10 Hard Rock Songs That Are Impossible To Understand
Hard Rock Songs With The Inner Meanings Of...Something...?
The art of the hard rock lyric sheet isn't really that hard to figure out. No matter how many ways you try to twist it around, the same sex, drugs, and rock and roll have seemed almost interchangeable since the beginning of time. When you reach outside the box though, you also get some of the weirder quotes in rock history.
Compared to the more accessible love stories found in pop music or the old wise tales of old country music, these songs feel virtually incomprehensible from one line to another. For as many words that are being shouted at you by the singer in question, they don't really come together to make any logical sense at the end of the day. Then again, do they really have to? I mean, since music is an art form, these lyrics are more about the way they sound than the overt meaning?
While there is a credible argument there, even these songs feel insane on those standards, with some of them almost seemingly designed to confuse from one word to the next. Even though it might be easy to write the typical love song or badass party anthem, these are the tracks that are gonna make your brain do a lot of leg work.
10. Mr. Roboto - Styx
The transition into Styx being a synth rock band was not something that really anybody wanted at the outset. Seeing how these rock giants had always been lambasted by critics, the worst move they could have possibly made was to make a bid at being taken seriously. They did though, and the rock world got one of the most puzzling "commentary" tracks on Mr. Roboto.
Set in what may or may not be a dystopian future, lead singer Dennis DeYoung starts to drone on and on about the terrors that come with the changing landscape. I mean, right? Given that there is so much going on, you're to assume that that's kind of the end result. On the other hand, the message of the consuming nature of technology is thrown out the window when we start talking about a man claiming to not be a hero, a modren(?) man, and the inner workings of someone named Kilroy.
Confused yet? Don't worry, the band members were too, with Tommy Shaw speaking at length about how he was not onboard with the concept from the very beginning. Ever since ousting DeYoung, Mr. Roboto has been cut from most of Styx's setlist for the foreseeable future. Despite being one of their more notable hits, this is one that you only revisit for how unintentionally hilarious it seems in retrospect.