Archived Discussion

This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.

Antheia: Sorry about cutting the U2 ("un, dos, tres, catorze!") example, but that was supposed to be funny (not everyone may agree, but that's another story). They did the same thing live on their tour in other languages, or at least in Sweden ("En, två, tre, fjorton!"), which makes it hard to believe it could have been a mistake.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut and placed here. There is way too much confusion about this Ludo biz; since all Emo music is already listed, we shouldn't list anything specific in that genre unless it is especially Narmish.

We can only hope Ludo's Love Me Deadly is meant to be a parody.
- It's Love Me Dead, actually, and they're brilliant. I'd never compare them to Simple Plan - only contrast. Egads. ——

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: cut this and put it here. Knowing someone is unattainable is not incompatible with stalking; on occasion, it is impetus.

This troper didn't get the "Stalker" bit at all. "I will never be with you" is pretty transparent.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here. I know Narm is subjective, but this is more like Gallows Humor.

Stan by Eminem is a ballad about an insane fan who sends letters off to his idol, Eminem, and doesn't get any response. Out of depression, he drives his car off a bridge with his pregnant girlfriend in the boot. The last verse is Eminem belatedly writing back to the fan, apologizing for his lateness. He realises at the end that he had heard about Stan on the news, and that his failure to respond caused the deaths of three people. His response? "Damn!"
- In understating rather than overstating the emotional response, however, this almost seems an inversion.
- This troper would like to point out that its said in a rather shocked manner, like he can't quite believe what he's just realized about the titular fan, but knows it to be true.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here. We're talking Narm here - if it was never serious, it doesn't count.

This troper was convinced by the sheer awesomness of the Iron Man movie to check out the original Black Sabbath song of the same name. He immediately collapsed in helpless laughter after realizing that the opening line of the song (I am Iron Man!) was being proclaimed by a frigging Dalek.
- It sounds nothing like a bloody Dalek. Too deep and not staccatto enough. And it's not like the song is serious to begin with.
  - Alright, alright. The Dalek Emperor, then. Admit?

Battle Hamster: I removed this from the top:

Before we go on: EVERY MUSIC GENRE IS A NARM TO SOME LISTENERS. My friends hate hiphop/rap. I hate pop, but I like emo and Metal, which others hate it a lot. Yes, that would make it Love It Or Hate It, but let's not go there.

because it didn't really fit the format/tone and whether or not you like a kind of music isn't the same as Narm. I added the line about it being a subjective trope and YMMV to replace it. That's still kind of redundant, because of the big pink bar saying "subjective" at the top, but I guess it can't hurt. Any opinions?

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Remind people it's a subjective trope (again), but leave out the YMMV. It appears we're trying to discourage YMMVing right now, since there is almost nothing for which someone's mileage won't vary.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here. It's not Narm if it's supposed to be funny.

Now, this song sounds like a decent metal song with some great guitar work, until they get to the didactic subject matter. Environmental awareness is good, but not in this context.
- My dear friend, you do realise that we are talking about Hevy Devy here? He surly didn't mean that seriously, he likes to poke fun at stuff.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here for now. Be careful about listing "intentional" Narm. You can't have intentional unintentional humor unless you're going meta.

Cannibal Corpse's lyrics - it may be intentional, but still.
Prepare to witness a place of gore
Of legal dissection and blood on the floor
Carved up corpses, in the corner
Sliced up by a psychotic coroner...

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here for now. I don't know Nightwish well enough to clean this up.

Some of Nightwish's songs are Narmful because of their slightly-off English (Nightwish is from Finland), some because of Watch It for the Meme (Ghost Love Score, some because of the rapid flip from quiet arpeggios and tuneful singing to very, very overblown choruses. See "Higher Than Hope" ("RE-ED SUN RI-SING! HIII-YAH THAN HO-OPE!"), and some because of the seemingly random insertion of English phrases into songs that aren't in English (one song features the phrase "ugly duckling" in between stretches of Finnish).
- Do you mean the song "Swanheart"? It is completely in English, as with almost all Nightwish songs. This appears to be partially a case of Did Not Do The Research. Tthere's only 2 or 3 Finnish songs in Nightwish's entire discography. The line is "An ugly duckling lost in a verse". What is more narmful is the songwriter's reference to himself or others being raped, especially in "The Poet and the Pendulum".
- Tuomas is referencing to his severe depression in 2006. A lot of the lyrics in Dark Passion Play come from intense rage.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here. If it's intentional, it probably isn't Narm. (And maybe we should think hard about "Trapped in the Closet.")

