literature in the rock music

[JoanS]

iam interested in a unity between literature and rock music. the best example could be Jim Morrison who like a poet created some of the best and most profound lyrics in the history of rock. some other groupes or singers where i notice a high intellect are Led zeppelin or some lennon´s songs...
do you think the connection of literature and this kind of music is indispensable?

[johann cruyff]

The Pink Floyd album The Animals is based on Orwell's Animal Farm. Brilliant, one of my favourite rock albums. Dogs may just be my favourite song, although Pigs(Three Different Ones) is more popular. Anyway, if you haven't, listen to this album, you won't regret it.

[MorpheusSandman]

Much of Tool's later lyrics, especially from Lateralus, was based on psychology and philosophy that Maynard James Keenan was reading at the time. Early Genesis lyrics were based in, I think, English folk tales and parables. And how can one not mention Bob Dylan? I don't know if he was drawing from any particular literature, but his lyrics are certainly poetic enough to make me think the man was well-read. Iron Maiden has written a ton of lyrics on very specific subjects from literature to film. The one that springs firstly to mind is their 13-minute epic Rime of the Ancient Mariner (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/i/iron+maiden/rime+of+the+ancient+mariner_20068045.html) based on the poem of the same name.

I'm sure there's a ton of lit influences to be found in rock music and all music. Even though I'm a huge fan of rock and metal I struggle at the moment to come up with specific examples.

[Mark F.]

Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, both heavily influenced by the Beat generation and also Bukowski for Waits. Leonard Cohen's songs also have a very literary feel and composition. A lot of hard rock bands, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath. Elliott Smith's lyrics have a rare poetic quality.

[MorpheusSandman]

Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath.Definitely Maiden, but I was trying to think of lit-based Metallica and Sabbath songs... which do you have in mind?

Another that came to mind is Emperor's Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise, and likely their other albums as well.

[JoanS]

thanks very much for anwers.. i agree with pink floyd... i think the songwriters are very close to the poets but if i metion for example mercury´s lyrics and considering it really well written and sensibles than i dont understand his aversion of the books besides his lyrics reach almost the quality of the poetry...


(there are probably some gramatic errors, my english is not still good)

[integrity]

Not sure if it is true, but I just read recently that the Rolling Stones song Sympathy for the Devil is based on The Master and Margarita.

Metallica...yes...lots of HP Lovecraft (The Thing That Should Not Be comes foremost to mind).

Rush...Tom Sawyer? In any case, Neil Peart is an excellent writer/poet, his writing skills on par with his stellar drumming skills. His intelligent and beautiful lyrics are often thought provoking...a great example of how one's creative unique intellect and appreciation of the written word shine through in one's music - and actually enhance it. 2112...a wonderful album that never ceases to amaze me. I've heard it's based on a book by Ayn Rand, though I never read it (I'm not a fan of Rand - I'd read Peart's books over hers any day).

John Lennon is also a master. Imagine (though not connected to any literature that I know of) is not only brilliant, beautiful, and poetic, but the lyrics speak so much honesty and truth.

I always wondered if Sinead O'Connor's song Mandinka was based on the book Roots. Anyone know?

[J.D.]

For my money, Dylan is the rocker whose work is truly literature. He has won the Pulitzer Prize and twice been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His songs have not only influenced other musicians, but many great artists who are creating literature in other mediums. Plus, just read his lyrics sometime--they're amazing.

Besides his musical influences, he has also been "influenced" by classical and classic literature. I use quotes because he's been known to lift lines directly from, for instance, translations of the Aeneid, and put them into his songs. Also, in "Tangled Up In Blue," he mentions an "Italian poet from the 13th century." He probably means Petrarch, though he has the century wrong. He mentions Ovid's "The Art of Love" by name on his latest album. If you believe what he says in Chronicles: Volume 1 , he's read and thought about a great deal of literature--Thucydides, Machiavelli, stuff like that. Scholars have done work to uncover the classical allusions in his work.

[EricP]

In the liner notes of Rage Against the Machine's album "Evil Empire", they included a large picture of recommended books. Among the authors they recommend books by are: James Joyce, James Baldwin, Herbert Marcuse, Franz Fanon, Karl Marx, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Ellison, etc. Axisofjustice.org, a website created by members of Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down, has a special page of recommended books.

