IT HAS A GOOD BEAT
AND YOU CAN DANCE TO IT

by Rocker Jon (1996)

How many times was that line used by a teenager on American Bandstand? Probably too many but it got me thinking about the centrality of lyrics in Rock music. How important to YOU are the lyrics in a Rock song? Do you pay attention to them or, like the teenager on American Bandstand, do you just go for the music? If it's the latter, you can probably stop reading this right now but if you listen to the lyrics and believe that lyrics are what gives Rock music it's true cultural significance, then please read on!

Now there are many topics that we could pursue concerning Rock lyrics but the one I'm most concerned with can be summed up in one word: FUN. Rock lyrics used to be fun but lately they are centered on gloom and doom. Why can't Generation X write fun lyrics?? Is this too much to ask from these pinheads? We all know that life sucks but do we have to hear about in the songs that they write?

It wasn't always this way you know. In the 1950's, lyrics were loaded with fun. Elvis sang about Teddy Bears and Fats Domino told us all about hot sex on Blueberry Hill. Chuck Berry wrote mini-epics about having fun! And Little Richard built an entire career on fun lyrics - even to the point of making up new words - A WOP BOP A LU BOP A WOP BAM BOOM - thank you!

Now, yes, there were songs in the 1950's that talked about negative feelings. Mostly songs about lost love but even those offered a hint of redemption either through the music or through the lyrics themselves. "I'll find somebody new, and baby, we'll say we're through, and you won't matter anymore" sang Buddy Holly. And the emphasis is on finding somebody new - positive and fun!

I'm sure a cynic out there might argue that the 1950's were a more innocent time and that Rock lyrics simply reflected this innocence. BULL. The 1950's were the Cold War era and nuclear anxiety ran high. Racial divisions were prevalent. Chuck Berry and Little Richard still had to ride in the back of the bus but they didn't sing about it did they? No - they sang about having fun!! They understood what good lyrics were supposed to sound like.

The 1960's brought a new sophistication to Rock lyrics. Thanks to the Beatles and Dylan, the words got more elaborate and, dare I say it, more poetic. But they STILL were fun! "Subterranean Homesick Blues," despite it's protest theme, still celebrated life and it was fun to listen to. Even "concept" albums like Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road were filled with fun imagery. Just ask "Mean Mr. Mustard," he'll tell you! And all of these fun lyrics were written during the Vietnam war era too. Not a happy time to be alive but musicians didn't dwell on it.

It would be easy to argue that the 1970's and the punk explosion were what killed the fun in Rock lyrics but think again. Punk, at its best, was a protest against both the cultural and musical establishment of the day. Punk lyrics were expressions of anger at the world but they WERE NOT internally negative. Punk lyrics celebrated life and offered fun, they just did it on their own terms. Punk Rockers did not just give up and write about gloom and doom.

But somewhere in the late 1980's and throughout the 1990's, Generation X grew up into our new Rock heroes. Trouble is - they don't know how to write fun lyrics. All they can do is bitch, moan, and complain about how awful life is. And they sell millions of records by doing this which is precisely my point - how awful can life be when you are a famous Rock star who is making lots of money? The music of Generation X is not only not fun - it's not honest.