Abstract Theory and Music
Booking through Thursday 1-15-09
What songs … either specific songs, or songs in general by a specific group or writer … have words that you love? Why? And … do the tunes that go with the fantastic lyrics live up to them?
There’s a few bands and songs I can identify with this question. The surprising (and somewhat old) Green Day album American Idiot, some Shiny Toy Guns songs and about every Muse song ever written.
I’ve followed Green Day since Dookie and they’ve yet to produce something I don’t love. When American Idiot came out in 2004 it didn’t get a whole lot of extra attention. But after it received the Best Rock Album Grammy a year later, peoples ears started perking up. American Idiot is a concept album. Each song from beginning to end is related to one another. The Who popularized this idea back in 60’s with Tommy. It was love at first listen with me, as it usually is with Green Day. For me, American Idiot is the antithesis of their entire careers.
Its impossible to pick one track or even a few off this album that I adore. I treat them as a whole entity. The songs talk about politics, paranoia, American propaganda and personal struggles. (That’s a lot of P words…) If you haven’t had a chance to hear American Idiot do me a favor and get thee to Amazon. Its the best collective album I’ve ever heard. (To be fair I wasn’t alive in the 70s, so I have a limited perspective.)
There’s a few songs on this album that strike me as extremely potent. Oddly the first and last tracks stand out for me.
‘When Did This Storm Begin?’ is a song about abuse and that’s fairly obvious in the lyrics. I like blatant imagery, though I don’t discount ambiguity. However STG has a beautiful way or marrying those two concepts. There are two voices on the track, one seems to paint a poetic picture of the past while the other speaks a little more cryptically, perhaps acting as a sub-conscious.
‘Frozen Oceans’ is my other favorite, as far as lyrics go. What’s the song about? A lover? A friend? An idea? As I’ve always thought, the listening or viewer brings their own perspective to a piece, so the real meaning will remain unclear. What isn’t unclear is the longing, the anticipation and possible hopelessness. I know it seems like I’m describing ambiguity with ambiguity, but that’s my philosophy of art, take it or leave it. 
Yes, all of them. Could I pick one song? No, I can’t even settle on an album. They remind me of Tori Amos in their poetry and lack of lucidity. I’ll pick my two favorite songs to talk about.
‘Hysteria’ (from Absolution)
Playing this song on an endless loop on Rock Band has nothing to do with my favoritism, really. Aside from the delicious instrumental first 30 seconds, this is the song that should have been on the Twilight soundtrack. Ok, ok, I’m getting ahead of myself. What’s this song about? Love. I’m sure of it. There’s not a whole lot to explain, if you get it, you get it. ‘I’m not breaking down, I’m breaking out, last chance to lose control’ sort of says it all right there, doesn’t it?
‘Take A Bow’ (from Black Holes and Revelations)
My knee-jerk reaction is to pick ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ for my favorite, because I simply adore the music. But keeping in line with my love for politically charged lyrics, ‘Take A Bow’ has to be it. It has nothing to do with the new Watchmen trailer either, honestly. But any song that talks about burning corrupt leaders in hell is pretty much a shoe-in for me. No its not that blatant, and that’s what I love about it. That is the over all concept, but it doesn’t really finish the thought until the very end. It strikes a familar chord to the last track on the album, ‘Knights of Cydonia.’ I’ll let you listen and decide for yourself where the connections lie. (I still can’t figure out why it was NBCs champion theme song during the Olympics…)
Clearly I like abstract lyrics. Does that go against the question?? I guess I don’t care. I identify with abstract theory, which I suppose makes me a good artist (and oddly a horrible mathemetician!)