[amalia1985]

Regarding Heavy Metal- since I consider myself to be an expert in the genre- many Scandinavian bands- whether they belong in the "Hard Rock" or "Heavy Metal" genre, have stated that their inspiration, regarding the lyrics, comes from many sagas, myths, and fantasy literature. Amorphis, Blind Guardian (from Germany), Battleloar, and many many other acts, all mention the Scandinavian sagas as a tremendous influence for their music, and even more "popular" and famous bands, like Nightwish and Epica, regard literature and poetry as an indispensable part of their music. The frontman of Nightwish, Tuomas Holopainen, has often stated that Walt Whitman's excellent poetry is a major influence for him.

[tractatus]

Besides Dylan, PF, ealy Genesis, I add here Ian Anderson, from Jethro Tull. He is like a storyteller in many song, one of his best is Thick as a Brick, lyrical.

In school years I had liked Meat Loaf much, I dont know what he is doing nowadays but i was really fan of his lyrics; like "life is a lemon and i want my money back", "objects in the mirror.." etc. Still have some videos of him, which are also good and conceptual for its time.

[MorpheusSandman]

Regarding Heavy Metal- since I consider myself to be an expert in the genre...Glad to meet a fellow metal fan here! I completely forgot about the power metal bands especially. Blind Guardian's lyrics especially are based on a lot of Tolkien myth. Nightfall in Middle Earth is even a concept album about The Silmarillion.

[kelby_lake]

David Sylvian.

Oh, and The Cure song Killing An Arab is based on The Stranger

[JoanS]

Glad to meet a fellow metal fan here! I completely forgot about the power metal bands especially. Blind Guardian's lyrics especially are based on a lot of Tolkien myth. Nightfall in Middle Earth is even a concept album about The Silmarillion.


I have to mention again the led zeppelin if we are talking about Tolkien myth... just see the lyrics of the Immigrant song or Stairway to heaven...

[MorpheusSandman]

Oh certainly, Zeppelin definitely incorporated Tolkien myth, but I don't know any band so absorbed in it as Blind Guardian.

[Dharmabeat]

Metallica...yes...lots of HP Lovecraft (The Thing That Should Not Be comes foremost to mind).


Metallica also released a song named 'For Whom the Bell Tolls', which is based on a section from Hemingway's novel.

'The Fall' also derived their name from Albert Camus' novel of the same name. And as already mentioned, The Cure's 'Killing an Arab' is based on L'étranger/The Stranger.

[Kafka's Crow]

Now this very heavy metal:

As I Lay Dying (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOLgBgnnUUE)

[MorpheusSandman]

Now this very heavy metal:

As I Lay Dying (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOLgBgnnUUE)As I Lay Dying suck, IMO, compared to bands like Opeth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XijodYFQbrY&feature=related), Mastodon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKw2s_AxUIw), Emperor, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8r2aLXJids) or Meshuggah (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E12TK2bNtbs) - just to name a few.

[integrity]

Now this very heavy metal:

As I Lay Dying (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOLgBgnnUUE)

This is more like death metal...

Sounds like the stuff I used to listen to when I was in High School back in the early 80's. It's weird how that sound stuck around (e.g., the "growl" as we called it back then and the fast double bass drumbeat).

This band, Blind Guardian...are they any good? (I've been quite out of the loop...like circa 1988...ha ha.)

[MorpheusSandman]

Since the early 80s metal has branched out into about a million different sub-genres and sub-sub-genres. Death metal itself has about a million variations (melodic death metal, progressive death metal, deathcore, etc.). As I Lay Dying are one of the more melodic death metal bands. Those I listed are more in the progressive/avante-garde sort.

Blind Guardian are like a more ostentatious and opulent form of Iron Maiden. Big choruses, big orchestration, big harmonies, big, big, big. I tend to dislike the uber-cheesiness of power metal, but Blind Guardian are, IMO, one of the very few bands that do it right and with enough technical and compositional skills to make up for any crudeness in the fantasy lyrics.

[amalia1985]

Glad to meet a fellow metal fan here! I completely forgot about the power metal bands especially. Blind Guardian's lyrics especially are based on a lot of Tolkien myth. Nightfall in Middle Earth is even a concept album about The Silmarillion.


:) :) :) And one of their best albums!:thumbs_up :thumbs_up . This shows the bond between music and literature.

[manolia]

Blind Guardian's lyrics especially are based on a lot of Tolkien myth. Nightfall in Middle Earth is even a concept album about The Silmarillion.

Nice album :nod:
My favourite song based on Tolkien is this one by Morgana Lefay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRVEhWk4KVU

And this one inspired by Spawn (not exactly literature :D but the album is great :D )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBhaCxywJqs

and various songs about the phantom of the opera. My favourite again by Iced earth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2NC_QvEY_c

and the Nightwish one was ok as well.

I may come up with more.

