Songs that Expose Truth (?)

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ShaneG
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Songs that Expose Truth (?)

Unread post by ShaneG »

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ADMIN NOTICE: Great idea for a thread. However, in the interest of staying true to our mission as a place for unique critical thinking, I would appreciate if you could post the lyrics of each song that you post, and add to it any personal analysis of the song (be it melody, sound, mood, or combination thereof, etc.) as well; we can get a good look at these songs that are supposedly waking people up — and perhaps, from this, we might all wonder about their value a little deeper, and we look a little less like a Facebook wall. Sound fair, ShaneG? I have taken the liberty of adding the lyrics of the songs you posted already. -HP


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I've been a hip hop head since my teens, and have listened to many artists who express conscious thought through their music. I doubt most of these conscious artists are aware of all the fakery that's going on, but at least some have made the effort to 'wake up' their listeners.

I'd like to hear other genres that touch on these subjects, so please post here if you know any good ones.


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdnrmGcR5_k
Control

I’ve never been one to just bow to authority
I’ve always been one to question why I should
A uniform doesn’t mean that you practise honesty
And doesn’t guarantee your intentions are good
Who thinks like this? If everyone does
I wonder are we scared to mention this stuff
Or is it just a small percentage of us?
Who see the world without pedestals, where no-one is a level above
And if you look, you see the world covered in a very thin dust
And if we blow it off we start to see that everything’s fucked
So we let the dust settle like we’ve never been touched
Just to hide the fact we’re damaged goods
And that goes for the doctor, the cop or the model, the beautician
The writer, the actor, even the musician
See, everyone’s flawed, sealing the cracks
We put up walls from the floor to the ceiling and back
There’s no concealing the facts, if you see it you laugh
It’s like life is a theatre and everything you’ve seen is an act
So go and load that webpage up
See your favourite celebrity there with no make up
Shock horror that’s a normal girl’s face
I thought I told you that the world is a stage
I’m sorry mate, I’m just thinking aloud
In a world where the don’t want thinking allowed
I try and tell em

If we can’t trust the media
MP’s lie and the banks get greedier, well
Well then we have never needed each other more
We have never needed each other more
And if our teachers are teaching us
To keep quiet and just be obedient
Well then we have never needed each other more than now
And I sing

All your life they’ve been telling you to do as you’re told
Because the last thing the want is you to think on your own
In this game of control

You soon learn that everything is a scam
Deception has been around ever since there was man
Now, I’m not saying everyone has a sinister plan
But if you think everyone’s innocent, your head is in the sand
And it’s all part of being human
I know it’s hard, the good half and evil half of me are feuding
I’m stuck in the middle, feeling puzzled by a riddle
That should all be so simple but I can’t see a solution
Devil on one side, claiming he’s my brother
Telling me not to listen to the angel on the other
I only share that coz I’m sure you’ll relate
See, everybody’s going through all these emotional states
Coz we’re designed to but they’ll call you bi-polar and say
That your mind’s screwed and you should take 5 pills every day
But wait, mate, I’m only having mood swings
Surely that’s a condition of being human
A side effect of being alive
So why would you even prescribe anything I don’t need to survive?
See, someone’s benefitting if we’ve all gone nuts
Someone’s pocket’s bulging if we’re all on drugs
Now they’ve got us all addicted to the cure
But was something even wrong? I int sure
I’m sorry mate, I’m just thinking aloud
In a world where the don’t want thinking allowed
I try and tell em

If we can’t trust the media
MP’s lie and the banks get greedier, well
Well then we have never needed each other more
We have never needed each other more
And if our teachers are teaching us
To keep quiet and just be obedient
Well then we have never needed each other more than now
And I sing

All your life they’ve been telling you to do as you’re told
Because the last thing the want is you to think on your own
In this game of control

full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9WrXrN47Yg
Dub FX lyrics:

My intentions have never been bad
I try to make others celebrate
I forgot the times i was ever sad
But mainly the times of hate
Its funny how much can happen
But things will stay the same
Then life will turn a corner
And decisions turn up made
So I sing

The sun comes up but my head is low
I'm still in bed cos the world is cold
Everything is a daze to me so i fly into outer space
The moon above has a healthy glow
I'm flying over the streets I know
And everything that I used to see has gone
To another place
Now I can't help but feel a sudden anger in me
Starting from my stomach and rising up within me
It's taking over my life making me feel so dizzy
Making me look at the news as if its one big conspiracy
I see the truth an I feel the lies
But so many different views in so many different eyes
Make us paralysed, where all so hypnotized
From all the fluorides and chem. trails up in the skies
They want to dumb us down just because they're scared of us
They know that if we band together we can rise above
They feed us lies on the telly cos so many trust
That the UN's agenda actually cares about us
But I know better, you see it's all about to end
A worldwide suicide fashion trend
We like to look pretty and we want to all pretend
But the truth is something nobody can comprehend

