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ariston · Post by **ariston** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 9:00 am

Tricky-Loops wrote: The lyrics were better in the 80ies, too. Because they had great lyrics writers in every band.

"Brother Louie, Louie, Louie
Oh, she's only looking to me
Oh, let it Louie
She's undercover"

"In touch with the ground
I'm on the hunt I'm after you
Smell like I sound I'm lost in a crowd.
And I'm hungry like the wolf."

"I bought a ticket to the world,
But now I've come back again
Why do I find it hard to write the next line?
Oh I want the truth to be said"

"The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become"

"Your Butt Is Mine
Gonna Take You Right
Just Show Your Face
In Broad Daylight
I'm Telling You
On How I Feel
Gonna Hurt Your Mind
Don't Shoot To Kill
Come On, Come On,
Lay It On Me All Right..."

Need I go on?

And "Twist in my Sobriety"? What the hell does that song mean? I think it's a typical case of pseudo-poetry, oodles of metaphors and no depth at all. It's more like "can I be Joni Mitchell when I grow up?".

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:25 pm

But lyrics don't have to make sense. I'd rather hear something that makes me wonder "WTF does that even MEAN?!" rather than something that tells me what it means, out of the box, and that's the end of it. Bonus points if there's a literal surface narrative and a deeper hidden one.

There's also the sound angle, certain sequences of words just sound nice as music. The lyric is just another instrument to me, meaning is optional. Classic example - Ultravox Vienna. Check those lyrics out

But they sound beautiful anyway.

Logic is overrated. Hell, I'd even say meaning is overrated, at least in the arts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzoFjdBWPuE

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 3:11 pm

the lyrics to vienna mean nothing to me, they mean nothing to me at all.

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 3:15 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIl4aky3ZE4

This is my favorite f off song from the 80's.

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 3:19 pm

And now you're calling me
You want me back again
But I just got to turn my head
And start to pretend
I've never seen you
You're someone I don't know
Now you're just another boy that I met long ago.....

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 3:20 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=821afYKmVSI

Darling, darling, darling.....

dark_virus · Post by **dark_virus** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 4:03 pm

Wildfunk wrote:...i don't see a big commercial trend coming up. And that's good

Exactly what I thought. Until I listened to the last Lady Gaga single.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3jzMyYgPQs

I don't think it's a bad thing, though. It's nice to listen to "new" music you somewhat identify with.

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 4:16 pm

The only reason I want to see 80ies music coming back, is because it is musically so much more superior than the looped 8-bar nonsense that was released in the last 1,5 decade.

Bring back lyrics that make sense, not talk about "swag", bring back melody, bring back real instruments not synths like Nexus and Massive or overused orchestra with electronic percussions. And stop the "overproduction", just because it's "modern" and "has to be like that".

EDIT:
Whoo me? 10k-th's post?

SuitcaseOfLizards · Post by **SuitcaseOfLizards** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 4:21 pm

Numanoid wrote:
robotmonkey wrote:Every time I see this Yamaha sequencer I go:" WOW this must be the most futuristic and sexiest piece of equipment ever made!" Just gotta love that design.
TQ5 is a Workstation, not just a sequencer

Now I miss my Roland U-20 and my Yamaha TG-33!

GeckoYamori · Post by **GeckoYamori** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 5:13 pm

Compyfox wrote:The only reason I want to see 80ies music coming back, is because it is musically so much more superior than the looped 8-bar nonsense that was released in the last 1,5 decade.

The reason 80's synth music is so cherished is because back then it was made by classically trained musicians who were getting into electronic music.

Electronic music can be split into 3 eras. The first period which was most of the 20th century, it was strictly an academic thing and the music was made by people who were scientists/engineers first and musicians second (and they were often also futurists who deliberately saught to unchain themselves from the constraint of historical standards). The second era began throughout the 1970's when the gear started getting cheaper and appearing in music studios rather than universities and laboratories, and this really kicked into high gear when they became truly mass market in the 80's. Now we are in the third era where electronic music is completely democratized, since anyone with a computer can start creating their own music without needing any musical background.

Tricky-Loops · Post by **Tricky-Loops** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 5:27 pm

Sendy wrote:But lyrics don't have to make sense. I'd rather hear something that makes me wonder "WTF does that even MEAN?!" rather than something that tells me what it means, out of the box, and that's the end of it. Bonus points if there's a literal surface narrative and a deeper hidden one.

+ 1,000,000,000,000 ('nuff?)

This is exactly why I mentioned the lyrics of "Twist in my sobriety" which are pretty enigmatic. Or take the lyrics for "Self Control" with Laura Branigan, they're quite mysterious, too (and I LOVE this strange dark music video which you can interpret however you want, and it's made without porno & rape scenes).

Even pretty simple lyrics like in Suzan Vegas "Tom's Diner" - about a woman sitting in a café and watching the people around her - are much more interesting than all these boring "I luv you, I wanna have you in my arms, I wanna booze & party all night" lyrics of nowadays.

damoog · Post by **damoog** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 5:27 pm

My early synth years were actually the 80's I I loved the synth hits back then...

Axel f
Street hawk theme
Early electro stuff(street sounds label)
Jan hammer

And of course jarre

ariston · Post by **ariston** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 5:49 pm

Regarding meaning in lyrics: there are ways to convey a simple truth that are really beautiful (Tom's Diner is wonderful) . Conversely, obfuscating meaning doesn't make for good poetry. It often just shows that the writer has nothing to say (or is unclear about what he/she is trying to say).

That said, it can be a valid approach, and it's obviously in the eye of the beholder whether it succeeds or not. I love e.e. cummings, whose poetry is often enigmatic and better felt than rationally understood. But sometimes, as in the case of Tanita Tikaram, it really raises my hackles.

But nothing, no rationalization in the world, can save bad poetry. Toto's Africa is a case in point. Self-important, deadly serious, a real marriage of strained, dumb imagery and pretentious emotional expression.

Not that it's that important... most people don't listen to lyrics anyway, and poetry books have never been in the bestseller lists.

And anyways, it's a total myth that the music of the 80s was "better". The ratio of good/bad music is always the same. You just need to find the good stuff, as always.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 5:58 pm

ariston wrote:Why do I find it hard to write the next line?

So true, so true, but managed to squeeze out this though:

She used to be a diplomat
But now she's down the laundromat
They washed her mind
And now she finds it hard

Tricky-Loops · Post by **Tricky-Loops** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 6:11 pm

Another band of the 80ies with GREAT lyrics is TEARS FOR FEARS.

Even these strange lyrics without any story have some sense:

http://www.metrolyrics.com/mothers-talk ... fears.html

"You were paid not to listen that your house is on fire..."

- that's UBER-GREAT, especially for a buddhist like me...

Is 80's music coming back?