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.
Give me something to not feel depressed and let me tune out.
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.
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 moreTrue. 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.
Are you serial saying that modern music isn’t angry anymore? Because it ALL sounds angry to me.
I miss the 80’s when things were far less angsty.
No, I’m saying some genres completely lack anger and seem to rarely, if never, touch or try to bring awareness to problematic issues
Record companies are complete shithouses but they’re not part of some global conspiracy
System of a Down, Flobots, Rise Against & Rage Against the Machine aren’t 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.
deleted by creator
Yes, but how often do you see them in mainstream media these days?
So now the qualifier is mainstream media & popular music?
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 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.
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.
If you care for music that touches on climate change and class disparity, you could check out King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard’s albums Infest The Rats Nest and PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation.
I really enjoy those albums even though I don’t typically get into Metal music. For something that’s not Metal, the song Plastic Boogie from their album Fishing For Fishies is also great.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
“Less Talk, More Rock” and “How To Clean Everything” by Propagandhi were released damn near 30 years ago and sadly that shit is still relevant
Fit For An Autopsy exists. Listen to them. They just had a tour like last year.
Are they ‘popular music’? How much airtime are they getting on mainstream radio? Where are they in the charts?
