They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To

It's Valentine's Day on Friday (ugh), so let's talk love. Sort of. Love songs, anyway.

Forgive me a moment as I have my old lady yells at clouds moment, but I have a complaint! Very specifically, a complaint about modern "love" songs. I'm thinking about this because a few reactions to "Most Popular Songs of [Insert Era]" videos have been crossing my YouTube feed of late. I clicked on a couple and noticed something right away; and it's the same thing I noticed in high school. And that's, quite simply, that they don't make 'em like they used to.

I'm not talking about the tunes themselves, though the 70s and 80s were exceptional decades of musical innovation and experimentation (something I feel is very much lacking in today's popular music (told you: old lady yells at clouds)), but in content. There absolutely was a distinct switch between the 80s and the 90s which is really difficult not to notice.

​The love songs of the 80s just hit harder, feel more tender, and much more about love than in the 90s. And I'm not just saying that for the sake of nostalgia. Nostalgia makes me think that these songs were musically better, rather than just the content.

But, being very real, the 70s and 80s just did have better music. Don't @ me. You know it's true.

​Hear me out.

Let's take a look at a few of my favourites (seriously, this has been playing non-stop for about two and half weeks now):

The opening line is literally asking why he can't hold his love's hand, about how he has to say/do something now, or there may not be another chance. The chorus talks about willing their love to learn how to love freely (presumably so they can be together).

There is only love, only yearning here.

Or how about this one:

A song about a man desperately in love with someone, and unable to tell them.

There is only love, only yearning.

Or this one:

In which someone misses their loved one desperately, and is promising that no matter what, and though it hurts, they'll be there, waiting, for their love.

​There is only... okay, you get the point.

There are countless other songs like that - Burn for You by Aussie legend John Farnham, also springs to mind. And if songs weren't filled with yearning, they were nevertheless filled with deep love:

Groovy Kind of Love - by Phil Collins.

Endless Love -  Lionel Richie & Diana Ross.

Glory of Love, Tonight, I Celebrate My Love, Heaven, Up Where We Belong, Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You... and on and on.

I'm struggling to find a popular song from the 90s that invoked the same imagery of deep adoration. That's not to say that there weren't love songs. There were. But they all were profoundly more superficial (at least the ones that were popular).

The best example I can think of is Your Body is a Wonderland, the song that in my memory kicked off the trend of trying to pass off superficiality as romance. There is no love, no yearning here. Just some dude losing his mind because his lover's body is great.

So. Romantic. (This is a sarcastic statement)

And with that song vanished the era of expressing love as a calling of the soul, and instead talking about how pretty someone looks.

Other more modern songs are guilty of this, too.

I'm sorry Ed Sheeran. I'm sure you're a lovely guy, and the song itself is fine, but Perfect is shallow as a hastily dug grave. Sure, other things are mentioned, but the emphasis on repeat is how 'perfect' the lover looks. Even if you feel unworthy of their appearance, it's still just about the appearance. Ugh.

Maybe it's just me.... probably it's just me... but that's not romantic at all.

And it's not like the music is bad. It's not. There's nothing wrong with the music. The composition is just fine. But nothing about modern (popular) love songs moves me at all. WITH SOME EXCEPTIONS.

Movement, Francesca and Shrike by Hozier harkens back to what made 80s love songs so great; not musically, but in the feelings they invoke. I mean, a lot of Hozier does. Which is why I think he's developed the weirdly cult-like following he has.

Bonfire Hearts by James Blunt also approaches them.

Forever by Malinda (do check that one out) is also filled with yearning... and is also very folk. I enjoy it a lot.

For a while there, and still to this day, so many 'love' songs feel incredibly superficial and not really about love at all. I see so many people gushing about how romantic these songs are, and all I can do is shake my head.

Perhaps they are, in truth, and I'm just unable to see it. Or maybe my idea of romance is way off centre. That wouldn't surprise me.

But to my mind, the songs of the 70s and especially 80s are unmatched when it comes to romance. I mean, even when it's about appearance, it's not about appearance: