It's probably possible to be socially conscious without being pretentious. I say probably, of course, since other attempts coming to mind (whiffle thrash, for starters) forces me to cringe just as heavily as Gildenlow's many lame lyrics do, but still, I have faith that someone could do it. The problem with bands like Pain of Salvation and Anthrax isn't simply that "they care". When they preach it's done in the most clichéd hack-of-a-lyricist way, whining on about these HUGE and IMPORTANT and GLOBAL issues in ways that have been done a thousand times before. Musically I like Be quite a bit, but the completely overblown concept about over-population and rich people and over-consumption is just so fucking old hat and meaningless. If I want political puffery I'd rather receive it directly from a 70's environmental documentary and not pre-digested from the anus of some douchebag progressive metal singer. EDIT: And just to clarify I really don't care that much about lyrics for the most part. Typically I ignore them and if it's a band I really love I'll check them out to see if they add to the experience. If they don't (Queensryche, for example), I'll try to block them out of my mind and focus on the music. Most of the lyrics on Be are ok; I'm a bit of a philistine so most poetic subtlety goes over my head, and that's fine with me. Sing about being taken to the ocean and the trees and whatever, fine, no problem, I don't consider something pretentious just because don't understand it. Just don't fucking spoil it with "Three Mercedes 350, two Ferraris / I Could have bought a Third World country / With the riches that I’ve spent" or similarly written garbage.
Well I recently mentioned on the Remedy Lane boards that I think Daniel really isn't an amazing lyricist. He has VERY good songs lyrically such as Her Voices, Beyond the Pale, Stress, The Perfect Element, etc. but then goes and shits it up with pretty cheesy songs such as Dea Pecuniae, Sleeping Under the Stars, and America. I don't really think of it as pretentious but rather cheesy and poorly written. Though Dae Pecuniae was meant to be theatrical and I guess in a sense most things that are theatrical are by nature going to be cheesy. EDIT: For the record Martin Walkyier was absolutely god at the whole sociopolitical lyrical themes in Skyclad.
Well, the cheese is a pretty significant factor. The way that a lyricist conveys an overdone topic can easily increase the pretentiousness as much as the nature of the topic itself. It's not just the subject that has overblown importance, but the lyric's own reason for existence as well. He contributes no arguments even remotely unexplored and for all the epic storylines he tries to set up, it's only a small step above the CNN thrash of the late 80's. And with Walkyier I agree; can't believe I forgot him as they're the only band that I really enjoy reading the lyrics of. There's a lot of variety from song to song topic-wise, and he not only can argue a point, but can do it with some really venomous wit as well. Perfect example of what I like if a band wants to be political.
. I would like to be able to enjoy my music without worrying about whether I am giving money to Sea Shepherd. I enjoy abstract and absurd lyrics best in metal. Like Carnivore. "I eat meat! I'd love to meet ya!"
No political/social lyrics in metal is a rule. Skyclad are the exception. Why? Because Walkyier is witty and only moderately self-righteous and Skyclad rock like motherfuckers.
I feel there are more exceptions to that "rule". Some of my favorite bands have some political lyrics; Misery Index, Carcass, Brutal Truth, and Dying Fetus...Why? Because they fucking rule.
Dying Fetus and Misery Index are super shit music, Carcass was great as a grind act, and Brutal Truth haven't been remotely good for over a decade.
So the way you evaluate your opinions on bands is, when a band hasnt been "good" in over a decade, you disregard everything good theyve produced and label them "shit music"?
If a band hasn't released anything good in over a decade, despite the fact that they may have released two good albums or so early on, the band AS A WHOLE is shit.
