Stupid music cliches

[Matt Hazuda]

After you listen to music long enough, you notice some really annoying trends. I'll start out with a couple I really don't care for, and anyone can add their own.


Why must rappers say their name and anyone elses name who does the song with them in almost every other one of their songs?

Why must rappers say the year in a song?

Why must someone shout out "Remix!" in any rap remix?

[atf487]

Why do people bother doing remixes anyway? They always are a poor representation of the original.

Why does every actress/actor want to sing, and vice versa?

and finally, Why is good rap made fun of?

[Nightwing]

I agree with all the questions asked and that they should be addressed, but I'm afraid I don't have any answers for them.

Why is good rap made fun of?

I don't follow this one, though, because I haven't seen it happen personally. In addition, according to what I've heard from threads/discussions on this board from hardcore rap fans, I've been getting the vibe that a very high amount of actual good rap doesn't get much attention in the public eye, as much as the more watered down cliched stuff does. Of course if it does happen and the examples makes one cringe then I offer sympathy, cuz the actual face of almost everything in the world displays the exact opposite of what it either is or should be, if you ask me.

Let's see, what music cliches should I add. Well, there are the stereotypical ones from each music genre, which can be found just by thinking of one genre, turning your cynical button on and then describing said genre, but as far as which one I can't stand the most it's the boppy jumpy brain-exploding thumps of club/dance music. Why do they have to suck to bad? And why does it not matter what the lyrics say, just so long as the beat it hypnotically destroying one's eardrums?

Actually the more I babble the more I'm sounding like the opinions of a stand up comic I saw on a Comedy Central special one time. I forget his name, and didn't care for him THAT much, but he had some good material and the stereotypes of the music genre was some of it.

[Supernovametalstar]

and finally, Why is good rap made fun of?

There's a such thing as good rap in this day and age? I'm just kidding . I like some of Ice Cube's music. I've never seen any examples of good rap being made fun of. It's only the extremely bad, white boy rappers that I've always seen get skewered.

Why must rappers say their name and anyone elses name who does the song with them in almost every other one of their songs?

Why must rappers say the year in a song?

I guess it is a way for them to get people to remember who it was that performed the song and what year it came out for easier reference.

One of the annoying trends that I've seen is the flaunting of their money in their videos. It's always seemed to me like they are saying "nay, nay, look at us. We have all this money and you're the idiots who gave it to us by listening to our crap music).

P.S., I have a real disdain for this type of music now, since the area I live in, the people insist on playing it on the highest volume possible at all hours of the day and night and will get mad at me for asking them to turn it down low enough for me to get some sleep.

[atf487]

I see it all the time, but mostly by popular rap fans. I like the roots, Jurassic 5, and Public Enemy, and people somehow make fun of me for that.

[Tienshin]

I see it all the time, but mostly by popular rap fans. I like the roots, Jurassic 5, and Public Enemy, and people somehow make fun of me for that.

My friend, those are examples of GOOD RAP. I stopped listening to music radio wholesale almost two years ago...same crap recycled especially rap. I dont need to hear some jerk brag about his money, his women, his cars, his bling, his manhood....et al.

Some other trends I have noticed:

Bad boy, rich as sin rock stars who are heroin addicts.

Afrocentric artists, like Lauren Hill...and Erikah Badu who derive more than half their record sales from the suburban demo. Wait...is this the 70's?

Rivaries...east coast/left coast...wait? I dont care!!!

Mopey, whiney, "my life sucks" rockers crooning on and on about the day to day BS of everyday life. THEY DONT LIVE EVERYDAY LIFE!!!!!

Fred Durst, who, as far as I concened is now cliche of himself.

I would say Britney, but damn she is too hot. I have made bets that she will end up on Skinamax one day, co-starring the freshly drug rehabbed Olsen Twins. At or about that time the world will end.

[Conekiller]

"uh huh" "yeah"
"uh huh" "yeah"
"uh huh" "yeah"
"uh huh" "yeah"
"uh huh" "yeah"
filler in rap/hiphop songs.

Parts of songs that use lyrics and the tune of an existing song (ie "livin la vida loca" in the Thong song)

Completly mutilating a perfectly good song and re-writing it/ Remix it it/just using a familiar tune in a song that isn't considered a "remake"

[dc_gothamite]

ugh... speaking of two years ago, how many times must this same EXACT conversation be started?

don't like the music? don't listen to it then... ppl r entitled to their own opinions, but please just stop the baggin'... there r still ppl out there who appreciate this music... there'z more to it than just "uh... uh-huh" and remixes...

besides it'z not like other genres of music are doing any better (or worse)... they all make statements and convey messages and points of view... don't like the messages? don't even hear the messages? well that'z just too bad, isn't it...