The sun come up but my head is low

full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgkrRCpXA3E
[Intro: Speech of Roosevelt]
:Here is the challenge to our democracy
In this nation I see tens of billions of its citizens
A substantial part of its whole population
Who at this very moment are denied the greater part
Of what the very lowest standards of today
Call the necessities of life"

[Verse One: Huggy Bear]
It's brain implants, labor camps, uranium on tobacco plants
Secret handshakes plaque, an intential avalanche
Spread of AIDS, IFC's, [?] contingency
Fucking shit up overseas the pope down, you're down on your knees
The government's your enemy, hit strike dependency
It's a guilty plea fee, it's the Bildenburg Committee
International currency with my gold replacing paper money
It's the metalic strip on your driver's license
Genetic science, it's a crush rebel defiance
Planned racial riots
It's control of the population
One world, no more nations, grotesque creations
The eugenics debate, plans to make the perfect race
It's aristocratic, static, the Mason outfit
Heaven chicks, Global Economics, its the book I read
The shotgun under my bed, another author turned up dead
It's the slave trade, drug raid, assasination state
[?] with little Beau endless Peeps
The secret that I won't keep, the Mt. Weather treasure
Intelligence, benevolence, it's earthquakes measured
Another Mason president with secret pieces of the crusifix
On the cruiseship to Egypt in 2000, in public-housing
It's propaganda in a slick disguised, as entertainment
Rated R, ain't that bizarre?
And set some ties to space ships
A nuclear device headed for Jupiter
While network TV keeps us stupider
It's human spade and neutered, it's your baby's future
The eye inside the pryamid, the spy inside your crib

[Verse 2: Kobayashi]
Merely running a cyber race, as I stare off in space
One day my life they'll cut and paste
From [?]
Cop to floppy disc
She plays a game, her life at Risk
Watch my foes through the mist
Surround mounds of secret data
Fought to fought the one and other, mix shit, I own all to big brother
The biggest player hater
Keep three economic terminators
It's exterminator of lower class and it's invisible sister [?]
Where the rich get richer meanwhile the poor just get their picture
In the local Times
From murder one to petty crimes
Injust race climb
To keep you bawling all the time
At night a light shines
Infrared inspection of the mind
Contents, nonsense to tappin a line all the time
To control our life with nine numbers, concerns towards are gettin numb
As the market starts to plunder
I wonder where this world goes and realise
Time will expose all they try to keep hidden
So peep the knowledge god's spittin
Another world's in store
They can't be won without a war with revelations for more
Scan your card at the store, fingerprints to open a door
Easy pass so you can pass, help eliminate cash
From keepin taps in yo' ass, everywhere you goes swiping cards
Spending virtual doe bought in by interactive tracking
Conducted on the low, hi-tech hacking
Results in encryptic codes crackin now we have no defense
And our backs against the fence a lá Prince
Computers so real that they can talk
Leave mankind alive and short
Nutrition's getting dark

[Interlude]
"It's believed that these changes are so subtle
That they have already begun taking effect and
The makings of a new sociable state
Are in fact already among us"

[Verse Three: Trip]
Everybody flip a dollar over, scrutinize it
See the truth, realize the cyclopic optic in the socket
That's tri-angular watch the Ken Star spangle
Presentangle strangle
Your computer data, basically, replace the power with Armageddon
Fuck that I'ma get this
Call it armageddon, next tip let's get out of here
It's crowded here, too many cats runnin around the sphere
Changing with currencies, centered around the sphere burnin eternally
Although you think it's turning the globe it's spinnin is really controlled
By those who lead the mislead
As tricknology gets fed through the mouths of microchips
And their fiber opt, tickin testin clock tickin
Plot thicken like cock when it's leaving crotch, it's feminine
Watch millenium watch your pendium, cash freeze zero degrees
Like prime peridium
I pity slum and citizens who wanna know
Y2K fucked up they wanna know B-I-N-A-R-Y digital
Even though the environment is [?] compliance with
Higher enlightenment
My mind is in sent
Daily types of messages, I soak it all up
But I filter
Never caught up in contest fax with overlappin infractions
Made objections
Populace subtraction creatin a class that lacks action
Mold the world by what you tellin it meltin it swellin it
Watch all the dwellin it verbal relevant
Use verbal elements that confuse, arrest development
Of you intelligence you assumin that you can fuck with the Illumen'
But they celebit, secretly
Shhhhhhh

full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Co4UjDTgtI

[Lyrics?]


