My musical dilemma

This was clogging up the Metal thread, so I figured I'd spin it off.

Basically, I have a problem whenever I try to listen to music that's outside my comfort zone.

I'm used to country, soft rock, dad-rock, and Three Chords and the Truth type material. But I'm getting burnt out on what I already know.

So when I listen to a song that's more musically driven as opposed to lyrically, I have no idea how to react. Because I'm thinking maybe I might possibly like it, but I have no gauge because I'm not used to letting the instrumentation, arrangement, vocals, production, etc. move me instead of the words. And I really doubt that a lot of what I'm trying to immerse myself in is truly leaving me ambivalent.

But if I do try to pay attention to the lyrics, I get hung up because either they're in a more obscure style that requires me to think and analyze things on my own, or they're about things I have no concept of, or both. Even something that is fairly mainstream — who is being asked to beat it, and why? Why are we suddenly singing about windmills or sunshine in a bag — the fuck does that even mean? What the hell is an everlong? What's anime, LeAnn Rimes, or Kurosawa have to do with one week since you got rug burns? Why should I give two shits about war pigs? Are you even speaking fucking English?!?

Basically, I'm at a musical crossroads and I don't know what to do.

As someone who cares about music first and lyrics second, I can say this: songs that rely more on music and/or have oblique lyrics expect the listener to be guided less by thought and more by feeling. Me, I grew up watching a lot of music videos, and as you know, music videos often have little to do with songs themselves, aside from maybe some symbolic connection. The fact that English is my second language meant that as a kid I could only comprehend music when it came to foreign musicians. Nowadays I don't watch music videos as much, but upon hearing a song I often visualise it in my head. It's not always clear, the images can be very abstract, but that's because the songs convey moods and feelings and not exact scenarios. The lyrics are usually written under the influence of the moment, meaning that the musician did not intend for them to be immediately clear - in the long run it provides a deeper look into their very soul if you care enough. My advice for you is to sit back, put on a song and let your imagination fly. Think of every song not as a story, but as a soundtrack to said story, where the voice might as well be just another instrument. And remember: whatever the artist might have meant, the more oblique the composition, the more it is open to interpretation.

At least these are the things as I understand them. Also, listening to more instrumental compositions might help.

edited 8th Sep '16 3:33:22 AM by Small_Mess

Just wondering, what is "dad rock"? Classic Rock? Oldies (neither of which are genres at all, just time periods, but i digress)?

Basically.

Dad rock is a derogative term used for classic rock that "only your dad would listen to."

An idea that's crazy enough it just might work: Give the album Buena Vista Social Club a try. Sure, the lyrics are all Spanish, but if you get a CD copy, the liner notes have translations and explanations of what the songs all mean. And several of the tunes on the second half of the album have slide guitar that sounds kind of like country.

It might be worth just listening to instrumental music for a while, to get used to not focussing on the lyrics. Can't focus on them if they're not there!

For what it's worth, for an instrumental music suggestion, you could try the Dixie Dregs, a jazz fusion band with a lot of country influence (as a way of easing you out of country music into a different musical world).

I'm almost tempted to recommend some punk. Despite Batman saying it's death and crime and the rage of a beast, it tends to have straightforward lyrics and is the epitome of Three Chords and the Truth.

edited 9th Sep '16 5:48:38 AM by FingerPuppet

I mean, depends on the style of punk, but yeah. I'd argue that some punk is more like folk music than actual modern folk music.

Folk punk like Billy Bragg might be a good starting point.

Speaking of music dilemmas, I'd like to talk about mine.

I don't mind people calling themselves "music fans" despite knowing very little about music. But I feel the need to know and appreciate a lot about certain types of music first before calling myself a music fan. Such types of music are jazz music, world folk music (that means not only folk music from America) and classical music.

I have no problems with the first two types of music. The latter is enjoyable as a whole. But, of course, atonality eventually arrives to the world of classical music somewhere around the late 19th century or early 20th century. Don't get me wrong, I respect everyone's opinion on atonality. But atonality makes plenty of recent classical compositions almost impossible for me to enjoy/appreciate.

Nevertheless, I still listen to atonal music once in a while and hopefully, by doing so, I can understand it. It took me time to understand John Coltrane's music and Bjork's music. I suppose the same would happen for atonal music.

While we're on the topic of folk punk (and going off on a tangent from the rest of the thread), I'd also recommend Dollar Signs, but they're more of a local act from NC I just really, really love. Their early stuff is mostly folk punk (and if you like it, get it now, because they're taking it off their Bandcamp on October 1st), but their newer stuff is more traditional pop punk with slight ska elements and very funny lyrics largely about anxiety, crippling self-doubt, coming of age as a 20-something without knowing anything about being an adult, and sometimes romance and punk culture. This album is one of my favorite albums period (and it's also being taken down Oct 1, so I HIGHLY suggest you get it), and this is their most recent album, which actually has probably my favorite song of theirs ("I Hope I Don't Fuck This Up").

I keep finding songs that I think are all right, but have absolutely no idea as to why. And they're so scattered and different that I can't really get a fire started in any direction.

For instance, I think I like Foo Fighters. But what the fuck is an Everlong, and why am I learning to fly? Why are you screaming about "the best"? Why do I like this music? Huh? What?

Also, the suggestion of threading artists I think I might like into Pandora is tricky, because I have to listen to a song about 50 billion times before deciding if I like it.

For God's sake, if you don't get the lyrics, just search them up on Genius.

And "everlong" just means he feels like he's waited his whole life to be with his love.

edited 12th Sep '16 8:26:12 PM by golgothasArisen

That just trips me up more because I keep going "how the fuck did you get THAT out of the words?!"

It's called thinking about it in whole.

You seem to want your lyrics as unsubtle and spoonfed as possible. We are radically different people.

Because that's what I'm used to. Apparently most genres, you need to be a fucking member of MENSA just to unscramble the word salad.

Except you seem to get confused over the simplest of lyrics. "Everlong," "Best of You," and other songs of the sort ("Beat It" for example) aren't the most subtle in their delivery.

edited 12th Sep '16 8:35:20 PM by golgothasArisen

Because again, they're written in such a radically different style than what I'm used to that I don't know where to even begin.

Who's the "you" being waited for? Who's the "she" that's singing? Why the tense shift? Who's got the whatever being asked of you? Who's being breathed in? What does this all add up to?!

Who's the "they" in the first freaking WORD of "Beat It"? Who's beating what, and why?

Reading at least a little bit between the lines helps.

You should try reading some Death Grips lyrics some time.

Again, you apparently have to be a freaking genius to do that. I don't even know what the fuck to look for.

"It goes it goes it goes it goes it goes it goes it goes it goes guillotine / yuh."

Poetry.

edited 12th Sep '16 8:51:06 PM by Odd1

Oh wow you are over thinking this quite a huge amount. Remind me to never show you Neutral Milk Hotel.

But seriously, stop thinking every single lyric must be entirely clear. That takes out the fun of deciphering lyrics.

They actually usually have great lyrics.

edited 12th Sep '16 8:52:18 PM by golgothasArisen