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Is it okay to write sad (subset=breakup) songs?

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lastclearchance:
This could have taken the emo thread wildly off topic and I like that one unlocked so here we go.  I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this.  

Regarding emo music:

--- Quote from: captainawesome ---Yes, everyone has some aspect of life that's shit, but I feel like maybe they should step back, and look at other people's lives. Like say, Kuwait, with that whole genocide thing?  Or maybe even those famous starving children in Africa (Stereotypical as it is, it still is a problem, and very few people seem intereseted in doing anything about it).  And they're complaining about their life?
--- End quote ---


I don't support becoming so self-absorbed that you essentially become a narcissist minus the self-esteem either.  But just because someone had a good upbringing doesn't make them happy any more than having a bad one makes you upset.  Your point sounds dangerously close to going up to a clinically depressed person and saying "You have a job and a house, what are you crying about?  Get over it" as though it's not a chemical imbalance. Am I correct in assuming this was not what you were getting at?  Furthermore, your argument seems to indicate that music is supposed to conquer certain topics.  What makes someone's self-absorbed song about being happy any different from a self-absorbed song about being sad, when viewed in light of all these problems in the world?  I get the impression that you don't listen to Brian Wilson and think "How can you pick up good vibrations when children are dying in Africa?" so why do that for emo?  Furthermore, people often write about things that emotionally resonate with them.  Is that wrong?  I am sort of the opposite end of the spectrum because I for one think that if some fourteen year old is angry at something that his parents did and listening to Simple Plan makes him feel better, then as long as I don't have to hear the song, more power to him.

KharBevNor:
Only if the lyrics are to this standard:

You Lost My Memory

"Unstoppable force and immovable object,
repel one another when by chance colliding.
The Brownian-Motion within this love potion,
ensures our opinions are always dividing.
I am from Mars my dear;
you hail from Venus.
A meeting star-crossed
like the Sun and the Moon.
Destined to let this cruel world
come between us.
Our last kiss eclipsed by a shadow at noon.

A rose that is built
out of music by moonlight;
petals stained ruby with nightingale blood.
Cast down in disgust
to be crushed by a cart-wheel,
because of mere trivia misunderstood.

We quest for a grail of illusive perfection,
each hoping we'll find it some glorious day.
Yet gaze with remorse at our jaded reflection,
that looks like The Picture Of Dorian Gray.

[Chorus:]
Siamese Twins who were joined at the heart.
Love's an affliction without a known remedy.
Blunt-bladed fate
deemed to cleave us apart;
Emotional surgery pays no indemnity.
Some seek release with effete anaesthesia,
others adapt to the role of sworn enemy.
You found nepenthe in cheap, sweet amnesia;
It was far easier losing my memory.

And the nightingale sang:
"Sing love's lament
with a thorn at your breast.
Impaled by her barb;
cruel and unforgiving.
A million dead poets would gladly attest;
heart-ache's a keepsake
to remind us we're living."

[Chorus:]
Siamese Twins who were joined at the heart.
Love's an affliction without a known remedy.
Blunt-bladed fate
deemed to cleave us apart;
Emotional surgery pays no indemnity.
Some seek release with effete anaesthesia,
others adapt to the role of sworn enemy.
You found nepenthe in cheap, sweet amnesia;
It was far easier losing my memory."

Se7en:
I'd agree, quality and origionality are the issues here. A "boo hoo i got dumped" song isnt exactly based on a very creative theme, but its a very universal one, that most people can relate to.. IF its a decent song.

lastclearchance:
I changed the subject because I am thinking both in the specifics of breakup-type songs but also more generally.  

P.S. Khar who recorded that?

ASturge:
I don't think those lyrics are that good Khar. But that's just me.

It's true though, if it's just a Dashboard Confessional crapfest then there's no point.

Good lyrics are a must for a subject that has been overused to the point of sillyness.

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