Bad opinions [ARCHIVED] • Page 156

That first Desa album is the only thing Oberst has done that I flat out love as a whole, though I do really like some scattered songs throughout his discography.

 

Eh some of it is a bit on the nose which has always been his problem but I wouldn't say it was horrible like, say, casadega's lyrics

 

Payola got some cringeworthy lyrics.

 

its just a bunch of empty political sloganeering, not his worst but still not good

 

Desaparecidos is the only thing that's ever really interested me by Conor, to be honest. Never listened to a full album of his, however.

 

I'm Wide Awake is good

 

Why is it empty? Who's call is that to make?

 

As the listener, mine

 

Meh. Disagree. It's a consistent theme in all of his music, therefore, not really empty.

 

Desaparecidos – Radicalized Lyrics | Genius Lyrics



absolutely zero depth here. its like, "oh people in the middle east get radicalized and so do people in the US and uhh ...." ??????

 

That's not how that works

 

Desaparecidos – Te Amo Camila Vallejo Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
Effective song lyrically

 

First song on the Monsters Of Folk album was cool but that's the closest I've come to liking anything Oberst related

 

Reason tells me that when someone has been hammering home the same topics album after album, he's clearly passionate about those topics. If you also took any amount of your time to read up on his interviews, you'll find him discussing the same topics. That doesn't sound "empty" to me.

It's not his job to help you understand it, especially when there's a large enough group of people that do understand.

 

again, whether or not something comes across as empty is up to the listener, doesnt matter who's writing it. his lyrics on payola, and on several other releases, ring hollow. sometimes he hits the mark but more often than not he's barely scratching the surface of these topics and giving no real insight or analysis of them. i have no problem understanding the topics, thank you very much.

 

As a listener, you don't get to decide if someone's art is "empty." That literally means it's void of meaning or sincerity when used in a literature sense. You have zero way of gauging that sincerity, zero. Because it doesn't mean anything to you, doesn't mean it's empty. That shouldn't have to be explained.

 

I mean, I don't think anybody's claiming these lyrics are empty to the writer.

 

where did i say its void of sincerity? quite the strawman. im just saying there's no depth to it.


and yes, i get to decide what the art means to me. and only me. couldnt give a shit less about authorial intent when im analyzing lyrics.

 

"just a bunch of empty political sloganeering, not his worst but still not good"

Empty when describing a work of literature or words means it's void of meaning or sincerity. That's what it literally means.

No strawman here. No depth is fair, but it's a song, he's only got so much time to work with. I think the entire theme of the album, along with the context of when it was released, makes up for not hitting his point in one song.

 

well let me assure you i am not commenting on the sincerity of his words, i am commenting on the depth and meaning, of which i find very little. and its not just that one song, it was just the first example i grabbed. but its reflective of what i find wrong with the album as a whole. it lays out some very obvious political ideas without expanding on them in any meaningful way. to me, that makes the words empty, and again, that's not a comment on his sincerity because i know connor is about his activism. i just dont think his ideas are conveyed in a meaningful way, lyrically on the record. NOW, when the music is taken with it, which i think is excellent, im able to look past it. the record is fun, its urgent, but i wouldn't call it deep. and honestly it seems to me like he's trying to be deep with these ideas, which is why im not questioning sincerity whatsoever, but he comes up short. imo.

 

Fair enough. I tend to look at it as easily digestible to a listener that might not be thinking about those things daily. The album got a ton of coverage when it was released, and it was pleasing to the ear. Who knows, maybe that was more effective than getting into the weeds lyrically.

 

and thats totally fair too, maybe the lyrics arent meant for someone like me that's very in tune with those things.

 

I enjoy in the aeroplane over the sea but the nearly unanimous hyperbolic praise I see for that album is baffling

 

NMH are one of the funnest live bands I've ever seen. They looked like they were having so much fun and looked so stoked just to be playing with each other. It was so nice. Haven't listened to Areoplane in a long time tho.

 

Including you