The Citadel

There are a few different styles of lyrics, and I find that I have preferences. Here are some of the styles that I've identified (and I'm just making up these categories, they're somewhat arbitrary and probably there are other ways to bin it).

• No Lyrics - Buckethead - Machete or maybe classical Chopin - Romance
• Nonsense Lyrics or Language you don't understand - E.S. Posthumous - Isfahan or maybe Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
• Sampled - I have a song I'm trying to track down for this. It samples old radio broadcasts.
• Vague Lyrics - Tool Pneuma
• Pseudo Intelligence - Hinkstep - Lost I
• Storytelling - Swift - All Too Well
• Innuendo - Fiona Apple - Slow Like honey
• Explicit - Don't have a great example off the top of my head.

I seem to have a strong preference for vague lyrics. I think it just lets me graft what I want onto the song instead. I have to admit I have a soft spot for innuendo.

Explicit:

Since I've had it stuck in my head for the better part of 2 weeks, Korn - Y'all Want a Single.



As far as preferences, it depends on my mood but I fall into mainly three of your categories.

My love of movie soundtrack puts me in No Lyrics.

Getting my music Independence from my parents in the mid 90's with the likes of Tool, Primus, Pearl Jam and Weird Al puts me in both vague and nonsense.

T.B. wrote: Wed Oct 29, 2025 6:16 pm My love of movie soundtrack puts me in No Lyrics.

Oh boy... now we're gonna need a movie soundtrack thread because I am right there with you.

Danoff wrote: Wed Oct 29, 2025 4:12 pm

• Sampled - I have a song I'm trying to track down for this. It samples old radio broadcasts.

I'm not sure if this is what you were after but I believe Brian Eno and David Byrne's "Jezebel Spirit" was an early trailblazer in this regard.

Mikey wrote: Wed Oct 29, 2025 11:54 pm I'm not sure if this is what you were after but I believe Brian Eno and David Byrne's "Jezebel Spirit" was an early trailblazer in this regard.

Yup that's a great example.

Nonsense is great, which is why Yellow Ledbetter will always be one of my favorites.

For the sampled lyrics, More Ghosts 'n' Stuff by Deadmau5 uses vocals from the 1950s movie The Brain from Planet Arous. It's kind of cool and works pretty well. I know L'Orange has a bunch but of old radio type stuff, but I can't think of any songs off the top of my head. I know there's also one or two Queens of the Stone Age songs that do the same thing but I'm drawing a complete blank.

As for lyrics, I'm a big fan of well-constructed rap/hip-hop verses with a good flow. Pre-Nazi Kanye was great at this, and his songs almost always had good lyrics that just worked with the soul beats. Post-Nazi Kanye isn't very good. Eminem is probably the absolute best rap lyricist, though. He is just so complete and can rhyme anything with anything. Nas, Biggie, Pac, MF DOOM, and Kool G Rap are all up there too.

I hate mumble rap though, like with a passion. It's just so uninspiring and they use loud bass to compensate for the fact that they can't form any kind of verse. Trap is kind of the same way. I really wish there would be a surge of old school type rap that would make a comeback.

Other than that, if you write a song about Detroit and can make me feel homesick, then I think you've done a good job too. There's an EDM (specifically trouse) song called "Northern Soul" by Above & Beyond. I first heard it when I lived in Utah and immediately knew it was about Detroit. Richard Bedford does the vocals and the opening verse is pure Detroit with cool weather, loud muscle cars and Smokey Robinson. It's still weird that it mentions 6 Mile and Delaware which really isn't anything notable. It's just a neighborhood. I suspect it's just because the words fit.

"A Long Time" by Mayer Hawthorne does the same thing, although it's pretty upfront about its meaning. Still, it's a good progression of how Detroit went from being the automotive capital of the world, as well as a music epicenter, and then completely fell apart.

Finally, there's "Especially in Michigan" by RHCP that will always be a favorite. The lyric "Lions and Tigers come running just to steal your luck" was awesome because both the Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers were pretty terrible when the song was written.

A great deal of commercial hip hop bores me senseless and this mumble rap thing sounds even worse.

Jazz trumpeter Clark Terry may have been the first mumble rapper in 1965.

Joey D wrote: Fri Oct 31, 2025 8:14 pmI hate mumble rap though, like with a passion. It's just so uninspiring and they use loud bass to compensate for the fact that they can't form any kind of verse.

A great deal of commercial hip hop bores me senseless and this mumble rap thing sounds even worse.

Jazz trumpeter Clark Terry may have been the first mumble rapper in 1965.

Joey D wrote: Fri Oct 31, 2025 8:14 pm I know there's also one or two Queens of the Stone Age songs that do the same thing but I'm drawing a complete blank.

There's many songs on Songs for the Deaf that start like that. It's an ongoing theme throughout the album that starts at the beginning of the very first song 'You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire' (if you don't count the first hidden track, The Real Song For The Deaf that is ).