When do you think lyrics are over the line?

[Cylem]

I tend to police my friend's music, because she doesn't listen to the lyrics and a lot of them are really... not something I'd show my mother.

A Little Piece of Heaven by Avenged Sevenfold's music video freaked us both out, though. The song's about a guy who, when rejected by his girlfriend, kills her, eats her heart and then has sex with her dead body, only for her to come back to life, eat his heart and then they both go on a zombie rampage killing wedding parties.

Liar Liar (Burn in Hell)by the Used is also a little... eurgh... but it's really catchy, so I listen to it anyway. XD

I listen to songs with less than wholesome lyrics, but I always know what they are. It just bothers me when I don't know what people are singing about.

 

[kaziard]

"cause my heart belongs with you
my love is pure and true
my heart belongs to you
but my cock is community property"

epic song

 

[Slayer_2]

Any song "sung" by a "gangsta". You're a spoiled multi-million dollar artist, you are not from the ghetto.

 

[ToMegaTherion]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLm5oSJRxIU

I love it...

 

[UBourgeois]

Any song "sung" by a "gangsta". You're a spoiled multi-million dollar artist, you are not from the ghetto.

To be fair, some of them are from the ghetto. 2pac, for example.

Although people like Eminem who grew up in fucking Warren, MI and try to play off like they lived inner city are absurd.

 

[TheDean]

Lyrics can't be over the line. But they can be bad. for reference, see any rap song. Or those crappy pop songs where girls sing the same few words over and voer to no tune

 

[S.H.A.R.P.]

I am never offended by lyrics. I usually don't consider the lyrics while I am listening to music, but enjoy them as part of the musical quality of the song. That enables me to listen to songs with pretty useless, extremely offensive lyrics, but which musical qualities still appeal to me.

Note that I listen to a lot of different genres, a lot of classical music, jazz, ska, triphop, etc. I also listen to quite a lot of hiphop (not the useless crap on tv), which songs often contain some pretty obnoxious lyrics. Still, the way the beat coincides with the vocals I find quite enjoyable. One example:

Spoiler: Offensive and mature content, if you are under 18, ask your mother for permission to read this. I shall not be held responsible of the consequences

Spoiler: Necro - Creepy Crawl

Creepy crawling, in ya crib, we're comin'to kill
catch you while ya sleep, wake up to a gun in ya grill
Doing Satan's business, tie you up, hang you, strangle you
22cal. bang bang you - Mephisto with a pistol
on methedrine crystal, give me all the money
to me you're less than shit stool - Juxed 51 times
women screaming, blood everywhere bound and
gagged in fear you star, beg for ya life
break the gun handle on ya skull, take a jagged knife
then like an animal indulge in non-stop stabbing trife -
puncture pregnant *****, rupture arteries
my horrific cult of vultures - Butchering, no remorse
bludgeoning, slit ya throat, gushing like a flushed toilet
now ya hunched - My infamous psycho posse
tagging pig up on the door in blood
you cant stop me from..

So yeah, pretty useless lyrics. But I find the song to be enticing, it's full of adrenaline, while not breaking your ears or something.

 

[Enosh_]

I enjoy brutal death metal and grindcore, so basicly there is no line

 

[Trivun]

Well,i think that the crossed the line when they let fucktards like Chris Brown Rihanna and Soulja Boy start singing. And while we are on the subject, can anyone tell me what the fuck a Holla Back Girl is? or what Soulja Boy is even talking about in most of his songs?

Soulja Boy (the song) is apparently about sex and that's about it (you do not want to know what 'Superman dat hoe' means). Otherwise, no idea. As for Holla Back Girl, I also don't know, but when I first heard it on the radio I thought the lyrics were talking about a 'Harlem Batgirl'. Why Batgirl would be in Harlem and not Gotham I have no idea, but I honestly thought at the time it was released for Batman Begins...

Anyway, on topic, I pretty much think most rap (talking about killing, hoes, and killing hoes) is really disgusting and stupid. Anyone who glorifies gang violence and prostitution is a sick person and deserves to be shot. That's all I can think of, since from what I know indie rock and soft rock/emo type stuff (what I listen to) doesn't normally deal with that kind of thing.

 

[Ultress]

They get over the line when they are just trying to be offensive to be offinsive. If you do any subject with enough satire it's ok by mee

 

[DownOnTheUpside]

I'd have to say most if not all rap songs are just over the line.

Ha... on a more kidding note. Lyrics are over the line (in the annoying sense) when they spam too much of the same word.
I'm Blue by Eiffel 65 is a good example of this. Even though I think the song is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H25lz7gchaw -- Here's the song for you who don't know.

 

[JBarracudaL]

Never, artistic expression is free.

 

[okitana]

The only limits revealed with music are that of the listeners.
Music is limitless

 

[hagaya]

Same goes for Down With the Sickness. I personally hate that song anyway, but it is a protest to child abuse. Once again; people think it glamorizes it just because it talks about it.

You need the Richard Cheese version. Go on YouTube, I'm too lazy to back up my own point with a link.

I'm WAY ahead of ya, buddy.

 

[JanatUrlich]

People ***** about Adam's Song advocating suicide when it was actually a protest. A guy killed himself listening to it and everybody thinks the song says "kill yourself."

Same goes for Down With the Sickness. I personally hate that song anyway, but it is a protest to child abuse. Once again; people think it glamorizes it just because it talks about it.

Where a song draws the line is when it uses tragedy as source material. Songs that protest horrible acts, fine; songs that just talk about it, no. Modern rap music often just talks about "life in the hood" or gang violence, when it doesn't seem to have any real meaning. Inversely, when an artist strays away from these subjects, they become more likable. If a song talks about a serious issue, it should damn well have feeling in it.

I wanna choose to diiiiie and be buried with a rubix cuuuuube. That's such a cool song!

But yeah, I really like Devil in a Midnight Mass!

I love bands that aren't afraid to get out there. Mindless Self Indulgence for example. All they ever sing about is sex and why the fuck shouldn't they? They obviously enjoy sex and want to talk about it!

"I wanna make some babies
I wanna get it on
I wanna make you horny
But I can't get it up"

Music is meant to make you feel emotional and I think that using events that have actually happened are a good way to invoke emotions. I have never come across a song that has 'oversteppted the line' and I don't believe it to be possible.

I hear that Dir en Grey's songs are all about raping people on graves and killing babies and shit but they sing in Japanese so I really have no idea

 

[Slayer_2]

To be fair, some of them are from the ghetto. 2pac, for example.

Although people like Eminem who grew up in fucking Warren, MI and try to play off like they lived inner city are absurd.

Yeah, but they glorify a life of poverty and danger. It's so pathetic.

 

[DavidxXxKaotix]

There is no line for me, I listen to the craziest shit,
Example:
"I could drag you through my chambers
and strip you naked in darkness
I could pull out your fingernails one by one
and rape you till you find no hope

I could rip your guts out
and let you watch me
sacrifice your unborn child
I could leave you to starve
and even bring you to total silence
...but I wont.

For I find no pleasure in your physical pain
I want your christian soul to crumble

Your fucking soul

When I have seen your church go up in flames
and you are weeping I will laugh
When I have seen you mourn over loved ones
I will feel bliss when your mortal soul is in ruins
I will grin in the shadows
for that gives me pleasure

Tormenting a christian soul"

As you can see, I don't really have a line, cannibalism, murder, rape, it's all good, I just don't like rap. And I am NOT insane or anything, I don't believe in these lyrics, I just like the song overall.