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx9Qz-3jKvg

[Lyrics?]


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJFrzPtla7o

[Lyrics?]
ShaneG
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by ShaneG »

Here's a dance song that has a cool sample from the Sidney Lumet cult movie 'Network'.


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kxDpnDZMTg
hoi.polloi
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by hoi.polloi »

Good idea for a thread.

However, I think we should also post the lyrics and discuss the problems we have with the lyrics, if any. As cultural critics, we should be open to our so-called heroes also being slightly misinformed, as we have been.

I would elect UB40's Who You Fighting For?

Who you fighting for?

Queen and Country, freedom cry
God and Glory, Do or Die
Propaganda, Spin and Lie
Who are you fighting for

You do the shootin', they do the lootin'
You do the killin', they do the drillin'
You do the dyin', they do the lyin'
All the way to the bank, you can hear them cryin'

Sell the arms, suppress the truth
Create the fear, invent the proof
Wave the flag, don't tell the youth
Who they are fighting for

You do the shootin', they do the lootin'
You do the killin', they do the drillin'
You do the dyin', they do the lyin'
All the way to the bank, you can hear them cryin'

You do the shootin', they do the lootin'
You do the killin', they do the drillin'
You do the dyin', they do the lyin'
All the way to the bank, you can hear them cryin'

Weapon dealin', profiteerin'
Country stealin', ethnic clearin'
Asset strippin', oil drippin'
Architects of War

You do the shootin', they do the lootin'
You do the killin', they do the drillin'
You do the dyin', they do the lyin'
All the way to the bank, you can hear them cryin'

You do the shootin', they do the lootin'
You do the killin', they do the drillin'
You do the dyin', they do the lyin'
All the way to the bank, you can hear them cryin'

You do the shootin', they do the lootin'
You do the killin', they do the drillin'
You do the dyin', they do the lyin'
All the way to the bank, you can hear them cryin'

full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGpZZi_myQY

I would also elect Chumbawumba's Everything You Know Is Wrong for its sardonic message, even if it doesn't bother with the details.


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xEwbzEBw14

My problem with the lyrics is that they truly don't bother about facts because they act as if getting the truth is a futile or hopeless effort against the waves of mis- or dis-information. However, it has a CluesForum-ish attitude in the sense that it basically expresses the right to doubt everything coming out of the media.
It's like the time that this, uh, minister in Indiana claimed that the theme song for Mr. Ed, that old television show (yeah) about the talking horse (mmhmm), if you played the Mr. Ed theme song backwards it said "Satan is the source"

Misinformation
Misinformation

Taking scissors to play (beep) with the black vote down in Flordia
Coloured pens and (beep) for sexing up the (beep)
I'm the someone who knew (beep) and I'm telling pre-September
I lean on (beep) in the loop to help them un-remember

I was flying on UA 93
That shadow in the footage, it was probably me
I'm the rumour, I'm the doubt, I'm the lie
But you wouldn't stand near me if you didn't want to die

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a verse missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

I was there when they landed on the moon
In a studio in Kentucky in June
I've got Kennedy's brain in a jar
If you knew what I knew, you wouldn't laugh so hard

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a verse missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

In the canteen down at Columbine with the bags they never found
Striking matches up at Waco when they burned it to the ground
Without me Oklahoma wasn't possible at all
See my silhouette in the Super 8, around the grassy knoll

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a verse missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

Roger flight, we're go, he's got some, uh, nice elevated rings, which we expected, and, uh, he's really speeded it up but he looks great, let's go

Wrong wrong
Wrong wrong
Wrong wrong

I was in Paris in the underpass (wrong wrong)
I'm the FO sponsored super-grass (wrong wrong)
I'm Charlie Thrush in Minnesota (wrong wrong)
And I smuggled hep across the border (wrong wrong)
Stole Danny Casolaro's memoirs (wrong wrong)
Out the acid in the reservoirs (wrong wrong)
I'm Ron Brown's body on a T-43 (wrong wrong)
And I hid those missing WMDs (wrong wrong)

What did the president know, when did he know it?