[Bud 'n Lou]

Generic, earnest female soft rock performers. Ugh, I hate them. For a while, they even began to infiltrate the world advertisement, crooning soulfully about Glade's Plug-In air fresheners as if they were singing about breast cancer or something. When I first heard the song "Beautiful," by Joydrop, I thought it would be another such song, but I was pleasantly surprised when the chorus kicked it. I thought that was clever.
I don't hate every performer that might fall into this category, because some of them do it well (like Fiona Apple). But usually, I prefer my female singers loud, aggressive, and foul-mouthed.

[Mynd Hed]

as far as which one I can't stand the most it's the boppy jumpy brain-exploding thumps of club/dance music. Why do they have to suck to bad? And why does it not matter what the lyrics say, just so long as the beat it hypnotically destroying one's eardrums?

Because that music isn't for listening to, it's for dancing to, and also because a good amount of the people dancing to it are on E. (-:

I used to have a roommate who didn't understand the simple fact that dance music isn't for listening to but for dancing to. He loved dance music, and he used to turn it on really loud any time we had a party-- and we threw dinner parties, not dance parties. As soon as he did that, people would start making excuses to leave, and he never seemed able to put two and two together and figure out why.

don't like the music? don't listen to it then... ppl r entitled to their own opinions, but please just stop the baggin'... there r still ppl out there who appreciate this music... there'z more to it than just "uh... uh-huh" and remixes...

Nobody's saying that that's all there is to rap music. Of course there's rap music that avoids or transcends those cliches: Jurassic 5, Del the Funky Homosapien, De La Soul, and Prince Paul are some of my favorites, and I also hear good things about the Roots. We're not condemning ALL rap, just the kind that starts with a "c." (-:

[EinBebop]

Why must rappers say their name and anyone elses name who does the song with them in almost every other one of their songs?

Or talking crap about other rappers. I mean, you never heard Sarah McLachlan calling out Celine Dion.

Heard a comedian on the radio last week: "I listened to a rap song today. I had no choice; it was playing in a car only four miles away."

[Nightflower]

Or talking crap about other rappers. I mean, you never heard Sarah McLachlan calling out Celine Dion.

Heard a comedian on the radio last week: "I listened to a rap song today. I had no choice; it was playing in a car only four miles away."

LOL! That certainly puts to rest the "Don't like it, don't listen!" complaint.

Bud 'n' Lou, Joydrop is one of my favorite bands!

[Andy Mancini]

Or talking crap about other rappers. I mean, you never heard Sarah McLachlan calling out Celine Dion.

I'd pay to see something like that.

[Lunacat]

1.) Too many people doing one song. Almost every song I hear features 3 different artists...geesh.

2.) Rap songs in which the male mutters stuff that is very difficult to understand and then some female sings the only lyrics you can sing along to. (There are SO many song like this that I'm just sick of it!)

3.) "Clever" song titles that are misspelled and lets face it, stupid.

[Mynd Hed]

"Clever" song titles that are misspelled and lets face it, stupid.

Yes, and a pox on that overrated fool formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince for starting THAT particular trend.

[Behonkiss]

Here's a good one. Remember when Eiffel 65's "Blue" took everyone by surprise with that funky voice-distortion technique? And now it keeps getting copied?

It's a cool technique, and I loved it at first, but now every time a new song uses it I just can't help but feel that it's a desperate attempt to make people go "This song is CUTTING-EDGE!1".

[Adam Tyner]

Vocoders are nothing new, dating back to the late 1930s. Kraftwerk, Stevie Wonder, Laurie Anderson, the Buggles, Daft Punk, They Might Be Giants, and quite a number of other artists all used vocoders well before "Blue" was a success.

Other clichés: using the phrase "staring at the sun", rhyming "please" and "knees", comparing tears to rain...

[Mynd Hed]

Here's one: any musical "artist" who has used the line "wave your hands in the air like you just don't care" or any derivation thereof later than the 80's should be shot on sight. Who's with me? (-:

We can, of course, make exceptions for covers of songs written pre-1989 on a case-by-case basis.

[The Landstander]

Overly angsty songs by bands who only seem to understand the emotion of anger/frustration/etc. A certain "Park" is the best example of this.

[James]

Rhyming 'cry' and 'lie'. The same with 'love' and 'above'.

The video lead singer having a gorgeous blonde fall for them in the video. Massage that ego man...

Fade outs. I hate them. Get rid of them. A song should resolve as it would if performed live. Fade outs just strike me as lazy.

The main voice followed by some rapping somewhere around the middle 8 by a secondary 'singer'. Stop it. It's dull and it saps any real message/feeling out of the song. Rap to me isn't that emotive in aural sound. It's a message not a feeling. And in songs which try and invoke a feeling through aural texture, rap just seems out of place. Just a personal opinon. I like rap, but this becoming cliche formula of singing with a 'Linkin Parkesque' guy in the background muttering to himself in faux anger is just dull, dull, dull.