AB VI Studio/Recording Thread

[Blackbirddd]

Some interpretations are hilarious

[dpsmith33]

"Got away with murder" is about the (illegitimate) election results IMO.

I just feel like Myles is too intelligent and level headed to think that. Pretty sure Myles knows that Trump and Hillary were playing the same game. The goal of which is to get 270 electoral votes which Trump did. He could have many problems with Trump as a person or things he has said but he just doesn’t come off like a SJW or conspiracy theorist.

[PRS10Top]

"Got away with murder" is about the (illegitimate) election results IMO.

[MuffinMcFluffin]

Crows on a Wire is about the entertainment industry.

I guess it could be taken perfectly that way as well. I thought it was about getting into politics. Nothing is private there either and you are scrutinized for every little action you take.

It's for all, I suppose.

[Bit.Slade]

Crows on a Wire is about the entertainment industry.

I guess it could be taken perfectly that way as well.

No, IIRC, they have flat out stated it's about the entertainment industry in an interview somewhere.

That being said, the way this thread is going has made me wish they'd just flat out state what every song is about so that people just stfu and quit arguing. If a song is political, then that's what it is and you can stick your head in the sand and go "la la la la la I'm not listening" all you want, but it won't change the fact that it's political. Mark and Myles are big boys that can write about whatever they want. /rant

[MuffinMcFluffin]

^ Great, but I don't even let an artist's interpretation tell me what a song means to me or how it makes me feel. It's great that's what they wrote it for, but that doesn't mean it doesn't apply to other things and cases. I say that with the album focusing on political themes, that fits all the same.

That said, I'd rather they don't say what they're about so we can inject our own thoughts into these songs ourselves.

[Kreuger]

This thread is becoming as unbearable as the AO12 Facebook group was.

[MuffinMcFluffin]

This thread is becoming as unbearable as the AO12 Facebook group was.

Care to say why? Or is your contribution going to be tossing in your two cents and leaving?

Since I was the last one to post before you decided to drop in, I suppose I am a culprit of your opinion's origin. If the talk is off-topic or something, direct me to the right place. I've only been responding to others' topic bases.

[peapod0609]

Yup. Outside of those I've mentioned, there's also Crows on a Wire, Twilight, and You Will Be Remembered (hey, it's about our troops, and they are of our government, so there you go).

Not sure about Island of Fools, but the song is too bad-ass for me to care.

In interviews for the album, Myles mentioned Crows on a Wire is about influential people looking down on others. More like in the realm of celebrities. Has nothing to do with politics to my knowledge. A song about praising the troops being considered political is really a stretch, too. Also, as others have mentioned The Other Side isn't even really political but its about religious extremism, so that's why I sort of included it.

Twilight, This Side of Fate, The Last Hero, none of these are really about politics. There more of a general "we have to be good to each other, push forward as a people, be better for the next generation in general, etc type of thing". I never considered these songs to be political, nor has the band (correct me if I'm wrong) even hinted that they are.

Where are some of you getting this from? I watched a lot of interviews with Mark and Myles and saw a lot of track by track breakdowns, and outside of the few I mentioned, no one has ever said these songs were political.

[PRS10Top]

“Alter Bridge Release Rocking Warning Call “Pay No Mind””

[peapod0609]

^ Great, but I don't even let an artist's interpretation tell me what a song means to me or how it makes me feel. It's great that's what they wrote it for, but that doesn't mean it doesn't apply to other things and cases. I say that with the album focusing on political themes, that fits all the same.

That said, I'd rather they don't say what they're about so we can inject our own thoughts into these songs ourselves.

Well that's all fine and dandy but as others have said, sometimes people inject too much of their own influences into what they think the songs mean.

Whoever said that TLH was a political album except for three/four songs, it really REALLY does not sound like that was the intention of the band at all. Of course lyrics are pretty subjective and we can make what they mean out of them, but when an artist flat out says "This is what I wrote the song about," I mean, you can't say "oh that's what it COULD be about." No. That's what it IS about. Maybe it means something different TO YOU, and that is fine, but what they wrote it about is what they wrote it about. That is not subjective or up for debate if it's what they said.

Again just to be clear, everyone can have their own personal meaning for a song, even if it's not what the artist said they had in mind when they wrote it. But for people to say "I hope the next album isn't too political like TLH," when the band didn't really make it that all that political, maybe that's on them to not inject so much politics into their own interpretation of the music?

As I said, and I'm really not wrong here, most of the last album was really not all that political, and a lot of the songs that were were only vaguely political at that. If people interpreted it politically, honestly I think that's their own thing.

[peapod0609]

Not counting the bonus tracks, the only tracks that aren't about politics & religion (which is intertwined in politics especially in US) in the last hero are My Champion and You will be remembered. Every other song is overtly political or has political undertones.

I disagree.

Cradle to the Grave is certainly not political at all.
Poison in My Veins/Losing Patience are not really political. More about standing up and rising to action in general.
Crows on a Wire is about the entertainment industry and celebrities.
Island of Fools was inspired by Hurricane Katrina.
I guess you could say the title track is political, too. But Myles also said that it's about putting people on a pedestal and how we as a society tend to do this and then tear people down. So while it could have some political undertones I think it goes deeper than that.