Everything you know is, everything you know
Everything you know is, everything you know
Everything you know is, everything you know
Everything you know is, everything you know
hoi.polloi
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by hoi.polloi »

I have heard a handful of funny songs about being skeptical of authority, which — in the middle of the song — switch to topics of "Illuminati" or "lizard people" or "conspiracy theories" or other things that are extremely controversial and which are riddled with "official alternative" messages, packed with disinformation because the artist is ignorant about the topic. Do we really need, at this point, to remind ourselves to be skeptical or wary of such messages? I don't think so. And I am not saying you posted many of these things. Most of what you posted seems good.

However, I think it would still benefit us to find the very best examples of intelligence, as it's presented by musicians both obscure and famous. Let us keep our ears peeled, so to speak. And cool thread. And good start. Some nice stuff in there. B)
brianv
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by brianv »

hoi.polloi wrote:I have heard a handful of funny songs about being skeptical of authority, which — in the middle of the song — switch to topics of "Illuminati" or "lizard people" or "conspiracy theories" or other things that are extremely controversial and which are riddled with "official alternative" messages, packed with disinformation because the artist is ignorant about the topic. Do we really need, at this point, to remind ourselves to be skeptical or wary of such messages? I don't think so. And I am not saying you posted many of these things. Most of what you posted seems good.

However, I think it would still benefit us to find the very best examples of intelligence, as it's presented by musicians both obscure and famous. Let us keep our ears peeled, so to speak. And cool thread. And good start. Some nice stuff in there. B)
I do spend a lot of time studying pop music and song writing, and writing songs about "something controversial" is quite a good money spinner for the Major Labels and Producers and Multi MIllion Dollar Studios, and it won't necessarily reflect the opinions of the writer or group! They would never repeat those opinions in public. As for Corporate Venue UB40 - simply the biggest sell-outs of all time! Not sure I'm in favour of this thread. More embedded tripe. And these clowns have enough money and exposure!
ShaneG
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by ShaneG »

Thanks for the constructive feedback guys. I will quote some of the more pertinent lyrics, and give my opinion on the subject.

Brian, I can tell you that most of the hip hop/rap music I listen to isn't mainstream; therefore, these artists are far from wealthy. Dub FX is the only one, out of the six that I posted, who has become widely popular, and generated millions of views on each of his youtube songs, but I wouldn't class him as a controlled mainstream artist.
ShaneG
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by ShaneG »

Jack Flash - Control

I like the direct message, and overall frankness of this song.
If we can’t trust the media
MP’s lie and the banks get greedier, well
Well then we have never needed each other more
This is the only song that I've heard by this guy, but he seems to be a thinking artist who has found a niche genre of his own; combining powerful vocals with classical sounding orchestra.

A mainstream artist would never get away with stating that the media is not to be trusted, as they'd be instructed by their label to remove anything that might tarnish the industry and hurt their bottom line.

It's true that big record labels sometimes take a controversial approach when attempting to generate interest, but material that is too close to the truth would most likely never be released. Even though most people are aware that MP's lie, and banks are greedy, they usually trust the media to some extent. We live in an evolving - paradoxical - society, where technology makes communication faster, yet people are becoming more disconnected from each other. It's refreshing to hear a song that isn't just a cliche about love, but genuinely conveys the message that we as humans sincerely need each other.
brianv
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by brianv »

ShaneG wrote:Thanks for the constructive feedback guys. I will quote some of the more pertinent lyrics, and give my opinion on the subject.

Brian, I can tell you that most of the hip hop/rap music I listen to isn't mainstream; therefore, these artists are far from wealthy. Dub FX is the only one, out of the six that I posted, who has become widely popular, and generated millions of views on each of his youtube songs, but I wouldn't class him as a controlled mainstream artist.
First lets get something straight. Hip hop and Rap is not "music". :rolleyes: Maybe I should have simply said that writing songs about something controversial is just a song-writing device. To sell records. Nothing else. Makes no difference if they are a signed band or not. You want to promote their sales? Why aren't they being slated by the arseholes in the media (like everyone else who voices an opinion on such matters) if their lyrics are so cutting?
ShaneG
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by ShaneG »

