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Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more.
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Oh, their research ends in 2020.
At first I thought they had come to this conclusion after listening to my songs smile

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Originally Posted by B.D.Thomas
Oh, their research ends in 2020.
At first I thought they had come to this conclusion after listening to my songs smile

No way man. Your productions are great.

Ole guy Bud


Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more.
If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks!
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"Lyrics getting simpler, repetitive, angry and self-obsessed"

As the world turns, music reflects ™ ..


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I definitely agree with the appraisal given in the document.

And to me, 'Rap' especially wins first prize for anger and repetition.


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Maybe the songwriters are pissed off because they cannot make money with their music any more? Maybe we are generally getting dumber which would explain the need for simpler lyrics? Or maybe we are just getting sadder? And it seems that the internet is not helping!

(images from here, https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2019/the-sad-state-of-happiness-in-the-united-states-and-the-role-of-digital-media/)

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It does seem like unhappiness is on the rise overall based on that World Happiness Report. The internet and growing isolation probably aren't helping things either. And it's possible easier access to music has made it harder for songwriters to make a living, so they have to simplify lyrics to appeal to broader audiences.

Last edited by makingmelody; 04/04/24 08:34 PM.
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Wow, JJJ. Those charts are 7+ years old. With those trajectories, I'm almost scared to see where they are in 2024 crazy


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Boomers are the last "happy" generation but this forum is probably not the place for political debate.

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Originally Posted by AudioTrack
Wow, JJJ. Those charts are 7+ years old. With those trajectories, I'm almost scared to see where they are in 2024 crazy

well.....

Beyonce goes country, P-Diddy is running from the feds, and Willie Nelson is still playing live concerts.


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Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
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I don't know about angry and self-obsessed, but simple and repetitive has been a staple of music for a long time, especially 'dance' genres. Take Silver Convention's 1976 hit, “Get Up And Boogie”.

If you count the background singers (in parentheses) it's a total of 7 words. The album version is 4 minutes long, and just repeats even more Here is the single version:


(That's right)
Get up and boogie, get up and boogie
(That's right)
Get up and boogie, get up and boogie
(That's right)
Get up and boogie, get up and boogie
Boogie, boogie

(That's right)
Get up and boogie, get up and boogie
(That's right)
Get up and boogie, get up and boogie
(That's right)
Boogie, boogie

(That's right)
Get up and boogie, get up and boogie
(That's right)
Get up and boogie, get up and boogie
Boogie, boogie

(That's right)
Get up and boogie, get up and boogie
Get up and boogie, get up and boogie
Get up and boogie, get up and boogie
Get up and boogie, get up and boogie


There are plenty more almost this repetitive.

What about angry? Some of the protest songs of the 1960s were pretty angry. With good cause, kids were getting drafted, sent to Vietnam to kill and be killed. I'd be angry, too.

But I will concede that the language used to express the anger is more vulgar than it was in the past. But that is probably only because censorship rules have largely been abolished.

Self-obsessed? I don't know how self-obsessed you want to go, but there have always been songs written in the first person. “Baby I Need Your Loving”, “My Ding-a-ling”, “The Piña colada Song”, “I Write The Songs”, “I'm Too Sexy”, and the list goes on and on and on.

So are they getting worse? Or just different?

Basically, there are two kinds of songs, ones that I like, and songs written for other ears.


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Originally Posted by Guitarhacker
Originally Posted by AudioTrack
Wow, JJJ. Those charts are 7+ years old. With those trajectories, I'm almost scared to see where they are in 2024 crazy

well.....

Beyonce goes country, P-Diddy is running from the feds, and Willie Nelson is still playing live concerts.
I'm liking Beyonce's country album too! Or, were you making some other kind of point?

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Well said, Notes!

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