Just as there are many kinds of music in the world, there are many kinds of music fans. Some like loud dance songs, others prefer classical piano to soothe them to sleep. But then there are those who look for wisdom in the words, poetics in the lyrics. That’s just what we wanted to highlight here. We wanted to explore three songs from earlier this century that provide the feeling of a sonnet as much as they do that of a song. Indeed, these are three alt-rock songs from the 2000s that are more like poetry.
“Soul Meets Body” by Death Cab For Cutie from ‘Plans’ (2005)
Ben Gibbard was the poet-muse of the 2000s—at least when it came to popular music. The Pacific Northwestern artist rose to fame in the 2000s thanks to delicate, pristine songs that leaned on his talent with language to travel around the globe. After grunge, audiences wanted something new. And that’s just what the poetic songwriter gave them on tracks like the 2005 offering, “Soul Meets Body”.
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“Fluorescent Adolescent” by Arctic Monkeys from ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ (2007)
In one way, Arctic Monkeys became known as the brash band who might break a pint glass over your head in a bar fight. In another, the Alex Turner-led project made musical masterpieces that, when you looked a little deeper, you realized were quite profound. Take the 2007 song “Fluorescent Adolescent”, for example. It’s so vivid. It paints such a picture. If poetry is the art of nouns and verbs, Turner and company have succeeded in the mode, to be sure.
“Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” by Green Day from ‘American Idiot’ (2004)
When Green Day became globally famous in the mid-1990s, part of the reason was that the group was funny. They seemed irreverent, like they couldn’t care less about anything besides punk rock and the munchies. But then, when the 21st century hit, the group got more serious. Political, even. Green Day’s 2004 LP American Idiot took aim at Washington, D.C. But also on the album was a song about walking one’s path, a tune about being alone. “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” might be the most poetic song from the band, and that’s an inspiring thing.
Photo by Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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These 1970s parody songs beat all the "real" music on the charts. They blurred the lines between fake song and true hit. -
AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 01: Photo of AC DC and Angus YOUNG and AC/DC and Mark EVANS and Bon SCOTT; Mark Evans, Angus Young (playing Gibson SG guitar), Bon Scott – performing live onstage, c.1975/1976 (Photo by Bob King/Redferns) -
UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1970: Photo of Don Gibson Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images -
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — Episode 2 — Pictured: Musical guest Boz Scaggs performs on September 25, 1976 — Photo by: NBCU Photo Bank -
Barry Manilow in concert at the Bottom Line, NYC during Barry Manilow Achive Images – 1975 in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Bobby Bank/WireImage) -
(Original Caption) Charlie Daniels (3rd from left), the entertainer who dedicated his last album to "gun-rotting whiskey and hellatious fights" says he will not play gentle music just to please "damn Yankees drinking martinis" 1/20 at Jimmy Carter's inaugural reception. Daniels said he plans to play the same brand of foot-stomping Southern music he and his band have always produced. They are (from left), Charlie Hayward, Tom Crain, Daniels, Joel Digregorio, Don Murray and Fred Edwards.
