12:07 AM by Lawyerdude

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.