# Most pretentious rock songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266 "2014-11-01T14:07:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/41 "2014-11-02T02:18:30Z")
Ah, a chance to diss Bob Seger. No more pretentious drivel has ever been written than “Turn the Page” and “Like a Rock”. The dude has to be the whiniest, most self-aggrandizing act to ever hit the airwaves. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/42 "2014-11-02T02:19:28Z")
Rush as a group is at the vanguard imho. But Limelight takes it: _Living on a lighted stage Approaches the unreal For those who think and feel In touch with some reality Beyond the gilded cage_ Blech! But as Waldo mentioned up thread, I Write The Songs has got to be up there too. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/43 "2014-11-02T02:25:09Z")
I’ve got to suggest the Beatles _Revolution 9._ number 9, number 9, number 9… Apparently so pretentiously revolutionary, it was actually anti-revolutionary. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/44 "2014-11-02T02:26:32Z")
You gotta give Emerson Lake & Palmer props for taking bombastic classical music and [kicking it up a notch.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4igIQ2TOASg) ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/45 "2014-11-02T02:29:45Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Ah, a chance to diss Bob Seger. No more pretentious drivel has ever been written than “Turn the Page” and “Like a Rock”. The dude has to be the whiniest, most self-aggrandizing act to ever hit the airwaves. I have to agree, but _Night Moves_ is a terrific tune and he sang the shit out of it. Otherwise, I can’t stand him. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/46 "2014-11-02T03:27:00Z")
> [@somepumpkin](#): > > How about Don McLean’s song, American Pie? Though I’ve read the (over) analysis of the lyrics, isn’t it just a bunch of thoughts strung together like the OP was looking for? Oh man, add this one to my “capturing the zeitgeist” list upthread, as Don takes you, the listener on a vaguely worded romp through 50s and 60s rock history. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/47 "2014-11-02T03:50:47Z")
“The End” - the Doors Actually, if you compiled a list of the top 100 most pretentious rock songs, I’d bet money that at least 85 of those songs were written by Jim Morrison, most pretentious over-rated “artist” in the classic rock era. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/48 "2014-11-02T08:31:11Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > “The End” - the Doors > > Actually, if you compiled a list of the top 100 most pretentious rock songs, I’d bet money that at least 85 of those songs were written by Jim Morrison, most pretentious over-rated “artist” in the classic rock era. Consider that Weird Al’s [Craigslist](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4sALru9IJk), with its ridiculous lyrics, IMHO stands on its own as quite a good “Doors” song. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/49 "2014-11-02T08:53:27Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > You gotta give Emerson Lake & Palmer props for taking bombastic classical music and [kicking it up a notch.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4igIQ2TOASg) lol, that is truly the epitome of pretentious rock. Although I didn’t hear any references other than the Promenade. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/50 "2014-11-02T09:24:41Z")
Lucky Man by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. (I see Kunilou has mentioned them). I often wonder if John Lennon would now look back on some of his songs and think how naive he was. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/51 "2014-11-02T10:31:26Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I often wonder if John Lennon would now look back on some of his songs and think how naive he was. He was a harsh and sometimes inexplicable critic of the Beatles’s work. “It’s Only Love” is one that springs to mind as a song he thought of as trite and lightweight, and it’s not the only one. Hard to argue, but I still like that one. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/52 "2014-11-02T10:45:03Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > He was a harsh and sometimes inexplicable critic of the Beatles’s work. “It’s Only Love” is one that springs to mind as a song he thought of as trite and lightweight, and it’s not the only one. Hard to argue, but I still like that one. I think the comment was more about if Lennon would have found some of his political-philosophical observations naive (“imagine there’s no country…nothing to kill or die for…”), which is hard to separate from acts like his anti-war “bed-in” with Yoko (where he was called naive to his face, while in the bed, by some reporter). The closest I can think of this part of Lennon in a Beatles track is “All You Need is Love.” My guess is he would not have seen this part of his younger self as “naive,” but who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/53 "2014-11-02T15:27:47Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I think the comment was more about if Lennon would have found some of his political-philosophical observations naive (“imagine there’s no country…nothing to kill or die for…”), which is hard to separate from acts like his anti-war “bed-in” with Yoko (where he was called naive to his face, while in the bed, by some reporter). The closest I can think of this part of Lennon in a Beatles track is “All You Need is Love.” > > My guess is he would not have seen this part of his younger self as “naive,” but who knows? I agree. I believe he’d say that this reflected his growing enlightenment, not naivete. