Artists who actually have something to say

I'm sure most of you will agree with me when I say that most rock/pop/metal music doesn't have anything interesting to say (unless you count sex, drugs, teen angst, rock and roll, etc among "interesting").

Unfortunately, and here I'm sure most of you will disagree with me (), I think that progressive rock doesn't have anything to say either. The majority is either drugs, fantasy, or instrumentals. There are a good amount though which focus on social commentary, philosophy, personal problems, etc. I don't mean only having one or two songs and the rest don't apply, but include that too but only if you include the individual songs/albums that this applies in. The point really is to get bands who are constantly saying something.

Mmm...Tool have nothing to say and do so at inordinate length

Zappa's lyrics are in the main puerile

Neil Peart of Rush is a war-crime against blank paper

Dream Theater are 'deep' for people who need water-wings to read

Ergo, I agree with the original poster and would add that the vast majority of prog lyrics are the cringeworthy bad poetry of charlatans like Fish, Jim Morrison, Peter Sinfield, Jon Anderson, Greg Lake et al

For what it's worth, there are some genuinely moving and thought provoking lyrics from Peter Hammill, Ange, Floyd (DSOTM), Pete Townshend, Peter Gabriel (SEBTP) and David Bowie

...and two of the foregoing ain't even fully fledged proggers ?

ExittheLemming wrote: Mmm...Tool have nothing to say and do so at inordinate length

Edited by topofsm - May 17 2009 at 20:31

If we begin to wonder if lyrics are mature or not, we should :

I wholeheartedly disagree with you, DJPuffyLemon, but it's a very interesting topic!

Examples are legion of very good standard love ballads and pop songs, and of those who tackle the same subject (love) with irony or humour. Then, going beyond boy-meets-girl, there are the vast number of protest and otherwise left-wing songs and albums. In fact, if there's a subject of interest in the world, music has something to say about it.

I'll go further. Agreed, song lyrics aren't usually the best poetry (though I'd challenge anyone to do anything but fall in love with, say, Bruce Cockburn's lyrics), but that's because lyricists operate under two constraints that do not apply to poets:
* because of the nature of the music business, they are generally very young, and their careers finish before most poets usually start being published. This means their life experience is not as full as that of literary figures.
• they are forced to fit their lyrics into the demands of the music.
The second point can become an advantage if music and lyrics complement each other.

Prog music generally displays thoughtful lyrics, and this is largely because, since the 1970s, the average age of prog musicians is somewhat older than that of other music genres.


Edited by russellk - May 17 2009 at 21:12

I'm surprised there is no mention of Porcupine Tree yet.

Fear Of A Blank Planet - The Information age and the way it is (supposedly) taking over the lives and infiltrating the brains of teenagers.

Can't think of any other examples off the top of my head, but watch any interview with Steven Wilson on youtube, and you'll see what he has to say

Pain of Salvation is the obvious choice here. Threshold are a band with surprisingly thoughtful lyrics.

DJPuffyLemon wrote: I'm sure most of you will agree with me when I say that most rock/pop/metal music doesn't have anything interesting to say (unless you count sex, drugs, teen angst, rock and roll, etc among "interesting"). Unfortunately, and here I'm sure most of you will disagree with me (), I think that progressive rock doesn't have anything to say either. The majority is either drugs, fantasy, or instrumentals. There are a good amount though which focus on social commentary, philosophy, personal problems, etc. I don't mean only having one or two songs and the rest don't apply, but include that too but only if you include the individual songs/albums that this applies in. The point really is to get bands who are constantly saying something.   So basically, make up a list of bands who have deep thoughtful lyrics that mean something, colorful English imagery a la Genesis doesn't cut it guys (I know that technically selling england is kind of a social commentary, but that's really only in like one song...and the lamb could mean something, but do not list that unless you have some sort of accompanying explanation...).   Well, at least you acknowledged most will disagree with you. I have absolutely no interest in an "artist's" opinions. Be they political, social or other. Allow me to amend that. If he is a musician, I will listen to his opinion's on music. That is not to say artists should not express thoughts on social issues. I will just do my best to ignore it.   It seems that only artists who express strong leftist views are regarded as deep and thoughtful. What if a musician held conservative views? He would probably be derided as "reactionary", "extremist" etc.           Anyway, Short list of bands I know: Marillion (Fish) Pink Floyd (dark side to final cut) Queensryche (possibly only operation mindcrime and most of empire) Tool (philosophical stuff on aenima and lateralus)

Many bands we love on this site have things to say, serious things. Waters is the most obvious example, but Rush have tackled serious issues, Porcupine Tree, Hogarth with Marillion wrote an entire album about a teenage runaway. The list is fairly endless, and I don't have time to populate it before I go to the pub.

In my opinion, The Tangent have some pretty good lyrics and interesting things to say.