EDIT

And of course "One" by Metallica based on the book "Johny got his gun" by D Trumbo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwW9L_qzqp8

Rgarding mythology and especially Viking mythology pretty much any Bathory album has many references. Again my favourite

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVli3u3R0us

[kelby_lake]

I hate heavy metal! Lots of ugly men in tight trousers, in my opinion. :)

[wessexgirl]

For my money, Dylan is the rocker whose work is truly literature. He has won the Pulitzer Prize and twice been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His songs have not only influenced other musicians, but many great artists who are creating literature in other mediums. Plus, just read his lyrics sometime--they're amazing.

Besides his musical influences, he has also been "influenced" by classical and classic literature. I use quotes because he's been known to lift lines directly from, for instance, translations of the Aeneid, and put them into his songs. Also, in "Tangled Up In Blue," he mentions an "Italian poet from the 13th century." He probably means Petrarch, though he has the century wrong. He mentions Ovid's "The Art of Love" by name on his latest album. If you believe what he says in Chronicles: Volume 1 , he's read and thought about a great deal of literature--Thucydides, Machiavelli, stuff like that. Scholars have done work to uncover the classical allusions in his work.

Here in England, Dylan was used last year on our "National Poetry Day", with the theme of Dreams. I put up lots of posters of his quote;

"I consider myself a poet first, and a musician second. I was born a poet, and I will die a poet. "

I think that says it all really. :)

[MorpheusSandman]

And this one inspired by Spawn (not exactly literature :D but the album is great :D )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBhaCxywJqs

and various songs about the phantom of the opera. My favourite again by Iced earth Oh, yes... The Dark Saga is one of my favorite metal albums! I think Spawn could qualify as literature. It certainly has the atmosphere of a classic mythological tragedy (man dies is sent to hell and bargains with the devil to be his soldier if he can come back and see his true love and all). As far as Phantom of the Opera I love Maiden's version, probably because it's fun as hell to play on guitar!


I hate heavy metal! Lots of ugly men in tight trousers, in my opinion. :)I think you're thinking of 80s hair metal. Most real metal are just regular folks in everyday clothes (well, ignoring the cartoonish, Halloween costumes of black metalers).

[kelby_lake]

I still hate it :) go 80's new romantics!

[MorpheusSandman]

I often find people who hate metal have simply had a bad first impression. Metal is a pretty diverse genre that's incorporated everything from pop, to jazz, to classical and folk into its sound. I know people who also hated metal until I introduced them to certain bands that I thought would be familiar based on their tastes. Now, I might couldn't reconcile a country music's taste with metal... but there might be some blue-grass metal band out there.

[integrity]

Since the early 80s metal has branched out into about a million different sub-genres and sub-sub-genres. Death metal itself has about a million variations (melodic death metal, progressive death metal, deathcore, etc.). .


I guess one could say death metal has grown up, eh?

I watched the Iced Earth vids. Is it my imagination, or does the singer sound like the dude from Queensryche?

[Pillowmint]

Mastodon's album "Leviathan" is about Moby Dick.
Especially the song "Blood and Thunder"

[sprinks]

Well... it's not "rock" music (it's nerdcore hip-hop. such a strange genre) but some of my favourite literary based songs are:
The Raven by MC Lars - based on The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAml5ucZUKk
and
Ahab by MC Lars - based on Moby Dick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW76mvaaXEc

These songs have gotten more kids interested in literature... Awesome!! :D

[integrity]

Did I just hear Poe roll over in his grave? :lol:

[MorpheusSandman]

I guess one could say death metal has grown up, eh?Very much so. Metal as a genre has grown up, actually. Many who view metal as a superficial juvenile genre that only appeals to a low-level intelligence group probably don't realize that some of the most talented people working in music today are in metal... they're just not to be found in the mainstream.

[Kafka's Crow]

Very much so. Metal as a genre has grown up, actually. Many who view metal as a superficial juvenile genre that only appeals to a low-level intelligence group probably don't realize that some of the most talented people working in music today are in metal... they're just not to be found in the mainstream.