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/54 "2014-11-02T15:40:31Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Much as I love “Born This Way”, Gaga throws in a handful of nationalities but emphasizes how wonderful to be born gay, because ‘God doesn’t make mistakes and you are just so F’ing wonderful exactly the way you are’…OK. But I know of a few people who aren’t Lebanese, Orient, or gay/bi/transgendered. They are black or white, sure, and suffer from heartbreaking, painful, hideous disabilities. They were born that way, and they aren’t out dancing and squealing over their fabulousness. The unfairness of their sad lives as they struggle day after day is not helped by a rousing disco anthem celebrating their specialness. Being ‘born that way’ can really suck. Is this the one that’s pretty much note-for-note the same song as Madonna’s “Express Yourself?” ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/55 "2014-11-03T09:16:15Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > “The Trees” and “Closer to the Heart” by Rush are both pretty cringe-inducing. > > Any song that tries to “capture the zeitgeist” of culture and/or politics is usually horribly pretentious, e.g.: > > Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start The Fire” > R.E.M., “It’s The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” > Jesus Jones, “Right Here Right Now” > Starship, “We Built This City” > > That Starship song is one of the most self-congratulatory, self-aggrandizing, embarrassingly pretentious pop songs ever written. It is the very essence of what happened when people from the 60s found themselves still alive in the 80s. This has to be the only place on the entire internet where Jesus Jones are accused of being pretentious. Frankly, I’m at a loss for words. I’m trying to work out if your dictionary has a different definition of pretentious to mine. And I don’t even like Jesus Jones. I mean, we’re talking about a world where [King Arthur on Ice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysmaa9Ti3bk) was done completely unironically. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/56 "2014-11-03T10:45:03Z")
I know Pink Floyd can end up being thrown around in arguments such as this. Glad to see that m’learned friends in the dope have by and large resisted the temptation. I used to think that Pink Floyd were a byword for pretentiousness and inaccessibility. Turns out I was wrong. You can explain the concept behind most of their work in a simple sentence and the lyrics are anything but obscure. So I don’t think “pretentious” is the word for them, they set out to evoke an emotion or meaning and do so in a fairly transparent and accessible way (That is not meant as a criticism, I’m a big fan of Pink Floyd). Nor do I think that _knowing_ pretentiousness is a bad thing. That is an accusation that can be thrown at pretty much all of Queen’s output. Bombastic, overblown, garish and pretty much nonsensical. But _knowingly_ so, very much tongue in cheek. (and again I speak as a queen fan). Pretentiousness comes from attempting seriousness and failing to even complete your run-up, never mind clearing the bar. To that end I nominate pretty much all jazz that doesn’t think it needs a tune. I defer to Tony Wilson’s words in “[24hr Party People](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv3BNDpNwPo)” Of course the irony of this is that Tony Wilson was the man who suggested Vini Reily call himself “The Durutti Column” and was himself a byword for pretentiousness throughout the eighties. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/57 "2014-11-03T12:52:13Z")
I think some of the posters here are confusing pretentious with the simple concept of “I don’t like that”. I can dislike a song and more specifically think the lyrics are horrible, but that does not make the song pretentious. I’m not a Bob Seger fan but I’ll take Turn the Page as an example. Don’t care for the song but I would not call it pretentious. It was written at a time when Seger was not a household name or big star. The life of a traveling artist who was drawing small crowds was not glamorous. I didn’t really get that he was whining about being a rockstar. He wasn’t a big rock star at that point. He was writing a song about being an outcast ( the long hair comments) and the intrinsic loneliness of playing to small anonymous crowds. So I would argue that it wasn’t pretentious when he wrote it, but I can see how it came to be perceived as pretentious when he still performed it after hitting it big. Of course this opinion come from someone who knows almost all the lyrics to “Its the End of the World As we Know It” so my opinion may not count for much Leonard Bernstein!!! ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/58 "2014-11-03T17:08:56Z")
“Still of the Night” by _Whitesnake_ to me sounds like some guys said “Hey, let’s go write an epic rock song!” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/59 "2014-11-03T17:11:48Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > _Silent Lucidity_ by Queensryche. I don’t care what it’s about, I can’t get past the ridiculous title. Basically, it’s about a parent comforting a child who’s just had a scary dream. “Silent lucidity” is a complicated way of saying that, when a child is frightened, a parent can say a lot just by being close and smiling, without saying a word. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266/60 "2014-11-03T17:17:59Z")
Seems a lot like we are saying that any creative effort through lyrics is pretentious. So, the only thing that wouldn’t be pretentious is Pop Music by **M** , because everybody really _is_ talking about pop music. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-pretentious-rock-songs/703266.md?page=4)