Dub FX - Intensions

Dub FX 'goes in' on this song, saying what he legitimately thinks - rather than what he thinks will sell.
Now I can't help but feel a sudden anger in me
Starting from my stomach and rising up within me
It's taking over my life making me feel so dizzy
Making me look at the news as if its one big conspiracy
I see the truth an I feel the lies
But so many different views in so many different eyes
Make us paralysed, we're all so hypnotized
From all the fluorides and chem. trails up in the skies
They want to dumb us down just because they're scared of us
They know that if we band together we can rise above
They feed us lies on the telly cos so many trust
That the UN's agenda actually cares about us
But I know better, you see it's all about to end
A worldwide suicide fashion trend
We like to look pretty and we want to all pretend
But the truth is something nobody can comprehend
I first heard Dub FX around 2009 when he released this album; he quickly went viral with the beat box foot machine that played his beat on a loop. This is the only song of his that touches on 'truther' topics, but it's an excellent display of heartfelt lyricism. The average person looks at the news and believes what they see/hear, so when one of his listeners hear him say: "Making me look at the news as if its one big conspiracy", they might look at the news with a more critical perspective in future. There is also the message of humanity being dumbed down, and that if we band together - we can overcome the obstacles that are being put in our way by the people who "feed us lies".
ShaneG
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by ShaneG »

brianv wrote:
ShaneG wrote:Thanks for the constructive feedback guys. I will quote some of the more pertinent lyrics, and give my opinion on the subject.

Brian, I can tell you that most of the hip hop/rap music I listen to isn't mainstream; therefore, these artists are far from wealthy. Dub FX is the only one, out of the six that I posted, who has become widely popular, and generated millions of views on each of his youtube songs, but I wouldn't class him as a controlled mainstream artist.
First lets get something straight. Hip hop and Rap is not "music". :rolleyes: Maybe I should have simply said that writing songs about something controversial is just a song-writing device. To sell records. Nothing else. Makes no difference if they are a signed band or not. You want to promote their sales? Why aren't they being slated by the arseholes in the media (like everyone else who voices an opinion on such matters) if their lyrics are so cutting?
Hip hop is a culture, and rap music is the result of said culture. I prefer stuff that stays true to original hip hop roots, and normally listen to more chilled out music than these examples, but there has to be a certain level of intensity when an artist is consciously making a song that has a deeper message. You are a harsh critic, and that's fine, as am I sometimes, but we will have to 'agree to disagree' on what constitutes music.

I don't care if their sales are promoted or not, as I doubt my input will make an iota of difference. The reason why these underground artists aren't slated by more well known people in the industry: it's because of the old adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Millionaire sell-outs don't 'prop up' relative unknowns with a < five figure twitter following. Jay Z and Nas are two of the biggest artists in the 'rap game', and used to beef with each other, but now they're friends; part of me thinks that their beef was mostly manufactured for the controversial talking points which consequently made them multi platinum sales.
fbenario
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by fbenario »

brianv wrote:Hip hop and Rap is not "music".
No kidding. No one singing, no one playing an instrument. Just a bunch of pretending to act out emotionally, trying to get rich and famous by appealing to the worst in people.
simonshack
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by simonshack »

hoi.polloi wrote: However, I think it would still benefit us to find the very best examples of intelligence, as it's presented by musicians both obscure and famous. Let us keep our ears peeled, so to speak. And cool thread. And good start. Some nice stuff in there. B)
Allow me to contribute with a song by an obscure bunch of musicians who do their best to --- 'expose the truth'. <_<

Click on link to listen (no video available, I'm afraid): http://septclues.com/AUDIO%20FILES/01_R ... ircles.mp3
Image

ROUND IN CIRCLES (by "The Social Service"- lyrics by Simon Shack)

With this fake - oh so fake - Imagery, on TV
They pull us around
Round and round
Round in circles
Round and round
Round in circles
Can’t you see
CBS, ABC, CNN
Or see right through the BBC ?
As they spin us around - round in circles
Round and round – round in circles
Yet you let yourself get hypnotized
By the fakery flowing out of your TV
So please, please
Stop the fakery
I said please - stop the fakery
Oh won't you plea-ea-ea-ea-ea-ea-se - stop the fakery
Stop the fakery - stop the fakery
Please - stop the fakery
Coz I can’t stand it anymore !!! Image
Please, please - stop the fakery
Stop the fakery-ee !
If you dig their stuff, you can purchase their (well, our) latest album here: http://thesocialservice1.bandcamp.com/album/realitivity

To those who oft complain about "fame-seeking / money-obsessed musicians" , I wish to inform them that the vast / overwhelming majority of bands & musicians of this world are honest, hard-working and passionate folks who are given no chance whatsoever to make even a modest living out of their craft - and are well aware of it, yet keep at it for purely idealistic / romantic reasons. This situation has 'progressively' worsened in the last few decades, to the point where (at least here in Italy) bands are forced to accept playing a gig for say, 50 euros-a-head, when just the cost (of car petrol) for commuting back and forth to a given locale might be 30 euros (and the 20-euro "profit" gets spent in food and drinks - which the stingy locale-owners do not even offer for free / 'on-the-house' anymore...).

