Narcissism and hostility in today's pop music

[Madara]

This article in today's New York Times, "A Generation's Vanity, Heard Through Lyrics," by John Tierney, hits the nail on the head:



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/scien ... _LO_MST_FB



I've always said that the narcissism and hostility in American pop songs of the last 20 years constitute the main reason I turned to Japanese pop music. Nice to see that some research has come along to back me up.

[eri]

[quote name='Madara' timestamp='1303830653' post='98033']

I've always said that the narcissism and hostility in American pop songs of the last 20 years constitute the main reason I turned to Japanese pop music.

[/quote]



But, is it because you cannot understand the Japanese lyrics? <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... lleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':rolleyes:' />

[Madara]

[quote name='donut' timestamp='1303831191' post='98036']

[quote name='Madara' timestamp='1303830653' post='98033']

I've always said that the narcissism and hostility in American pop songs of the last 20 years constitute the main reason I turned to Japanese pop music.

[/quote]



But, is it because you cannot understand the Japanese lyrics? <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... lleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':rolleyes:' />

[/quote]



Partly--what you don't know or don't understand can't hurt you. But when I read the English translations of H!P song lyrics, they tend to be a lot more uplifting and positive than American song lyrics. E.g., "Ai Araba, It's All Right," to name one of my favorites. And I can cite a lot more if pressed to do so.

[al kusanagi]

It's totally different if you understand Japanese. All Buono ever sings about are bitches and their beef with SMAP.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1303833977' post='98039']



It's totally different if you understand Japanese. All Buono ever sings about are bitches and their beef with SMAP.

[/quote]



Indeed, all crave for cocks and pussy.

[eri]

The tricky thing is that Japanese naturally does not even utilize the word "me" or "I" with the frequency of English. You have to guess via context who the speaker is. Arguably, can we translate most H!P songs using "I" as the speaker instead of "we" or "you"?



愛あらばIt's all right

得意なことよりも

好きなことがいい

As long as I have love, it's all right

Doing things I like is

Better than doing things I'm good at

[Madara]

[quote name='donut' timestamp='1303834437' post='98042']

The tricky thing is that Japanese naturally does not even utilize the word "me" or "I" with the frequency of English. You have to guess via context who the speaker is. Arguably, can we translate most H!P songs using "I" as the speaker instead of "we" or "you"?



愛あらばIt's all right

得意なことよりも

好きなことがいい

As long as I have love, it's all right

Doing things I like is

Better than doing things I'm good at

[/quote]



Aha! A typical narcissistic American interpretation! <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />

[neshcom]

Nice to see that some research has come along to back me up.

Has anyone disagreed with you that a large section of the rather diverse American music culture is imbued with violence and pettiness?



No, but seriously, American music isn't all like this. We can all recognize this is just another "some music is bad, so all music is bad" article on some level right? We can be above grossly over-generalizing this, right?



I mean, the article even says:

Defining the personality of a generation with song lyrics may seem a bit of a reach, but Dr. DeWall points to research done by his co-authors that showed people of the same age scoring higher in measures of narcissism on some personality tests. The extent and meaning of this trend have been hotly debated by psychologists, some of whom question the tests’ usefulness and say that young people today aren’t any more self-centered than those of earlier generations.

This is the same news report we've been seeing every 4 or 5 months: the youths are only thinking about themselves. I'm not saying this story isn't true or has no basis, but it's not exactly a stretch to say that already hormonally-charged youths enjoy loud, raucous, self-focused music.

[surasshu]

This article sucks and I wish I could punch the author in the face. But that would just PROVE HIS POINT OH SHIIII---- <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ek3run.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':eekrun:' /> (EDIT: actually maybe not, since I'm too old)



Seriously though, I never understand these old folks that can't even imagine being young anymore, and then go something along the lines of "The youths! How crazy!". I still remember what it was like being a teen. I listened to Cradle of Filth and Prodigy. One of my favorite songs was called Hedonism (which I didn't know what it meant back then, but I do now).



It seems to be that once you hit somewhere around 35 or 40, you lose the ability to judge youth culture in any meaningful way, and if you're a journalist, you then write stuff like this article, or "games aren't art", or "television is rotting children's brains". We're smarter than this, I would like to think.

[Madara]

[quote name='///' timestamp='1303842298' post='98052']

This article sucks and I wish I could punch the author in the face. But that would just PROVE HIS POINT OH SHIIII---- <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ek3run.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':eekrun:' /> (EDIT: actually maybe not, since I'm too old)



Seriously though, I never understand these old folks that can't even imagine being young anymore, and then go something along the lines of "The youths! How crazy!". I still remember what it was like being a teen. I listened to Cradle of Filth and Prodigy. One of my favorite songs was called Hedonism (which I didn't know what it meant back then, but I do now).



