Musical Silliness
I realized that I have no ear for musical silliness. When I recognize that a band I like is silly, I judge it by the lyrics. For example, everyone will tell me that Judas Priest's music is silly, and I'm okay with that, but do I sincerely agree? Not really. However, I can immediately sniff it out in the lyrics. There's a nice little caption on the back of the Screaming for Vengeance cd that says it all:
"From an unknown land and through distant skies came a winged warrior. Nothing remained sacred, no one was safe from the Hellion as it uttered its battle cry...Screaming for Vengeance" (ellipses in text)
Likewise, I've sort of suspected that Depeche Mode is a little silly. Because the lyrics totally suck. "Feelings are intense/Words are trivial." I mean, come on. But I love the sound! Yesterday, my brother picked up the cd and started listening to it. "This is a great example of technology meeting art," he said. "It's like some guy in the eighties just figured out how to use a synthesizer and went crazy. Look, they even put synthesizers on the vocals."
"Oh yeah," I said. "I guess it is pretty silly."
Unfortunately, there isn't much I like that isn't stupid or silly. Honestly, I really love this stuff. I'm not trying to be kitsch or anything; because if I had a choice in the matter, would I really choose to like Skid Row?
"From an unknown land and through distant skies came a winged warrior. Nothing remained sacred, no one was safe from the Hellion as it uttered its battle cry...Screaming for Vengeance" (ellipses in text)
Likewise, I've sort of suspected that Depeche Mode is a little silly. Because the lyrics totally suck. "Feelings are intense/Words are trivial." I mean, come on. But I love the sound! Yesterday, my brother picked up the cd and started listening to it. "This is a great example of technology meeting art," he said. "It's like some guy in the eighties just figured out how to use a synthesizer and went crazy. Look, they even put synthesizers on the vocals."
"Oh yeah," I said. "I guess it is pretty silly."
Unfortunately, there isn't much I like that isn't stupid or silly. Honestly, I really love this stuff. I'm not trying to be kitsch or anything; because if I had a choice in the matter, would I really choose to like Skid Row?
posted by Rex at 4:01 PM
1 Comments:
Rex, Depeche Mode are great! I just listened to their Violator album, and I agree: I love the sound, too! I mean, it's true that they do kind of epitomize the depressed "gothic" teenager thing, but you gotta love those synths! Kraftwerk, their forefathers, would be proud!
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