I think some of you are letting our hyper-politicized times we live in influence what you think the album is about. And there's nothing WRONG with that, but it doesn't sound like this was the intention by the band. Sure, there was SOME political undertones but no, it is certainly NOT almost the entire album.

[MuffinMcFluffin]

All previous points being valid, just keep in mind the birth of this album was with the lyrics: "Well they're selling another messiah here tonight," all in light of the 2016 election. So again, as I restate, not everything is political or interpreted in that way, but when they thought about what to include on this album and what inspired them to write what they wrote, it all lends back to a source, whether it had a direct hand or not.

Pretty unrelated, but after Saw VI came out in theaters and I checked it out, I had an idea for a scene that could play out in a sequel in my mind between two characters, that included the line: "Do you want to know the difference between you and me?" I went to my computer, typed out that question to fill my idea of a scene... and 72 hours later, I had a 162-page script for what I was calling my own fan-fiction of Saw VII (which to this day I will claim is better than the film they gave us the next year, but I digress).

The point here is that things spurred as a result of their origins to writing this album, and I don't think you would necessarily see a song like Crows on a Wire fit in with the Walk the Sky album. I don't know if that's actually true or not, but that's just how I feel on the matter. TLH was (and maybe still is) a sign of the times, and if you wanted to dig deep into lyrical meaning, it wouldn't have made the same sense a decade ago nor might it a decade from now. Having its birth story in place is I think important for this album in particular, because not all of the tracks are superb standouts (plus the mixing) and there needs to be some fallback context when it's enshrined with the rest of the AB catalog in the future.

Calling this a concept album and coining it as "politically-driven" doesn't sound too far off, in my book.

[scarecrow]

it's okay to be in denial of what this song is clearly about, just don't be such delicate flowers

[peapod0609]

All previous points being valid, just keep in mind the birth of this album was with the lyrics: "Well they're selling another messiah here tonight," all in light of the 2016 election. So again, as I restate, not everything is political or interpreted in that way, but when they thought about what to include on this album and what inspired them to write what they wrote, it all lends back to a source, whether it had a direct hand or not.

Pretty unrelated, but after Saw VI came out in theaters and I checked it out, I had a scene play out in my mind between two characters, that included the line: "Do you want to know the difference between you and me?" I went to my computer, typed out that question to fill my idea of a scene... and 72 hours later, I had a 162-page script for what I was calling my own fan-fiction of Saw VII (which to this day I will claim is better than the film they gave us the next year, but I digress).

The point here is that things spurred as a result of their origins to writing this album, and I don't think you would necessarily see a song like Crows on a Wire fit in with the Walk the Sky album. I don't know if that's actually true or not, but that's just how I feel on the matter. TLH was (and maybe still is) a sign of the times, and if you wanted to dig deep into lyrical meaning, it wouldn't have made the same sense a decade ago nor might it a decade from now. Having its birth story in place is I think important for this album in particular, because not all of the tracks are superb standouts (plus the mixing) and there needs to be some fallback context when it's enshrined with the rest of the AB catalog in the future.

Calling this a concept album and coining it as "politically-driven" doesn't sound too far off, in my book.

It may not be super far off, but I don't think it's all that close, either. While there are definitely some political undertones running through the album, the people that have said almost all of the songs are political I think are injecting their own views and interpretations into it. And heavily injecting their own interpretations, at that. There are multiple songs that people in this thread have firmly stated are political when the band themselves has stated they were written with entirely non-political themes, such as Crows on a Wire and Island of Fools, for example.

I just found the notion that people think the last album was overly political a little odd, because to me, it wasn't. There are a couple of straight up political songs and a few with very, very loose political themes, but I didn't find it overtly political, to be honest. And I am someone very much in tune with politics and have been the last few years. I can easily see how some interpret the album in a political sense, but again that falls back on people's own interpretations vs. what the band has stated the album and individual songs are about. I think with the lead single being heavily political, maybe the most politically charged song on the album, that may have created that political lens which people started to view the album through, a little bit. Perhaps also a little bit of apophenia ensued, which is seeing patterns that aren't really there.

To re-iterate an earlier point I made, if anyone thinks the last album was too political, you are maybe injecting your own politics-heavy interpretation of the lyrics into it way too much. That's my opinion, and that's about all I will say regarding this topic for TLH. People can disagree, and that's fine.

[scalthom]

As stated before, according to all your arguments, In the Deep will be about Stormy Daniels.

[anguyen92]

I highly doubt they will write a song regarding a specific person that they do not know at all on a personal level.

[Timotheus]

As stated before, according to all your arguments, In the Deep will be about Stormy Daniels.

Nothing about spanking in that title. Possibly about Trump's approval rating.

[Ubik]

If sharks are mentioned in the lyrics, we'll know for sure.

[DarkKnight12]

As stated before, according to all your arguments, In the Deep will be about Stormy Daniels.

You, my friend, are very funny