It seems to be that once you hit somewhere around 35 or 40, you lose the ability to judge youth culture in any meaningful way, and if you're a journalist, you then write stuff like this article, or "games aren't art", or "television is rotting children's brains". We're smarter than this, I would like to think.

[/quote]



To be fair, when I think of "American pop songs of the last 20 years," I tend to think only of whoever the top pop stars at any given time are, so it's a field limited to whoever's getting mainstream coverage. There's probably a lot of much more interesting material being done off the top 40 charts that I never hear about. Back in the day (my youth), top 40 radio stations ran all kinds of music so it wasn't so easy to tar everything with the same brush. And there were variety shows on TV that showcased all kinds of musical acts. Then, at some point, radio stations got more specialized: only R&B, only rock, only alt-rock, only "Lite FM," only country, only hiphop, so it became harder to get a sense of everything that was going on. And variety shows disappeared. MTV came along, so we could still get some sense of the musical landscape, limited as MTV's choices in the early days often were. But then, at some point, MTV stopped running videos.

[surasshu]

MTV might not play music videos, but they're a bigger deal than ever, I believe. Youtube and all. The world has become more secularized because most people don't like getting spoon-fed stuff they don't want to hear. Choice is king.

[momoirosaya]

Also about about understanding the lyrics...like AKB songs, there's one about enkou (like high school prostitution) and one about having sex, even suicide! But the suicide one is more of a message to tell people to do it, cause it does that through the PV.

And Lil Pri was singing about farts, MM's Onnaga has them talking about how they like to wear see through shirts and liking everyone to see their panties when their skirts blow up, and Ayaya has some sex song too. Songs change when you listen to the lyrics.

[Haru]

I had heard about the AKB song about suicide, but I never knew about the ones about sex.

But let's not forget Mano's song about being deflowered. I giggle like a child whenever I read the translation.



MTV actually still plays music videos. I was up early one morning, around 6:00-7:00 AM and they had them on; but they ended around 8:00 or 9:00.

Really no point in MTV existing outside of smut anymore. :\

[momoirosaya]

[quote name='Haru' timestamp='1303877673' post='98097']

I had heard about the AKB song about suicide, but I never knew about the ones about sex.

But let's not forget Mano's song about being deflowered. I giggle like a child whenever I read the translation.

[/quote]

Enkou

Walnuts <--full of metaphors

these are the lyrics with translations if you're interested~

[Pucchi-Mo]

[quote name='Saya' timestamp='1303858209' post='98070']

MM's Onnaga has them talking about how they like to wear see through shirts and liking everyone to see their panties when their skirts blow up, and Ayaya has some sex song too. Songs change when you listen to the lyrics.

[/quote]

I can't think of one for Aya other than the easy answer "Kiseki no Kaori Dance". What else do you do when you SPEND THE NIGHT? Certainly not hours of playstation. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... umbsup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> Nacchi.



Speaking of Nacchi, the rap in The Stress. (@2:30) Possibly the most blatantly sexual phrase in an H!P song, plus directed at the girl singing.



Also Goto Maki, ummm, from her 6th single to now. MKB & Viyuden too. Pretty much all elder club.



I noticed that one of the Berryz album tracks had the word sexy in it, is that a first or have they known how to use sexy in lyrics for ages? <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hahaha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' />

[Madara]

Just for the record, lyrics about sex are not necessarily indicators of narcissism and hostility. Sometimes quite the opposite.

[momoirosaya]

[quote name='Pucchi mo' timestamp='1303932503' post='98124']

[quote name='Saya' timestamp='1303858209' post='98070']

MM's Onnaga has them talking about how they like to wear see through shirts and liking everyone to see their panties when their skirts blow up, and Ayaya has some sex song too. Songs change when you listen to the lyrics.

[/quote]

I can't think of one for Aya other than the easy answer "Kiseki no Kaori Dance". What else do you do when you SPEND THE NIGHT? Certainly not hours of playstation. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... umbsup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> Nacchi.



Speaking of Nacchi, the rap in The Stress. (@2:30) Possibly the most blatantly sexual phrase in an H!P song, plus directed at the girl singing.



Also Goto Maki, ummm, from her 6th single to now. MKB & Viyuden too. Pretty much all elder club.



I noticed that one of the Berryz album tracks had the word sexy in it, is that a first or have they known how to use sexy in lyrics for ages? <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hahaha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' />

[/quote]

The one I was thinking of was "Ki ga Tsukeba Anata"'s "TAKE ME PLEASE."

Last year I was singing this song and my mom was like "What the heck are you singing, do you even know what that means?" So now I know. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hahaha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' />