On the top of my head, I'd say that the combined income from my 20+ years of music-making would hardly cover 30% of the worth of my modest, 'semi-professional' home-recording studio - what with its various (mostly second-hand) instruments purchased throughout the years. (Thankfully, my recording jobs for other bands - not included in my "30%" estimate - have helped cover my house bills, but I don't consider that as 'income from my own music-making').

This is to say, please spare a thought for the 99% (or maybe 98%?) musicians of this world who, today, selflessly bring you music - good or bad - yet at virtually no (or little) cost for you-the-listener.
hoi.polloi
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by hoi.polloi »

Rap is just a style of making rhythmic words, like a cappella, except with almost no melody and traditional or sometimes more experimental rhythms. It crosses the boundary between spoken word art and music. It's like saying comics aren't literature. The Sistine Chapel contains a big comic. Cave paintings are comics. But — alright, point taken. Rap isn't music. That doesn't detract from its cultural impact, as negative as it may be.

Commercial rap is mostly a clusterfuck of sad wasted efforts, but so is the commercial version of most any instrument or style. Hip hop is another matter — a genre, almost totally devoid of real intelligence, like pop music. But there are exceptions, especially in the independent corners of the genre. And you can break that down a number of ways, just like you can break down electronic music in a variety of ways.

To me, this thread is definitely about questioning the integrity of any/all artists presenting so-called truth. I agree that UB40 is a manufactured and artificial construct comprised of 'sell outs'. And we certainly don't need to praise that.

However, it's true that some songs by sell outs present truth for whatever reason and those reasons should be openly discussed. I am prepared to accept that even the greatest messages, when presented through typical, commercially available, recorded music — be it from sell outs or "independents" — is done for ulterior motives. Let's face it; a lot of musicians are just in it because of greed or lust, no matter how sincerely (or insincerely, a la U2's Bono) they try to distill an emotional message.

Nevertheless, it's also true — as ShaneG points out — that some artists do not get totally corrupted by the mainstream-technologically heavy, sexy, attention-getting process of producing/recording. Whether their songs that barely squeeze through the mountain of poorer material can actually be considered "successes" is definitely up for debate in my mind. Perhaps simply talking with people about issues is the greatest success of communication imaginable — far above what music claims to accomplish. Yet, if some songs (or other art forms) become tools by which those issues are brought up (and as long as the tool is not mistaken for the actual communication, as celebrity-worship tends to muddy up) I see benefit in the discussion of how to properly use those tools. Like an instruction manual for the overstimulated brain.

Let's keep it a discussion, however, and not merely use CluesForum as a useless hype platform. I am also prepared to say that CluesForum doesn't really need any thread like this and we can close this thread. Having said that, Simon's music is legit.
ShaneG
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by ShaneG »

fbenario wrote:
brianv wrote:Hip hop and Rap is not "music".
No kidding. No one singing, no one playing an instrument. Just a bunch of pretending to act out emotionally, trying to get rich and famous by appealing to the worst in people.
There are many different types of hip hop. Some have a singing chorus, some sample older music such as jazz and soul, and some have instruments playing during live performance. You're stereotyping based on the commercial rap music you've seen on the music tv channels, or heard on the radio. If you knew what real hip hop is, or music for that matter, then you wouldn't make such sweeping generalisations.

Here's a definition of music for you:
mu·sic (myo͞o′zĭk)
n.
1. The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre.
2. Vocal or instrumental sounds possessing a degree of melody, harmony, or rhythm.

1. an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and dynamics.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/music

I often listen to dance/electronic music, mainly non-vocal drum and bass, and I can assure you that this is a form of music. It might not be your taste -- and in your mind, you may not even class it as music -- but nonetheless, it is defined as music. I'm not a big fan of rock music, although I do listen to some alternative rock, but even though I don't like the metal genre; I still appreciate that it's a form of music which is liked by millions of people. I don't expect everyone to have such an eclectic taste in music, but it'd be nice if people weren't so ignorant - and narrow minded - whereby they limit their view of acceptable forms of music to a select few genres.
brianv
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Re: Songs that Expose Truth

Unread post by brianv »

That definition of music might be acceptable to some, but music is an art form which like poetry, is meant to enrich us on higher levels. The territorial thumping of the ground, the promotion of violence and degradation of women is not my idea of music. Excuse my ignorance.
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