Bad music?

[Stephen]

Is Rap, Thrash etc 'bad' music?

Does it condition people to me irresponsible, anti social, prejudice, violent etc?

Interested in your thoughts.

[Blueskied]

Which Rap?
MTV goldchains pimp rap or surreal avantgarde indie hip hop like this:
http://www.last.fm/music/cLOUDDEAD/_/Apt.+A+%282%29
or that:
YouTube - Why? - Rubber Traits

[Jarreddo]

I don't believe that there's such a thing as a bad type of music. It all depends on what the artist does with it, what the message is. Anyone who's consciously aware of their feelings and mood can tell what effect something is having on them. Listen to a song and, if you can feel negative energy growing inside you, that song is bad for you. Same with some movies, books, etc. Just don't generalize, and don't knock anything until you've tried it, I guess.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Is Rap, Thrash etc 'bad' music?

Does it condition people to me irresponsible, anti social, prejudice, violent etc?

No, but Kenny G's music does all that to me. It also kills my sex drive.

[Rose of Cairo]

I agree with Jarreddo. I think it's not about the type of music, but about the spoken and unspoken message. In every music style some songs are positive, uplifting and make me feel great, whereas others are aggressive, draining, negative or otherwise unpleasant. That's even the case with instrumental music and with classical music. So it's not a matter of type but a matter of energy.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Jarreddo

and don't knock anything until you've tried it, I guess.

I have never agreed with that cliché.

I can knock child molesting and heroin; and yet I never have tried them.

Same applies to murder, self mutilation and flashing.

Another cliché that is highly overrated is "everything in moderation"

Same examples apply..........

[Trezker]

If you know Swedish you'll easily hear how incredibly sucky these guys are... I think you can hear it clearly otherwise too.

YouTube - Håkan Hellström "Ramlar"
YouTube - Basshunter - Vi sitter här i venten och spelar
YouTube - Rosa Helikopter - Peaches t

There's plenty more where that came from.
But people like this crap, I don't know why...

As for rap, thrash etc... They are genres, there's good and bad music in all genres. You can't say all rap is bad based on your experiences, that's like being musically racist.

[Akashic_Librarian]

Hey what's wrong with Thrash?!

Metallica RULES!

[ruchirkc]

I like metal, rock, and rap. And I'm no where near being violent...

[Brutha]

Just don't generalize, and don't knock anything until you've tried it, I guess.

Especially if you try something and it creates some form of positive emotion you become less able to judge whether it's harmful because you get baised.
It works that way with a lot of drugs.

A better maxim might be: Don't judge anything till you have read peer reviewed articles about it your have done objective reaserch about it.

[JimOfferman]

Rap is not bad at all.

What you should really fear are those who sing songs that may inspire growth. Imagine the ghastly horrors if we let fragile young minds be touched by such volatile ideas!

Ban all singers, I say! Ban the evil lot!

Oh, wait...

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

I feel like music is an expression of life. It's an art form. I don't like every kind of music, but I respect the talent it takes to express yourself in such a way.

I personally like rap, even some of the more hardcore stuff that a lot of people feel is just negative and "bad". The thing is, I love the fast, clever rhymes. I love feeling the power behind it and seeing into a life that is foreign to me. A lot of rap is socially conscious or makes commentary on the state of the world. I think it has a place even though I don't expect everyone to like it.

The same can be said for metal or opera or indie pop...it's all someone's expression. And for that I think it can be respected even if one doesn't prefer it. Just like any other type of art.

...except for Kenny G.

[ns123]

is rap music bad? Depends on how you interpret it. Not everyone is affected in the same way.

I had a discussion with a friend one time about a movie, 3:10 to Yuma.

I thought the movie was inspiring, about a man who had moral clarity, a man, though imperfect, knew who he was and how to live his life, on purpose. Though he never really did any seemingly brave acts (like take what he wants, command respect/fear from his peers), the very fact that he stuck to his principles was a sign of great courage. He did what was right with in own conscience even it was unpopular or financially detrimental. And in the end, he changed others, made them a little bit better.

My friend saw him as a man who was a coward. Who was just greedy, who lived like a coward. That if he were in the dude's shoes, he would have put his family first, before his pride. He saw the main character as just a stubborn prideful man - though he was willing to die and sacrifice all for his principles, my friend thought that was the wrong decision. You always put your family first.

So... is the movie bad or good? Is rap music bad or good? It depends on how you interpret it, and how it affects you as an individual.

We can go over the music and debate the lyrics, and debate on what they mean, but that will not get us anywhere. In the end, it's how it affects you and how you interpret it to fit into your life.

Just like Angela said, Kenny G kills her sex drive. Others, that may set the mood for sex. So, is Kenny G good or bad? The answer, it depends on how it affects you.

[Nautilus73]

I think that music can be very powerful. It can make you said, happy, motivated. It may even get you angry. Take "Solaar pleure" for example - it's french rap (I don't understand a word of it) but every time I listen to it I can feel this angry kind of pain....

Or the song "Dance with my father" by Luther Vandros. Makes me wanna cry everytime.

