Rock bands used to just write about whatever the fuck. Not to be all “old music was better!” but when’s the last time the world’s highest selling band released a song about killing people with hammers. The Who made an entire rock opera about a deaf, mute, and blind guy who is so good at pinball that he inspires a cultlike group of devotees who think he’s the next christ. It was released at the peak of their popularity and was made into a movie featuring people like Elton John and Tina Turner.
I think classic rock gets a reputation for being all about girls and cars and drugs but for about 15-20 years there were absolutely no rules on acceptable song subject matter. Pink Floyd has a song about a gnome going on an adventure. Alice Cooper has a whole album about breaking out of the Ableist Insane Asylum because he misses his dog. These weren’t weird little indie groups, these were all highly successful charting bands getting radio airplay and selling out stadiums.
We need to bring this culture back. No more love songs. Sing about wizards.
Some of you are missing the point. I know there’s music like this out now! I was heavily involved in the indie music scene for a while and actually marketed some stuff like this at the venue I worked at.
But what I am lamenting here is these kinds of off-the-wall topics have been relegated to random artists on bandcamp and maybe the occasional indie sleeper hit, when it used to be the biggest names in the business. I want Harry Styles to release a song about an elf prince in a magic kingdom. I want Taylor Swift to write about an alien warlord.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree expecting that from them!” That’s the POINT. Expecting the most popular radio played artists to make weird random shit shouldn’t be out of pocket. Somewhere along the way it only became profitable/socially acceptable to write the same four song topics over and over and I think it’s boring.