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Virtuality - what's with the hate?


Earthshine_sf
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I just listened to the song "Virtuality" for the first time in years.

 

I don't understand the Wesley Crusher-level hate of this song! Sure, it has "net boy, net girl," but it also has a killer crunchy guitar riff, catchy melody, and it's filled with classic Alex textures and sonic tweaks. Also, the lyrics seem very prescient given that it was written in 1996.

 

What's the dealio?

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Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I think the song speaks to us now even more than it did at the time. Great music and, while "net boy and net girl" is uncomfortable, the song's lyrics have aged amazingly well to become far more relevant now than they were at the time. I've never understood the hate for T4E.

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Musically good, lyrically bad.

 

Yeah. I'd say this sums up a lot of Test for Echo songs. Doesn't really affect my enjoyment of them though except in the case of the ridiculously repetitive Half the World.

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I've always liked the song. Lyrically, it fit very well with what was going on at the time as the internet was bursting into the mainstream. The lyrics still hold up great today as the internet is a bigger part of our lives then anyone could've imagined back when the whole thing started becoming huge in the mid 90s. It's almost as if Neil was able to tell the future because now more than ever people connect through the internet then they do face to face.
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Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

*runs away from member title*

:goodone: Yeah, coming from someone who associates with the body electric I don't follow for good opinion. I quite enjoy everything about this song, and it's one of my favorites off T4E. What's so wrong about Net Boy and Net Girl?
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Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

Right? Even Geddy couldn't pull those lyrics off!

 

The fact that the lyrics made an accurate educated guess about the future doesn't mean that, as lyrics, they were actually GOOD :no: :LOL:

Edited by GeddysMullet
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Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

*runs away from member title*

:goodone: Yeah, coming from someone who associates with the body electric I don't follow for good opinion...

 

:eh:

 

TG was referring to HIS member title, "Net Boy," not my username.

 

And for the record, I didn't choose "1-0-0-1-0-0-1" because I love "Body Electric." It's an okay song musically, but it's my least favorite track on GUP. I chose the name simply because it makes for an unusual username.

 

And TG, your member title is still pretty cool -- it's a better member title than it is a lyric.

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Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

*runs away from member title*

:goodone: Yeah, coming from someone who associates with the body electric I don't follow for good opinion...

 

:eh:

 

TG was referring to HIS member title, "Net Boy," not my username.

 

And for the record, I didn't choose "1-0-0-1-0-0-1" because I love "Body Electric." It's an okay song musically, but it's my least favorite track on GUP. I chose the name simply because it makes for an unusual username.

 

And TG, your member title is still pretty cool -- it's a better member title than it is a lyric.

Oh whoops, and sorry btw for the body electric comment there, it being one of my least favorite rush songs combined with the fact that the Red Deer Concert tickets were putting me under a lot of stress that I had to let out.

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Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I think the song speaks to us now even more than it did at the time. Great music and, while "net boy and net girl" is uncomfortable, the song's lyrics have aged amazingly well to become far more relevant now than they were at the time. I've never understood the hate for T4E.

 

 

Aged amazingly well? :facepalm:

 

 

Edited in to add - aren't you always going on about hating the lyrics to Counterparts, and suddenly VIRTUALITY has great lyrics? Those are ten times more goofy than anything on CP!

Edited by rushgoober
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Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I think the song speaks to us now even more than it did at the time. Great music and, while "net boy and net girl" is uncomfortable, the song's lyrics have aged amazingly well to become far more relevant now than they were at the time. I've never understood the hate for T4E.

 

 

Aged amazingly well? :facepalm:

 

 

Edited in to add - aren't you always going on about hating the lyrics to Counterparts, and suddenly VIRTUALITY has great lyrics? Those are ten times more goofy than anything on CP!

 

Wrong, wrong wrong!

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Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

*runs away from member title*

:goodone: Yeah, coming from someone who associates with the body electric I don't follow for good opinion...

 

:eh:

 

TG was referring to HIS member title, "Net Boy," not my username.

 

And for the record, I didn't choose "1-0-0-1-0-0-1" because I love "Body Electric." It's an okay song musically, but it's my least favorite track on GUP. I chose the name simply because it makes for an unusual username.

 

And TG, your member title is still pretty cool -- it's a better member title than it is a lyric.

 

That it is! Related- I was going through some old accumulated "junk" and found some old stuff from "Net Girl." Talk about a blast from the past! Also, The Body Electric > Red Lenses.

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Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

*runs away from member title*

:goodone: Yeah, coming from someone who associates with the body electric I don't follow for good opinion...

 

:eh:

 

TG was referring to HIS member title, "Net Boy," not my username.

