this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2024
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[–] nowherelord@lemmy.world 51 points 1 month ago (12 children)

Semi-Charmed Life, by Third Eye Blind. Basically, it's a song about doing meth... Spent almost twenty years just singing the chorus with absolutely no idea what the rest of the lyrics were. Now, it kinda feels weird, ngl.

[–] undercrust@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (9 children)

I, as a child, did a music class presentation on "my favourite song of the year" on this little ditty.

Whoops!

Edit: To clarify, then, much like now, I listened to the music and not the lyrics. I don't know if that's common at all, but the singing is basically another instrument to me, and I hardly ever pay attention to the actual words.

[–] Lookorex@lemm.ee 14 points 1 month ago

Much of the time I can't even make out the lyrics, so I listen to music the same way

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[–] WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

But it's about how the excitement of meth, like that of a new relationship, fades and leaves the speaker wanting something more substantial while still fondly reminiscing about the good times.

The speaker thinks of the girl as a "sunburn" he "would like to save." He describes meth as something that "will lift you up until you break." I think these characterizations point very strongly toward nostalgic longing and away from the glorification of addiction or even that of drug use. So no reason to feel weird I think.

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[–] zaph@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 month ago

Not so much a song about doing meth as it's a song about the ramifications of doing meth. "Doing crystal meth will lift you up until you break" it mentions lockjaw at the end and even talks about watching the love of his life die to an od.

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[–] felixwhynot@lemmy.world 44 points 1 month ago (4 children)

“All that she wants” by Ace of Base. I read a deep dive into the band and it seems like they may have been formed after a neo-nazi group and that song might be about Jews trying to dilute the bloodline… so yeah kinda weird now.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Oh fuck, no way.

Ok, I read thenlink and the bassist was an opely total piece of shit before joining the band but I didn't see anyhing about the AoB songs being hidden propaganda or the rest of the band's history. Where does the speculation come from?

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[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago

Ooof, TIL..

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[–] Schal330@lemmy.world 44 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Mr Brightside by the Killers. The tune was good and felt energetic when it came about, but it's about a guy being cheated on. Having had someone cheat on me around the time it came out it hit really close to home and I just don't enjoy listening to the song.

The problem with being in the UK is that it's so overplayed and I just have to tune it out.

[–] zaph@sh.itjust.works 51 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's not. It's about a guy who can't beat jealousy and believes he's being cheated on "except it's all in [his] head"

[–] Schal330@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Ah my bad. I thought the song was written by Brandon Flowers after catching his girlfriend cheating on him in a bar in his hometown of Las Vegas.

https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/the-killers/what-is-the-killers-song-mr-brightside-about/

During lockdown in April 2020, the frontman looked back at the video and noted: "It's just a song about betrayal. I was betrayed and I was able to turn it into a masterpiece".

[–] zaph@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago

From the article "The lyric is about a man who is obsessed with a girl that is seeing another man… and the thoughts that go through his head, imagining what they’re doing behind closed doors…" I guess I was wrong, it's envy not jealousy.

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 month ago

No, it's a song about a nice guy not getting his crush.

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[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Pretty much all Linkin Park songs.

Listened to it since elementary.

Around high school, I figured the lyrics were kinda dark.

Then the vocalist hung himself.

[–] nafzib@lemmy.world 40 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Sadly, Chester grew up being horribly abused and then using a lot of drugs. He was super close with Chris Cornell, who had also killed himself some months prior to Chester. Chester had been sober for a time but ended up staying the night alone after traveling and drank a little and hung himself on Chris's birthday.

Mike Shinoda has stated in interviews that when he and Chester would write lyrics, they would focus on the emotion and not necessarily just the exact experience. So the lyrics would slowly evolve until they both could sing them truthfully while relating them to their own separate lived experiences, which is part of why they can be so universally related to - because none of their songs are truly only about one specific thing, but rather about the feelings people experience.

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago

Fuck, man, that is some depressing backstory.

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[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Richmen North of Richmond.

I love the sound, and at first it sounds like a pro worker union song (and it kinda is).

But there's way too much dog whistle.... An old soul in a new world.... Dude the south lost and slavery is bad. I'm sorry

And then he slips in some super disappointing language about fat people on welfare.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Dude the south lost and slavery is bad. I’m sorry

WTF? Don't be sorry about that!

I know it's just sort of a reflexive idiomatic politeness, but still, it is really important to make it absolutely crystal clear how irredeemably contemptible the "lost cause" shit take is, at every opportunity. Never, ever be polite about it!

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Thank you.

"The south lost and slavery is bad, kindly get fucked."

Sorry as a Canadian and a woman I just can't not be polite.....

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[–] sirboozebum@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Sherman did nothing wrong.

