Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of old (ouch) R&B songs from the late 90′s and all I can say is, wow, I can’t believe the state of the current music industry.

Whatever happen to smooth, easy listening R&B music with actual lyrics?

All we’ve got nowadays is songs about being cool at the club, sleeping with as many partners as humanly possible, binge drinking and blinging one’s self to the max. With the rising popularity of raving and the clubbing scene, all I can see that it is just going to get worse as all these forms of music to me are like a form of sonic invasion into my brain that I do not want.

I mean sure, contemporary music does indeed have a place in the space of all things but to me, these song of songs are only good in small chunks to which I am only contented to hear them in short commercial sound bits of about 20 seconds and not in their fully 3 minute representations of pure nonsensical hell.

I miss the days when music was kind of cheesy and naive, lyrically and melodically. I miss the days when the all you see in music videos are just a bunch of guys standing around singing their song, whilst attempting to serenade their love where as nowadays you get videos where its over-sexualized and just utterly strange (I’m looking at you Lady Gaga).

It seems to me that present new-school music nowadays is more or less how much bass you can produce into the music without blowing up your listeners speakers and how fast you can get away with faster BPMs.

I also remember days during my youth (damn, I feel so old) that I could easily recite lyrics from entire songs and not actually feel stupid about it. In some ways, I could even recite these lyrics to a girl, in attempts in romance, and not feel like a total idiot babbling incoherently about sex and living the “cool” life.

Sure, old school music does too include a lot of sexual references but at least its not shoved into your face like what you see in the current stock of contemporary music. Old school is a lot more muted and mature when it comes to this subject, which lends it an air of class that I find difficult to feel in songs coming out nowadays.

To me, lyrics for contemporary songs nowadays seem to be more about the catchphrases during its chorus bits that’s sometimes padded with shocking and utterly silly phrases.

For example, let’s just look at the lyrics of a popular tween song, Justin Beiber’s “Baby ft. Ludacris”.

Justin Beiber – Baby ft. Ludacris

You know you love me, I know you care
Just shout whenever, and I'll be there
You are my love, you are my heart
And we will never, ever, ever be apart

Are we an item? Girl, quit playin'
"We're just friends," what are you sayin'?
Said "there's another," and looked right in my eyes
My first love broke my heart for the first time

And I was like baby, baby, baby, oh
Like baby, baby, baby, no
Like baby, baby, baby, oh
I thought you'd always be mine, mine

Baby, baby, baby, oh
Like baby, baby, baby, no
Like baby, baby, baby, oh
I thought you'd always be mine, mine

For you, I would have done whatever
And I just can't believe we're here together
And I wanna play it cool, but I'm losin' you
I'll buy you anything, I'll buy you any ring

And I'm in pieces, baby fix me
And just shake me 'til you wake me from this bad dream
I'm goin' down, down, down, down
And I just can't believe my first love won't be around

And I'm like baby, baby, baby, oh
Like baby, baby, baby, no
Like baby, baby, baby, oh
I thought you'd always be mine, mine

Baby, baby, baby, oh
Like baby, baby, baby, no
Like baby, baby, baby, oh
I thought you'd always be mine, mine

When I was 13, I had my first love
There was nobody that compared to my baby
And nobody came between us who could ever come above
She had me going crazy, oh I was starstruck
She woke me up daily, don't need no Starbucks

She made my heart pound
I skip a beat when I see her in the street
And at school on the playground
But I really wanna see her on a weekend
She know she got me dazin' 'cause she was so amazin'
And now my heart is breakin' but I just keep on sayin'

Baby, baby, baby, oh
Like baby, baby, baby, no
Like baby, baby, baby, oh
I thought you'd always be mine, mine

Baby, baby, baby, oh
Like baby, baby, baby, no
Like baby, baby, baby, oh
I thought you'd always be mine, mine

I'm all gone
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Now I'm all gone
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Now I'm all gone
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Now I'm all gone, gone, gone, gone
I'm gone

 

 

Dear god...What the hell was this abomination of text that's actually passed off as lyrics?!?!

All that's going on and on in it is about his endless tirade of his "Baby, baby, baby, oh" and some random garbage about Starbucks and being cool and shit. I can't even begin to comprehend how the hell is it possible to actually listen to this song on repeat as there's nothing memorable nor interesting going on in the song, melodically and lyrically. Other than being well produced and being played at a higher sound quality, I don't see the appeal nor the reason why this should be consider a hit with the young listeners nowadays. Sure, I'm probably not within its target audience but you have to wonder how strange it is to listen to this sort of music while growing up. It just doesn't sound normal to me.

Moving on, let's now compare it with another song with a similar sort of "old-school tween" market appeal back from the very old days of music.

For this example, I've chosen the Jackson 5s song "I want you back".

Jackson 5 - I Want You Back.

The video cannot be shown at the moment. Please try again later.

(Intro)
Michael: Ahhhhh, let me tell you now, aha.

When I had you to myself, I didn't want you around
Those pretty faces always make you stand out in a crowd
But someone picked you from the bunch, one glance is all it took
Now it's much too late for me to take a second look

Oh baby, give me one more chance
(To show you that I love you)
Won't you please let me back in your heart
Oh darlin', I was blind to let you go
(Let you go, baby)
But now since I've seen you in his arms
(I want you back)
Oh I do now
(I want you back)
Ooh ooh baby
(I want you back)
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
(I want you back)
Na na na na

Trying to live without your love is one long sleepness night
Let me show you, girl, that I know wrong from right
Every street you walk on, I leave tear stains on the ground
Following the girl I didn't even want around

Let me tell ya now
Oh baby, all I need is one more chance
(To show you that I love you)
Won't you please let me back in your heart
Oh darlin', I was blind to let you go
(Let you go, baby)
But now since I've seen you it is on

All I want...
All I need...
All I want!
All I need!

Oh, just one more chance
To show you that I love you
Baby baby baby baby baby baby!
(I want you back)
Forget what happened then
(I want you back)
And let me live again!

Oh baby, I was blind to let you go
But now since I've seen you it is on
(I want you back)
Spare me of this cost
(I want you back)
Give me back what I lost!

Oh baby, I need one more chance, hah
I'd show you that I love you
Baby, oh! Baby, oh! Baby, oh!
I want you back!
I want you back!

 

 

See how much better these lyrics are?

Not only he doesn't go into somekind of epileptic fit mutterring the same phrase ("Baby, baby, baby, oh") over and over again, he actually does it with some variation and style with the additions pauses and sustains. This to me makes this song a lot more memorable and fun to listen to. Plus it is a lot more melodically complex and interesting, which is easily why even after 40 years, it is still such a good song that still resonates with my me.

 

Damn, what the hell happened?

In Part 2, I look at the songs that I feel evokes a sense of nostalgia and sentimentality from the early 90s and discuss why old-school music is still very relevant to us all.

Thank you for reading "Music to my Ears (Part 1): The Present State of Music" and do please share your views on this via the comments below.

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