In short - you can use music to change your emotions and this can be quite effective. I think you are save as long as you are aware of the feelings a particular kind of music causes in you.

[funchy]

To me "bad" music is anything that glorifies bad behavior: drug abuse, cheating, killing, using people, whatever. It may not make a good person go bad, but good people usually aren't drawn to this type of message in the first place.

[Elrond]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Is Rap, Thrash etc 'bad' music?

Does it condition people to me irresponsible, anti social, prejudice, violent etc?

Interested in your thoughts.

I assume that by "thrash" you mean "thrash metal".

I don't get how the music could be bad.

I don't get how the lyrics are bad (examples).

I don't get it.

Originally Posted by funchy

To me "bad" music is anything that glorifies bad behavior: drug abuse, cheating, killing, using people, whatever. It may not make a good person go bad, but good people usually aren't drawn to this type of message in the first place.

You are talking about the lyrics, not the music.

[JimOfferman]

Originally Posted by funchy

To me "bad" music is anything that glorifies bad behavior: drug abuse, cheating, killing, using people, whatever.

I must be a particularly bad person then...

[funchy]

Originally Posted by JimOfferman

I must be a particularly bad person then...

It's got a catchy tune and nice vocals.

What do you think the meaning of the song is?

I got out of it that it's a story of a man who deflowers a pretty & innocent girl. Then he kills her by blunt force trauma with a big rock, simply because 'All beauty must die'. It's a tragedy sung with beautiful voices.

From my point of view (female) it's a bit scary. There are men out there who take pleasure in destroying women, including killing. While I am not likely to meet one of those men, it's still an unsettling idea.

[funchy]

Originally Posted by JimOfferman

I must be a particularly bad person then...

Just wanted to add... thanks for sharing this. I had not heard of Nick Cave until now. He's got quite a bit on YouTube. His style sort-of reminds me of The Swans, and I had not heard Swans in years. It was a trip down memory lane.

[JimOfferman]

Originally Posted by funchy

What do you think the meaning of the song is?

It's a duet between a murderer and his victim. Or, at least, that's the surface of it... perhaps there is a deeper meaning, but I haven't found it.

From my point of view (female) it's a bit scary. There are men out there who take pleasure in destroying women, including killing. While I am not likely to meet one of those men, it's still an unsettling idea.

Yes, but such men are not made by music, or any other form of entertainment for that matter.

[Trezker]

This thread wouldn't be complete without one of these YouTube - family guy-brian roll regular version

[edwardmccaughan]

some random thoughts:

Rap does seem to be bad in that it *does* infuence the kids at least a bit. Not so much the music and lyrics, but the culture of violence and money and drugs and hoes and whatnot that comes with it. Bearing in mind all I know is stuff wot I read on the interweb, but for example, theres a blog by a black teacher in a school with mostly black poor kids and even they admit to her that its hard to succeed at school when their role models are people like 50 cent. A lot of the critism of raps influence seems to come from people who are actually effected as opposed to the white middle class objections like "games are the evil and make kids burn things!11!"


On the other hand, I love metal :-) Metal is weird, but its all about anger and violence and darkness, but its *good* anger...
eg: a moshpit looks incredibly violent, but if you fall over, you never hit the floor, because immediately everyone around you grabs you and picks you back up again.
Theres just something about the anger in metal that feels right, I'm not sure why. Possibly its because you're accepting that side of yourself instead of trying to pretend its not there and the whole world is lovely and fluffy.

besides, most metal lyrics tend to be random strings of cool sounding phrases which completely fail to make any sense (I'm looking at you metallica :-p), let alone enough to encourage you to do anything specificly bad ;-)

[Elrond]

Originally Posted by edwardmccaughan

besides, most metal lyrics tend to be random strings of cool sounding phrases which completely fail to make any sense (I'm looking at you metallica :-p),

Hell is worth all that, natural habitat
Just a rhyme without a reason

[Trezker]

Originally Posted by edwardmccaughan

On the other hand, I love metal :-) Metal is weird, but its all about anger and violence and darkness, but its *good* anger...
eg: a moshpit looks incredibly violent, but if you fall over, you never hit the floor, because immediately everyone around you grabs you and picks you back up again.
Theres just something about the anger in metal that feels right, I'm not sure why. Possibly its because you're accepting that side of yourself instead of trying to pretend its not there and the whole world is lovely and fluffy.

besides, most metal lyrics tend to be random strings of cool sounding phrases which completely fail to make any sense (I'm looking at you metallica :-p), let alone enough to encourage you to do anything specificly bad ;-)

I think you need to hear some good metal. Metallica is the crap floating at the top of the barrel. A lot of metal tells stories about myth, fantasy, religion etc...

Lost Horizon - Lost in the Depths of Me
"But the world still is drowned in ecstasy
Of the fate and the myth of gods
But I doubt there's a journey planned for me
As I own every moment of my life
And the blessed they shall call it blasphemy
But I know what I think is right
Still the sun and the stars will shine for me
For the pure I will fight
For no king I will die
For my thoughts I will live"