Gobbo Posted February 10, 2004 Report Share Posted February 10, 2004 Hail for I am king of not looking back in forums! Ok, so what band, artist, or whoever have you encountered with the best lyrics, and worst? For me, the best lyrics have come from a band. A band known to some, and who have come a long way from their beginning, some 14 years ago. After 7 full albums, the lyrics being pumped out of a fire inside's (afi) workshop are amazing. I find their depth of knowledge in the field of language is beyond so many other bands I’ve listened to. Their music however is simply par… As far as signed bands go. Now for the worst! I’ve listened to atrocities before, but never with such magnitude as one band. However many years they've been playing, their one Michael Jackson remix (rock band mind you), and two albums... (I own both ironically)... you would think even a six-year-old could be more creative than Alien Ant Farm. Ok, so this is obviously an opinion thread. I’m just pointing it out for a couple reasons I’m sure you brains can figure out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckguitarist Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Best...I dunno...haven't really thought about it I guess. Worst...There is this one rush song....pre-neil peart. when they had john rutsey as a drumer...I don't remember the name, but the chorus is something like this... "it's saturday night, 'bout a quarter to 8 and I think I'm in the mood..." I don't remember that much of it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbkim Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 "it's saturday night, 'bout a quarter to 8 and I think I'm in the mood..." I don't remember that much of it.... "In The Mood." -- lyrics + music by Geddy, I seem to recall... yeah pretty bad . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 The current worst is that one 'No doubt' song where she sings "hey baby hey baby hey, boys say boys say" GOD DAMN !!!!, HOW DOES SOMETHING LIKE THAT EVEN GET TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY, MUCH LESS GET PLAYED ON THE DAMN RADIO EVERYDAY ???????? Best ? Not sure. I liked the lyrics of that one song called "tribute" , where they sing about running into a demon and having to play the greatest song in the world. I can't think of the bands name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyG Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Tribute would be Tenascious D. good fun stuff lol God Lyrics, hhmm thats a hard one. curentlly ive got the Manic Street Preachers playing and thats some damn good lyrics. i think i'd add deftones to the mix as well since i really like alot of the stuff they write worst, that would be anything by any manufactured pop band that goes on about how happy the world always is. "ITS NOT YOU MORONS, THE WORLD ISNT ALWAYS A NICE PLACE. MAY PYGMY CHIMPANZEES TAKE ICE PICKS TO YOUR EYES" sorry bout that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Dream Theater and Death both wrote some very thoughtfull lyrics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Tenacious D, song is called Tribute. Jack Black is funny As for the No Doubt thing, they are along with Pink some of the only people on todays mainstream radio I can actually listen to. That specific part of lyric may not be brilliant, but oh well...to those who write their own songs I ask everyone who is not guilty of at least one "desire/fire" rhyme or similar atrocity to throw the first stone ;-) As for worst lyrics, some Yngwie Malmsteen songs have always stood out...745926 Demons will do their dance (off of the Alchemy album), Playing with fire... On a related tangent, over at Guitarwar we were cracking on Yngwie and making up song titles that referred to his obvious diet problems, that was the funniest thing ever, I remember songs like: Littles Sausage Now Your Chips Are Burned I Am A Pie-King Munching Out I'll Drink Coke Light Tonight (I'm) Heavy Tonight Overweight 1383 Length 18, Width 51 (the jeans song) Spanish Cookie Magic Eclairs Fire and Icecream Main-dish and Beer Roasting the Animal No weight lost Cholesterol in your veins Seventh Steak just to give you an idea... best lyrics, mhhh dunno, I was a huge Bad Religion fan back in the day and their lyrics had a big art in that... so long ace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrock Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Best - Carter the Unstopable Sex Machine. Every song has amazing play on words. Worst - well most of the ***** (rhymes with plight) in the charts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 worst...smells like teen spirit best...maybe "angel of death" or "post mortem" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 @westhemann: Quite the Slayer fan heh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Another question Wes: Which Slayer songs should i check out? I always hear people raving about slayer, but I never heard a Slayer song that was no mindless trashing so far. And I like bands like Death and Children of Bodom very much, so it's not that I am one of these people who cannot cope with the heaviness of Slayer. I hate those people who are not able to hear the musical quality/complexity of bands like death and other really heavy bands, because they think everything "stupid noise" which sounds too hard/heavy in their ears. But as much as I tried to find something interesting in the Slayer songs I heard so far I was only dissapointed and really thought that it is quite mindless music. So please recommend me some Slayer songs that are considered must-have in order to change my opinion of them.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wylde1919 Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Worst, anything written by neil pert (sp?) of rush. Love the music but the lyrics are just plain hokey. Best, I like Chris DeGarmo's (guitar) lyrics with Queensryche, Geoff Tate's (vox) were ok but a little scattered at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehardcrew Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Slayer, the list is long... South of Heaven, Reign in Blood, Mandatory Suicide, Disciple, Hell Awaits, At Dawn they Sleep, Dead Skin Mask, War Ensemble (well okay maybe that one's all thrash.) I know I'm forgetting a few classics somewhere.