Top 10 Little Used Lyrical Themes In Metal Songs
"Happy metal"? No, it's an oxymoron. If a song sounds happy, most probably it isn't metal, no matter how loud and heavy it sounds. Happy metal lyrics? No.
"sexy metal" is an oxymoron, too. Some marginal and borderline metal bands, whose songs have too much hard rock or punk in them, may include sex, but sex isn't a metal theme of serious and major metal bands.
A good example is the story of Metallica's song The Four Horsemen, 1983. Dave Mustaine wrote this song with lyrics about a sexual intercourse at a gas station. Even though Mustaine used metaphors to describe the action, James Hetfield didn't like the lyrics and said they were silly. And James wrote new lyrics - the lyrics to The Four Horsemen as we know it. Obviously Hetfield had a more mature music judgement than Mustaine back then and was more aware of what goes and what doesn't with metal.
When Mustaine formed Megadeth, he recorded the song with his original lyrics - the song 'The Mechanix'.
In the early 80s metal didn't have well established standards and rules, and some things were more acceptable. But not now. Imagine the 2016 Megadeth album had a song about sex on ...more
I just read the lyrics to Deepthroat by Cupcakke. Oh god... Fortunately, metal is not known for such lyrics.
"A joyful war"? "A joyful death"? "A joyful funeral"?
Nah, it doesn't work.
"My husband was drunk again, it causes me so much pain"... Nah, it doesn't work. Metal lyrics are usually about the public sphere of life (society, war, politics, social injustice, history) and not about the private life (love, family relationships, the flowers in your garden and the like).
Unless it's a party of the witches and ghosts in the graveyard. But this doesn't count, I guess.
Can a song titled "I'm Going' Fishin', Baby" be a Dream Theater song? No. For the life of me, I can't imagine a metal song with this lyrical theme.
I submitted an item description together with the other items 5 days ago. Still doesn't show up. It was the longest item description on this list.
I like the definition of 'having a good time' by Urban Dictionary:
"Having a good meal, some good drinks, and getting laid on the same night your favorite football team wins the super bowl".
No, no lucky coincidences in metal lyrics. It's more like the opposite of that. Example:
"So what can we do with our lives when it all begins? It's hard and it's cruel" - Thorn, Blind Guardian
Did this sound like having a good time? No.
It's last on this list because there are several love songs by metal bands - rock ballads by metal bands. But metal love songs are almost impossible - it's hard to write a song with metal music and love lyrics: either music would be too heavy/aggressive to the lyrics or lyrics would be too cheesy to the metal music. Can you imagine Judas Priest's Painkiller with love lyrics? It can be done but would sound ridiculous.
But there are several love songs by metal bands although often you may not understand it's a love song. There isn't "oh, how much I love you, I can't live without you, please don't go, I want you so bad", and the like.
Metallica's Nothing Else Matters is a good example - I didn't realize it was a love song. I learned it was a love song when read about that. Before that, the song lyrics had a broader meaning to me. By the way, Hetfield wrote this song for himself and didn't intend to publish it.
Some love songs by metal bands are so cheesy and poppy that are ...more
How metal sees this lyrical theme? Dio said it best in his song Don't Talk To Strangers:
"Don't dream of women 'cause they'll only bring you down".
The typical lyrical character in metal doesn't talk about burning sexual desires. Also, this lyrical theme wouldn't fit because metal music isn't sexy and sensual. Metal music has a classical and martial feel to it.
