bands with killer lyrics!

Oceansize
Porcupine Tree
Radar Bros.
Mark Lanegan

The Mountain Goats are sick!

I would like to add Wellwater Conspiracy

And although he's not technically a band, Rufus Wainwright can throw down some heavy lyrics.

enharmonic wrote:

Oceansize
Porcupine Tree
Radar Bros.
Mark Lanegan

Mark Lanegan..mmm..

not the same type of lyrics. but

Pete Francis
Chad Urmstrom
Brad Corrigan
Dispatch
State Radio

people, wilco

'Thought it was cute...
for you to kiss my purple black eye,
even though I got it from you...
I still think we're serious.

At least thats what you said.'

goddamn, Bob Dylan of course
Velvet Underground
Bad Religion
I definitely second Wilco
Fugazi
Smog

theres many many others but im done now.

Not in the vein of Vedder, but Isaac Brook of Modest Mouse has amazing lyrics. Very pondering and existential. some excerpts from the record "Moon And Antarctica":

"My hell comes from inside, comes from inside myself
Why fight this
Everyone's afraid of their own lives
If you could be anything you want
I bet you'd be disappointed, am I right?"

"In the last second of life, they're gonna show you how
How they run this show, sure, run it into the ground
The stars are projectors, yeah
Projectin' our lives down to this planet Earth"

"Right wing, left wing, chicken wing
It's built on findin' the easier ways through
God is a woman and the woman is
An animal that animals man, and that's you
Was there a need for creation?
That was hiden in a math equation
And that's this:
WHERE DO CIRCLES BEGIN?"

"I just got a message that said "Yeah hell is freezin' over"
I Got a phone call from the Lord sayin' "Hey boy get a
sweater. Right now"
So we're drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' coca-coca-cola
I can feel it rollin' right on down
Oh right on down my throat
And as we're headed down the road towards tiny cities
made of ashes
I'm gonna get dressed up in plastic gonna shake hands
with the masses. Oh no!
Does anybody know a way that a body could get away
Does anybody know a way"

I love this stuff.

Peace
Dan

I am happy to be the first one to mention ... drumroll please


Neil Young

I love wilco too, but what the fuck does he mean by take off your band-aid becausei don't believe in touchdowns.

I think issac brock of modest mouse writes some cool lyrics.

The bob of course goes without saying.

mouthfulofsoup wrote:

Blind Melon...Shannon was a lyrical genius.

"Jump in the river... let the water soak the sin in my soul"

that is a lyric and a half... Shannon was a talented dude

U2 has some of my favorite lyrics. "Do You Feel Loved" is one of their lesser known songs that totally blows me away every time I hear it. But, i think most of their songs have great lyrics.

Another band that is in the genius category as far as lyrics go is They Might Be Giants. I always feel inclined to mention that I met them and they were total assholes, but they are damn fine songwriters. If you are looking for really clever metaphors, you can't go wrong with "They'll Need a Crane," "Unrelated Thing," "Birdhouse in Your Soul," "I Should Be Allowed to Think," and "Turn Around." They are also great at finding unbelievable rhyme schemes, such as "Dinner Bell." Also, they wrote what I argue is the greatest teenage car crash song ever, "The End of the Tour." That song is brilliant and so depressing.

I'd put Live in this category, but for every brilliant song, they do a pretty bad one.

Finally, an artist that has taken songwriting to new heights over the past decade--Outkast. I think the fact that those 2 guys are so different (and both brilliant) is what makes them so good. Like U2, they manage to make songs both deep and catchy.