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Another question Wes: Which Slayer songs should i check out? I always hear people raving about slayer, but I never heard a Slayer song that was no mindless trashing so far. And I like bands like Death and Children of Bodom very much, so it's not that I am one of these people who cannot cope with the heaviness of Slayer. I hate those people who are not able to hear the musical quality/complexity of bands like death and other really heavy bands, because they think everything "stupid noise" which sounds too hard/heavy in their ears. But as much as I tried to find something interesting in the Slayer songs I heard so far I was only dissapointed and really thought that it is quite mindless music. So please recommend me some Slayer songs that are considered must-have in order to change my opinion of them.... "post mortem" "mandatory suicide" "crooked cross" "skeletons of society" anything off of the first side of seasons in the abyss "live undead"(the song,not the album) "spill the blood" really there are many,but slayer is a band some have to grow to love..... i love the whole "reign in blood" album...can listen to it start to finish but as far as comparing them to "death"...i don't know...the scales they use are quite different...the real respect comes from learning to play songs like "hallowed point" ...their attention to the intracacies of a song is amazing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gobbo Posted February 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 i enjoy political bands quite a bit. bands like NOFX and bad religion in particular. most of the time i just avoid their cd's on my shelf, but sometimes when its late in the night, i turn the lights down low and pull out NOFX, and ponder about how twisted the world is.. heh heh heh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Thanks for the list of songs Wes....I'll check them out! but as far as comparing them to "death"...i don't know...the scales they use are quite different...the real respect comes from learning to play songs like "hallowed point" I did not compare death and slayer, because of them sounding very similar but because Death were masterful musicians and Slayer is supposed to have good musicians as well. This is the link, because the Death Metal bands that are talented and really can play their instrument are *very* scarce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 yeah...believe it or not kerry king and jeff hanneman are so technically profficient it is scary... i love "death" but i gotta say that slayer is more "technically" advanced...although "human" was a great,great leap in musicianship reign in blood was also a huge leap in thrash...really pushed the envelope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLS Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Chuck (RIP) from death wrote sum great music and lyrics. And Napalm Death wrote quite a few good controversal lyrics. But the worst is DEFINETLY Dream Evil "Sure there's been lots of poseurs Who've tried to break the chain The chain that makes us brothers They've tried but in vain This thing is my religion My soul, my blood, my life I am so f***ing metal and so is my wife I am his wife - shup up" "I am his wife" is song by his wife.... and is the ONLY song she has a appeared in so far. For more "great" songwriting by dream evil goto http://www.darklyrics.com/d/dreamevil.html Theres alot of laughs there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Rage Against the Machine had some cool lyrics, but most of the music just seemed to be missing something. I sort of heard something had happened to the singer several years ago, but never heard any details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckguitarist Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Worst, anything written by neil pert (sp?) of rush. Love the music but the lyrics are just plain hokey. NOOOOOOO! Neil Peart is such an awesome songwriter! *plus he is a drummer...how much can you expect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrock Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 And Napalm Death wrote quite a few good controversal lyrics. You could understand them. Kudos mate Kudos. I'm suprised no one has mentioned Lawnmower Death classics like: Cob woman of death meets Mr Smellymop Flying killer cobs from the planet bob Watch out granma here comes the lawnmower Classics, each and every one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bingo328 Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Gobbo I see your a fan of punk music too. As far as best lyrics I agree with Bad Religion and NOFX. I also love Thrice and Strung Out. I've also been suprised about the improvement of AFI's lyrics. Other bands I always thought had good lyrics were Megadeth, Dead Kennedys and Dropkick Murphys and best funny lyrics have to be the Vandals and Tenacious D (they did the "tribute" song someone mentioned earlier) As for the worst lyrics I've ever heard I would have to say Jethro Tull and most grunge bands. Especially Nirvana, Sonic youth, some smashing pumpkins. But the absolute worst lyrics award would have to go to Bush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syxxstring Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Worst lyrics of all time: David Lee Roth- he should be criminally punished Best lyrics of all time: Chris Cornell - go listen now and guy named Steve Taylor. Runner up for best and worst: Excessive Compulsive - i'm biased Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and they`re like, its better than yours, damn right its better than yours...... nuff said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 What constitutes "good" lyrics anyway? Saying the most with the least amount of words? It mostly depends on the listener's perspective and how they interpret a songwriters lyrics. You can say, "Yeah, my wife left me and my dog got hit by a diesel" or "Woke up this morning, my dog was dead." If that really happened to you then I guess you can identify with what the writer was trying to get across = good lyrics. But to someone else it could be meaningless. From my perspective "good" lyrics came from bands that were considered, to me, ahead of their time. They said things that didn't have much meaning at the time but seem to hit the proverbial nail on the head now. Early Black Sabbath comes to mind in songs like Children of the Grave and Into the Void. A lot of what they were saying 30 years ago seems to have more meaning to me now and coincides more closely with current events. I don't know if thats just coincidence or if those words were thought up by some seer in a drug induced haze, . I like hearing truth in lyrics, people just saying it like it is, regardless of who might be offended. The late, great Frank Zappa was very good at that. He ridiculed everything and everyone from Catholic Girls to politicians (Nixon) to corporate giants. How true. And then there is the writer who can make very profound remarks that can reach your soul. One good line by Bob Dylan comes to mind in Hard Rains Gonna Fall where he says "I seen a clown crying in an alley". I also like lyrics that are loaded with symbolism and have to be interpreted. This makes the song worth listening to more than once and it takes a while for the realism of the words to actually sink in. One of my favorites is the ballad, American Pie, by Don McLean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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