SW VandeCarr said:
Then you must not be an absurdist nihilistic existentialist (ANE).
I did check out the Wiki link you provided. I guess I've never been much of a moral philosopher. I've come to believe that we're rather insignificant wrt the 'big picture'. Nevertheless, I also believe that behaving as if what I do does matter, and conforming to the cultural and moral norms of the society I happen to be a part of, leads to a more satisfying, less stressful (and longer) life than if I were to passionately embrace the absurdist/existentialist view. Which is not to say that it isn't correct, but that, if taken too seriously, can be self defeating.
Of course, you might want to correct me if you think I'm significantly off the mark on this. And that might be getting even more off the topic (thread title) of "Best songs ever", but that's one of the the great things about forums like PF. That is, the Mentors, Advisors, and contributors here recognize that whatever we might say, it's all related in some way, even though they apparently have no problem with deleting off-topic posts or locking threads that have veered off-topic.
I do appreciate that songs, insofar as they contain verses meant to impart some insight on living, and being, as they are, associated with the universal language of music, can be a profound influence on how one might think and act. Anyway, forgive me for rambling -- bottom line is that I'm an instrumentalist, wrt music as well as physics. And, yes, I appreciate the disparity in meaning.
SW VandeCarr said:
Any good ANE can instantly appreciate the deep meaning of this song.
I don't think it's very deep. Either the philosophy or the songs that, wittingly or not, espouse it.
SW VandeCarr said:
However, most ANE songwriters don't know they're ANEs.
This is an interesting assertion. Does it suggest that if they did know then they wouldn't have screwed up their lives, wrt the cases where they did that? Or would they have made the same choices based on a passionate rebellion against a status quo that they hadn't even an outside chance of changing?
SW VandeCarr said:
They're just copying each other.
I suspect that there's some truth in this. Though, as an artist myself, and realizing that anything I might create can't be totally independent of what I've learned of what's gone before, I at least want to believe that any copying isn't conscious or willful.
SW VandeCarr said:
I don't know who started it all, but I suspect Kurt Cobain.
This is a very interesting question for popular music historians. I myself have no opinion on it, since I don't particularly like Nirvana's music and, as I've mentioned, don't like poetry.
Anyway, you've made me think about this in a way that I hadn't before, and so I thank you for that.
