Has the music that used to seem serious and adult switched places with seemingly frivolous piss for anybody else?

I used to think Hole, NIN, The Smashing Pumpkins were all mature, intelligent and adult whereas stuff like Madonna and PSB were disposable shit.

But the older I get, the more ridiculous the lyrics of those three bands above seem. The few lyrics I've seen for Courtney's new songs are even worse, because you can tell she's trying really hard to sound weary. I don't know how somebody can go through all the shit she's gone through and still write like a melodramatic 14 year old. Trent writes the most worthless lyrics of anybody ever. Billy is slightly above those two, although that's not saying much. And when he's bad he's fucking terrible.

As uninspired and idiotic as Madonna's lyrics seem, at least she's honest. Granted, I'm a simpleton, I can relate to the lyrics of "Hung Up" more than I can any of that other shit. I live the lyrics to "Hung Up" on a regular basis.

It's easy and juvenille to always be writing in apocolyptic terms.

Michael Stipe beats the piss out of all these people though, because his lyrics can be quite inspired and original, and he writes about all sorts of different shit. He's at his best when he bothers to make sense. As much as I hate Liz Phair, I have to give her credit for at least attempting to write interesting lyrics. She makes a cunt of herself fairly often, but at least she tries for original takes on worn out subjects and understands subtley. Which is an odd thing to say about a broad who wrote of song about taking shots to the face.

Courentilly are too self-involved and witless to stray from their pain.