Do songs still retain meaning?

사랑해

I'll back off so you can live.
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    I'm... pretty sure this goes here...

    Do you think in this day and age, that most songs still have an important or moving meaning, a.k.a. not about drugs, alcohol, or women? Do they all basically have the same message, just in different words and with a different beat? I'm mainly referring to pop and hip-hip music, but discuss any other genres as well.
     
    Most songs have good meaning. Just think about them. The "drugs, sex, and woman" thing is just a very fail-explanation of modern music from what I call the Music Nazis, or as others may refer to them as..douchebags.
     
    Hear Linkin Park's New Album--A Thousand Suns.
    And most of the other albums has very good meanings.
    Especially The Catalyst[CoD PS3] and Iridescent[Transformers3].
     
    I think there is some hip-hop that's total garbage as far as its message (3oh!3, which I will admit I definitely listen to in secret) and some that is incredibly powerful -- Immortal Technique, for example, is a Peruvian soldier and he has some great things to say.
     
    I've heard a disturbing increase in the amount of songs that talk about things that happen "in da club" lately...

    I think a lot of them are starting to have the same meaning, but such is the fabric of humanity. As humans we have very similar themes of experience. Love and/or heartbreak, in particular, are meanings we see again and again until our ears bleed because they're simply the most accessible things emotionally to write about.

    That's not necessarily a bad thing. I know originality isn't the top priority of qualities I look for in my music.
     
    Shining Raichu said:
    I've heard a disturbing increase in the amount of songs that talk about things that happen "in da club" lately...

    I think a lot of them are starting to have the same meaning, but such is the fabric of humanity. As humans we have very similar themes of experience. Love and/or heartbreak, in particular, are meanings we see again and again until our ears bleed because they're simply the most accessible things emotionally to write about.

    That's not necessarily a bad thing. I know originality isn't the top priority of qualities I look for in my music.
    Click to expand...

    Themes are going to overlap here and there, but there's always a new perspective on a different issue. Alter Bridge's lyrics are usually pretty thoughtful.

    There's still a lot out there that has something to say. And that's just in terms of lyrics. A good song can convey its meaning instrumentally. Eg. November Rain - Guns N' Roses.
     
    Some music has meaning. What's most popular and listened to by kiddies doesn't. Most of them don't even care that they are putting these NASTY words in kids ears. And ALL of them know.
     
    As far as I'm concerned, if music doesn't have real meaning, it's not real music. All the music I listen to does have real meaning. Most rap and hip-hop style music I've heard doesn't have much of a meaning. There are, however, exceptions to that, an example being most of Eminem's music. Yes, it's rap, and has the occasional profanity, but most of his songs have very deep meaning. As far as songs I listen to, I'll give an example of one of my favorite songs: "Gritar" by Luis Fonsi. The meaning of the song is to always shout out what you're feeling inside, even in tough times, because your voice always has meaning.
     
    I've changed up some of my music preferences and now, a lot of the songs I listen to hold meaning, otherwise I won't really listen to them. There's plenty of songs that still retain meaning, but you just have to look past all the crappy songs to find them.
     
    I honestly think it just depends on what you're listening to. There are many songs out there with great emotional drive (like Avenged Sevenfold's entire 'Nightmare' album, or the song I finished writing tonight about a homie that's up in heaven), and there are many songs that are meaningless and meant to get that green paper stacking.

    Music with meaning is what I prefer the most out of all of it.
     
    Really; it depends on the singer. Some artists songs always have meaning; well others sometimes have the occasional meaning and some that are just 'meh'. Kinda also depends on who you are; as well it might have meaning to you it might not others and vice-versa.
     
    there's always going to be objectively meaningful music and objectively meaningless music. it's just down to you to find it.
     
    Some music does, some music doesn't. Some music has a meaning in its meaninglessness. It depends on what it is.
     
    U2's Beautiful Day is still one of the purest songs that exist, it's to bad songs aren't like this anymore.
     
    This is a rather broad topic. As others have said, writing topics/material overlap all the time, and thus become 'popular' things; a.k.a. "love" and "in da club". I don't necessarily believe that all music conveys an important message, but who says it has to, right? Music is all about having that freedom of writing whatever comes to mind, and that goes for writing lyrics as well. Music and lyrics don't need to have an important message to relay to make it "good" music, and I'm not saying that anyone is really saying this in this topic. This is much more of a general thought than any kind of statement, obviously.

    So what I'm saying is that all music holds some important or moving meaning, it just might not be a literal one (in the sense of a "message".) And of course, it can all depend on the listener and/or the writer.

    To answer the OP's question, I do think that a lot of today's music conveys the same message, but is it so different from the past? Ultimately, much of it is either about love or lust, and that's bound to be repeated and repeated many times, eventually kinda losing its' importance and originality. Truth be told though, as Shining Raichu said, these things are the most accessible emotionally when it comes to this matter. It can't be helped I suppose.
     
    Every song has some meaning behind it. "in da club" is definitely a meaning. It means that the person wants to go to or is in a club. I could go on forever, but this topic's too broad.
     
    Depends what you're listening to. If you feel a lot of songs these days are superficial, you're listening to the wrong songs. Music can still be beautiful, emotive, and 'meaningful'. And it's up to you what kind of meanings you listen to, I suppose, if you try to cultivate a varied musical taste. I'm not going to give examples, but every year there are songs and albums released that can bring me to tears because of the power of their themes and expression.

    While most mainstream pop tends to be rather simplistic and focuses on other qualities such as catchiness, there are some real gems out there. While this may be controversial, and regardless of what you think of her style and entertaining, Lady Gaga is the first example that comes to mind of a pop singer who is trying to infuse more themes in her music. And while you may not consider partying etc. a powerful message (I don't, but I enjoy pop for those other qualities expressed), not everyone listens to music for these things. The ability to get people dancing, to make them feel uplifted and energetic, to make a situation more fun or exciting, are all meaningful things in the place that they occupy in our leisure time.
     
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