Been thinking a bit about this, popular music (the ones that hit top 100 charts or whatever) never has lyrics that point out real problems or point to culprits and how they’re fucking our shit, which is very easy to find in punk rock and some variations, as well as rap.
Of course, part of the problem are the record labels themselves, which often hold artists “hostage” in order to profit off them. Bigger ones will obviously prefer to avoid having such lyrics become popular.
Still, there seems to be absolute zero songs in certain genres that even come within 10 meters of talking/singing/teaching/bringing awareness about situations that affect a LOT of listeners, even from far away, and would be extremely helpful in spreading some knowledge.
Granted, doing so is easier said than done, a catchy tune that calls out big oil’s many attempts to burn the world, or big pharma’s frequent price gouging, aren’t things “any idiot” can come up with. But that nobody outside “angry” genres seems to be doing it is what saddens me.
Hey OP, have you listened to what’s on country radio these days? EVERY other song is about how alcohol is so useful (to party, to forget your ex, to enjoy being poor, to self medicate after a 70 hour work week). It’s bonkers. And the other half still reference drinking.
Long Neck Bottle has nothing on these insane anthems that encourage drinking and being happy being poor. It’s a perfect pacifier for a demographic that is largely impoverished with very few ways to escape poverty. Might as well have em singing along about how the cold beer they have means being broke is fine.
Where I live (not USA), most songs on the radio are about:
It’s common to have a mix of those things in a single song