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[–] Zarxrax@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Well, one that maybe went full circle for me is "bring the pain" by mindless self indulgence. At first, it just seemed like a really fun song that I loved. Then one day, a black dude was in my car listening with me, and he was like "wtf is this song about?". That's when it hit me that the song actually sounds REALLY racist. I looked up the lyrics and that just confirmed it for me. And then years later, I found out it was actually a cover of a method man song, and not really racist at all, I guess. But thats a weird one, maybe best not for white guys to be singing it...

[–] i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Yeah I used to love MSI and never really listened to the lyrics closely. Dude covers songs by black artists and straight up sings the N word.

See also his cover of "Big Poppa"

The more I looked into Jimmy Urine, the more problematic it got, like grooming a teenage girl.

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[–] takeheart@lemmy.world 28 points 1 month ago (2 children)

"Vamos a playa" by Righeira carries a lightweight, upbeat tune that vacationers might hum on the way to the beach. But the Spanish lyrics reveal that it's about the devastation left behind by nuclear armaments. And the schism between trying to live an ordinary life whilst having a nuclear Damocles sword waver over your head. That it became such a world wide hit makes it all the more ironic. I love it all the more for it.

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

99 luftballoons is similar.

The 80s was oddly dark.

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[–] yessikg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hey there Delilah

The dude who wrote it is a creep

[–] Susaga@sh.itjust.works 33 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Dang. Just looked it up. It's a song about a girl he met once and was dating someone else, but he still wrote a damn ballad and sent her a copy. Then she had to live her life surrounded by a song about a stranger's feelings for her.

And looking at the lyrics, they're sweet if said about a long-distance partner, but really weird to sing to a vague acquaintence.

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[–] GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee 26 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Sex Type Thing by Stone Temple Pilots. Great music, love STP, but it's basically about raping someone.

[–] criitz@reddthat.com 57 points 1 month ago

Scott Weiland was compelled to write the lyrics after an incident in which a girl he was dating was raped by three high school football players after a party. Thus, Weiland has stated the song is an anti-rape statement, not a song simply about sex, saying: "This song is really not about sex at all. It’s about control, violence and abuse of power."

Weiland found himself in the position of defending "Sex Type Thing" to individuals who took the first-person approach he used in the song ("I am a man, a man/I'll give ya something that ya won't forget/I said ya shouldn't have worn that dress") literally. "It was, 'All right, the "Cop Killer" controversy's dead, let's try to find something else,' " says Weiland, who has been outspoken in the press about women's rights and contends that he wrote the song in the mind-set of what he has called "the typical American macho jerk" because he didn't want to sound peachy. "I never thought that people would ever seriously think that I was an advocate of date rape."

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[–] MrGerrit@feddit.nl 22 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Jump by Van Halen when found out that it's about hanging yourself.

Well, I still like it but it's with a double feeling.

[–] nowherelord@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago (2 children)

From genius.com : "The original inspiration for the lyrics came from David Lee Roth watching a person on TV who was threatening to commit suicide by jumping off of a building and Roth figured someone in the crowd must be thinking, “Go ahead and jump”. It was, however, not written about suicide – the song is about ‘jumping’ on the opportunity to hook up with someone."

Though I can see where you got that.

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[–] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones. It's a song about banging a slave, but I didn't know that as a kid.

[–] PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Similarly, watching the music video for Africa by Toto changes the entire vibe of the song. It’s about wanting to bang a black woman. Bless those rains, I guess.

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[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 month ago (3 children)

The period between hearing and knowing what the song was about was nearly instantaneous but "Smack my bitch up" has an incredibly catchy tune.

It'd be really nice if they released an instrumental version one day.

[–] everett@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

For what it's worth, that line is a sample from an Ultramagnetic MCs song.

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[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not sure, if I stopped listening to mainstream music around that time, but uh, both of my examples are from 2011, apparently:

  • Kind of a classic response to this question, is "Pumped Up Kicks" from Foster The People. It's got that upbeat melody, and the lyrics are this:

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You’d better run, better run, outrun my gun
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You’d better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

  • And my other example is "The A Team", apparently originally from Ed Sheeran, and apparently also with an upbeat melody. I think, I only ever listened to a cover version. But yeah, it's about drug use and sex work, and how those kind of necessitate each other...
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[–] SwordInStone@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago (5 children)

most of Rammstein, but specifically Mutter

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[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 month ago

I'm learning so much from these comments...

[–] mx_smith@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Closing time by Semisonic I thought it was about going home with someone after a night out at the bar. It’s about the lead singers child being born.

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[–] lemmy_get_my_coat@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Constipated by Weird Al. That changed me.

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[–] idiomaddict@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In the other direction from most of them here, “Losing my Religion” hit a lot harder before I realized it was just about anger.

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