Why does everyone write about loss, lonelieness and despair?

Think I'm gonna be mostly redundant... Music is usually about the strong most basic emotions that drive the human character - lust, anger, love etc. I think right now writing about despair is the latest fashion. Lots of old songs sang about despair and loneliness but not in the same way. They were still really on the coat tails of blues, and sang depressing stuff in more of a tongue in cheek way. Thank you people like Kurt Cobain. I think 80'd music as a whole was on the happier side - then again I was a kid at the time. Somehow today good writing and being profound got equated to being dark. In actuality most songs that are suppose to be dark often miss the target. In the end, good writing is good writing (as opposed to this sentence which is bad writing), topic doesn't matter.

I like the song Greybeard, did you write it? This reminds me of the most depressing song I know because it is about the disappointment of adulthood as opposed to some great tragedy in life. Nina Nastasia - That's All There Is - recommend giving it a listen... with all razors and pills at a safe distance. This is one I am not sure 14 year olds would really relate to.
Personally I'm too much of a chicken to sing about personal emotions, besides I highly doubt people living thousands of miles way really give a crap about me being happy or not. The result is that my songs are about missing shoes, onions and such subjects, not too sure if that's that much better.

Ah well, emotions are lame anyway. We'd be much better off without them...
I know what you mean about singing about personal emotions. I think of some of the things that happened in my life that really hurt me and if you told me to write a song about them, I would rather stand naked in the middle of Times Square. Have to say you have piqued my interest. I really like the missing shoes idea, could be a great metaphor for so many things, and am curious about the onions. Do you write in English? Could I perhaps get a listen or even just a peek at the lyrics.
Isn't it the same reason that comedies don't win the Academy Award for Best Picture?

(unless we are talking about a romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare, but is that even a fair fight?)
Titanic won best picture..... oh wait, I misunderstood, that's just comical not a comedy.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Leo is a cutie though :shock: I meant KATE!

I like the song Greybeard, did you write it?
Thank you :lol: :lol:
I got the inspiration from another poster, in the thread, and from my own experience. He's sad that he's lost his hair and I despair at where I find mine!!

good subject....I read thru the responses so far and all make very good points...to me it`s all relative.. I have been pondering this post for an hour now and have no simple response,,,you mention, "general feeling of despair and futility that they cant quiet put their finger on." and "Is that how we all really feel?".....if you read a paper or listen to the news,most of it is gloomy at best...,,what we perceive and how we respond to, the the things that "touch"us, dicates what we are,inside and out....if you take a look...we don`t control very much in our lives..we are just cogs....we may not even be able to control our emotions or we may "lose control" of them from time to time..it threatens our personal autonomy...I look around me and I don`t see that many "happy" people...I think alot of the time, that is exactly how we all feel...kind of like" hanging on in quiet desperation".....As an artist,poet,musician,someone who writes lyrics and or songs,(tv show producer hah)etc.,the result of what they do is a reflection of thier interpretation of what they process internally....
or it could be as novices go,that we don`t come up to"speed" as in upbeat "happy" material with our writing until our playing has caught up..."form follows function"....enough of me.

Someone asked Hank Williams why he wrote sad songs (he had these two songs in the top ten C&W) his reply: Your Cheating Heart is outselling Rooty Tooty 3 to 1.