 

And for the record, I didn't choose "1-0-0-1-0-0-1" because I love "Body Electric." It's an okay song musically, but it's my least favorite track on GUP. I chose the name simply because it makes for an unusual username.

 

And TG, your member title is still pretty cool -- it's a better member title than it is a lyric.

 

That it is! Related- I was going through some old accumulated "junk" and found some old stuff from "Net Girl." Talk about a blast from the past! Also, The Body Electric > Red Lenses.

No way, Red Lenses is awesome, sure it's weird, but the long middle section is awesome.

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Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I think the song speaks to us now even more than it did at the time. Great music and, while "net boy and net girl" is uncomfortable, the song's lyrics have aged amazingly well to become far more relevant now than they were at the time. I've never understood the hate for T4E.

 

 

Aged amazingly well? :facepalm:

 

 

Edited in to add - aren't you always going on about hating the lyrics to Counterparts, and suddenly VIRTUALITY has great lyrics? Those are ten times more goofy than anything on CP!

 

I'd say that the lyrics to Virtuality are approximately equally as goofy as most of Counterparts.

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I like it. I can get over the cheesy lyrics of it and Dog Years for the awesome music.

I don't listen to TfE much, but when I do I really like it again. Wow - that sounded like the most interesting man in the world.

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"put your message in a modem, and throw it in a cyber sea" I actually really like that line, it flows nicely.

 

Now, the rest of the lyrics to the song...... BIG thumbs down. Astronauts and looking through windows in the rain.......brutal.

Musically its a pretty solid song

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Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I think the song speaks to us now even more than it did at the time. Great music and, while "net boy and net girl" is uncomfortable, the song's lyrics have aged amazingly well to become far more relevant now than they were at the time. I've never understood the hate for T4E.

 

 

Aged amazingly well? :facepalm:

 

 

Edited in to add - aren't you always going on about hating the lyrics to Counterparts, and suddenly VIRTUALITY has great lyrics? Those are ten times more goofy than anything on CP!

 

I'd say that the lyrics to Virtuality are approximately equally as goofy as most of Counterparts.

 

Not even close. Counterparts lyrics are occasionally slightly awkward, and Neil is tackling subjects they never had before, but the messages of the songs are really great and they never bothered me. The lyrics to VIrtuality were a bit goofy at best when the song first came out, but it's aged horrendously, and if anything gets worse and worse with each passing year.

 

I know it's a controversial method to demonstrate what I'm talking about, but here are the lyrics - might as well put it right out there. I was just going to select the most egregious parts of the song, but unfortunately the lyrics in the entire song are culpable. If you can read this without throwing up in your mouth a little, you truly have a stronger constitution than I. We can only hope Rush never sinks so low again.

 

Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea

Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship Fantasy

I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land

I can see the footprints in the virtual sand

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your signal 'round the world

Let your fingers walk and talk

And set you free

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your impulse 'round the world

Put your message in a modem

And throw it in the Cyber Sea

 

Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixellated space

Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race

I can save the universe in a grain of sand

I can hold the future in my virtual hand

 

Let's dance tonight

To a virtual song

Press this key

And you can play along

 

Let's fly tonight

On our virtual wings

Press this key

To see amazing things

 

Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains

Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain

I can smell her perfume

I can taste her lips

I can feel the voltage from her fingertips

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your heartbeat round the world

 

http://sausandesigns.com/forum/images/smilies/puke.gif

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I was listening to this two days ago and Good Lord the lyrics are sooooo cheesy but I LOVE the music.
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I was listening to this two days ago and Good Lord the lyrics are sooooo cheesy but I LOVE the music.

 

If the lyrics in a song are really bad, like they are here, I just can't get past them to even notice the music. And if I do, it almost makes it worse.

 

It's like having a delicious hamburger that's smothered in velveeta cheese. I can tell that the hamburger is yummy underneath, but all I really taste is gooey, disgusting processed cheese and the hamburger is completely wasted.

 

Maybe if I could scrape off the cheese the hamburger could be saved, but you can't exactly make Virtuality an instrumental. ;)

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If the lyrics in a song are really bad, like they are here, I just can't get past them to even notice the music. And if I do, it almost makes it worse.

 

It's kind of the opposite for me, which might be why I enjoy Virtuality and the Test for Echo album on the whole. If a song features strong instrumental aspects and a nice vocal melody, there's a good chance I'll like it regardless of what the singer is saying. If I notice and like the lyrics, it's a bonus. There are some instances where the words are so wretched that I simply can't ignore them, but those are rare with the bands I like.

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The lyrics are better now than they were then, and better than most of the crap on CP. They were abead of their time and have aged bery well, becoming more relevant now than when he wrote them. And the music is better than the music on just about any CP track. If it weren't for the uncomfortable bit of "net kids", I doubt we'd be having this conversation.

 

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