Viktor Vaughn's "Modern Day Mugging" might be intentionally narmy, but it's still a riot. Hearing the story of how Viktor went from a straight-A student to a robber whose gun doesn't actually work is one thing, but the song ends with an old lady getting the drop on him with her firearm and giving him second thoughts about this whole "theft" thing.
- There's also "Never Dead", which relates the tale of young Viktor's quest to retrieve his stolen Donkey Kong game. Teaming up with Fonzie-style maverick Kurt Stryfer, the pair somehow (emphasis on somehow) has a ZANY ADVENTURE along the lines of Ferris Beulers Day Off, except they also have guns and there are strippers. Oh, and the title comes from their encounter with a Mad Scientist who freezed roached and brought them back to life; "The roach is never dead."
  - If you want to get more ridiculous (but still totally awesome), this event is implied to provide the spark for Viktor's interest in science and technology in his adult life, which in turn eventually caused him to accidentally fling himself back in time to 1993 with one of his experiments.
- On a more serious note, Viktor's later song "Fancy Clown" is about him breaking up with his girlfriend over the phone for cheating on him, for shaming him like that. Two things: Not only does he openly admit that he's cheated on her with several women, including her mother, in the call, but the guy she cheated with is MF DOOM, one of the aliases of rapper Daniel Dumile, who is also known as... Viktor Vaughn.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here for now.

Set Fire To The Face On Fire by The Blood Brothers. Seriously guys. Setting fire to lions already on fire is a bit overkill.
- The Blood Brothers tended to use over-the-top lengthy song titles often enough that it's probably at least a little tongue-in-cheek. See also "God Bless You, Blood Thirsty Zeppelins", "Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck" or "Rats And Rats And Rats For Candy".

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here. It's not Narm if it's supposed to be funny.

From Offspring's "Why Don't You Get a Job":
"MAH FRIEND'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND AND HE HATES THAT BITCH!"
- Given that the album with that song on it also contains "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)", chances are it's supposed to be tongue-in-cheek.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here, though I expect the main entry will come back eventually. Understood that Gackt's version of this song is a Cover Version which, to many here, has likely Covered Up the original. Understood that there are many Mondegreens associated with the original. The big question is, are any of Stevie Wonder's Mondegreens used in Gackt's lyrics? ... Think about "Proud Mary," people. CCR has "But I never lost a minute of sleeping/ Worrying about the way things might have been." Ike and Tina Turner's first version went, "But I never lost a minute of sleep/ I was worrying about the way things might have been"! Sometimes, the Cover Changes The Meaning.

Gackt is a great singer and a wonderful lyricist, but he should keep his hands off the Gratuitous English. To Feel the Fire has some striking examples.
- Er, except for the part where To Feel the Fire was written by Stevie Wonder, not Gackt. (Most of the more crazy lyrics are people mishearing things, i.e. the infamouse, and nonexistant, line "You can make a bunny hop if you don't ride the goose" is really "You can't make a body hot if you don't light the fuse".)

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Two things:

Redid the Kelly Clarkson example, as the original paraphrase didn't capture the true feeling of the song. "Because of You" is an "I can't live without you" Obsession Song being sung by someone trying to live without the person she can't live without, as he's no longer around and likely no longer alive. Yes, some people would find that romantic; but invoking Twilight creates the wrong idea.
Why were the lyrics removed from the original Alice In Chains metal example?

The Tambourine Man: Uh, Clarkson wrote that song about her parent's divorce. I don't see how you could think it was an obsession song.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here. The justification cancels out the entry.

The Lion King musical added a new song where Scar tries to hit on Nala (?!), and it is supposed to be threatening. The main problem is that the song on the soundtrack includes dialogue, and the actress playing Nala has an enormous Brooklyn accent. At one point, she indignantly asks Scar, "Wadda you doin'? Are you listenin' to me?"
- First, the actress in question, Heather Headley, was born in the West Indies and grew up in Indiana, so I don't know where you got the "Brooklyn accent" from. Secondly, the song is never meant to be taken seriously. It shows that Scar is slowly going insane from the pressures of his rule (with amusing results if you listen to the first half of the song). The fact that he tries to seduce Nala only further supports his madness and gives Nala a reason to leave Pride Rock. Scar's attempts to flirt are indeed funny, but intentionally so.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cut this and put it here. The evidence is heavy against the original entry belonging here.

"Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)" by The Decemberists is a ballad sung by three children, describing how their father killed them in terrible ways. So naturally, if you laugh at these lines, you're a horrible person:
"Father I'm not feeling well, the flowers me you fed
Tasted spoiled for suddenly I find that I am dead!"
- The Decemberists are always smirk-worthy, and that song was at least partly intended to be black comedy, a fact that "The Rake's Song", which is the same story from the father's perspective, makes abudantly clear, since he recounts his crimes in remarkably blase fashion, mentioning that he did it because he wanted to go out and party, and at the end of the song, he even admits that the fact that he murdered his children (the aforementioned poisonous flowers, as well as one drowned in the bath, and one that is inferred to have been strangled, which he then burns) "doesn't really bother me", and the chorus is just the word "alright!" repeated over and over.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Why were all the My Chemical Romance entries cut?

The Tambourine Man: Cutting Tears in Heaven: We need for something to be wrong with the song itself, not just say someone else did better.

Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Cutting this and put it here. Someone corrected a "typo" in that line a while back, which kinda makes the Narm inobvious. (The initial listing was "when dinosaurs walked to earth...") But I haven't listened to that song recently enough to know which lyric is true.

Iron Maiden's 1983 epic "Quest for Fire" has a narm-filled opening lyric.
"In a time when dinosaurs walked the earth..."

Archived Discussion Narm / Music