I find Marilyn Manson very intelligent. He plays with and on words very skillfully. How with the addition of one letter, obscene not only turns into "Mobscene" but also carries the whole weight of his philosophy that human beings are simply not willing to see the complications in individuals and life and our ready-made labels (that the mob-mentality and herd-behaviour feed on) can cause not only negligence but serious damage! Derrida said "America is deconstruction." Manson is a very deconstructive American. Too ecclectic to be assigned a genre, I find him very effective and intelligent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5fQRq1YuTg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlfdoObRyoc&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90xJVOUuV-I

There is this very intricate theme that runs through the Anti-Christ Superstar Trilogy where he shows how the spectacle of death is bigger than the death itself. How media can magnify death while those who die unknown and away from the camera don't matter. He weaves the stories of Jesus, John F Kennedy and Joh Lennon and shows how "when you die on their tv/ You are a martyr and a Lamb of God" whereas "Death of a million is just a statistics." This is important for our "Posthuman and hard-wired" generation as ordinary people die un-beknown and we are more worried about Brittany's depression, Madonna's figure or Angelina Jollie's twins. Then there is deconstruction all the way, specially in his music videos. Everything is there, the medium the message, the works but it is all elaborate and fake. Tropes from stage are littered in every one of them, live performances interperse to prove that it is all a spectacle. He deconstructs himself: "I am as fake as a wedding cake!" or "I am not an artist but a f***ing work of art!" His individuality and non-confirmist attitudes are very very Nietzscheian.

[MorpheusSandman]

I find Marilyn Manson very intelligent. He plays with and on words very skillfully. How with the addition of one letter, obscene not only turns into "Mobscene"...Nice analysis! I admit that I've always appreciated Manson more as an artist than as a musician, because I've never been much of a fan of his music, but I love what he's doing, especially visually in his music videos. Your bit about obscene turning into "Mobscene" reminds me of Meshuggah's new album called "Obzen" which is a take on "obscene" and "zen", or finding peace in the obscene which is a rather perfect description of how I find their music.

[manolia]

I hate heavy metal! Lots of ugly men in tight trousers, in my opinion. :)

Bah!Nonsense :lol: :p :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ_FgL5l1og

[amalia1985]

I think that Metal is a beautiful world, as Morpheus stated, it has nothing to do with the 80's format. Furthermore, you won't see many "ugly" men in the modern bands.

[Melmoth]

I am a songwriter myself and I really know how hard it is to find inspiration sometimes.... hence the need to search for literary inspiration/references as I personally always do... some day I'll post my Dark Awake lyrics and you'll see what I mean...

Anyway, if you're reallly interested in literary-based lyrics, check out a band called Cradle of Filth.... (to name a not so trendy band though that's something always arguable)... let me warn you... it might be too tough to unused metal ears, and even to some metal ears but, just check the lyrics and you'll be amazed by the great amount of (literary, esp. classical) references in them.... do not be misled by the name of the band...

[armenian]

pearl jam (yield), soundgarden (down on the upside), system of a down (steal this album)

[kelby_lake]

Bah!Nonsense :lol: :p :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ_FgL5l1og

I watched that video. I had to cancel it after I saw his face :)

Early Duran Duran songs, pre-Le Bon, were based on Fitzgerald novels/short stories.
And David Sylvian had loads of Sartre titles in some of his stuff.

Go 80's new romantics! Cute men in tight trousers! :)

[Kafka's Crow]

I am a songwriter myself and I really know how hard it is to find inspiration sometimes.... hence the need to search for literary inspiration/references as I personally always do... some day I'll post my Dark Awake lyrics and you'll see what I mean...

Anyway, if you're reallly interested in literary-based lyrics, check out a band called Cradle of Filth.... (to name a not so trendy band though that's something always arguable)... let me warn you... it might be too tough to unused metal ears, and even to some metal ears but, just check the lyrics and you'll be amazed by the great amount of (literary, esp. classical) references in them.... do not be misled by the name of the band...

Ah good old Cradle of Filth. They used to be shockingly anti-religion. Are they still around? I once bought their CD but never got round to listen to it! Very, very controversial band, indeed.

[armenian]

theyre the joke of black metal

[Kafka's Crow]

Hey armenian that avatar of yours: isn't it a painting by Marilyn Manson? He called it his self-portrait as this is how he thought he would become after a couple of years of drinking absinthe. He actually used absinthe mixed with water color when he painted it.

[armenian]

yessir

[John Goodman]

Tom Waits has some of the most beautiful lyrics ever written but his voice doesn't have wide appeal. He's my most listened to artist though.

Eg, "Time" (with the chorus taken out):

Well the smart moneys on harlow and the moon is in the street
And the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you're east of east Saint Louis and the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause
And napoleon is weeping in a carnival saloon
His invisible fiancees in the mirror
And the band is going home, its raining hammers, its raining nails
And its true there's nothing left for him down here


And they all pretend they're orphans and their memories like a train
You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget
That history puts a saint in every dream

Well she said shed stick around until the bandages came off
But these mamas boys just don't know when to quit
And mathilda asks the sailors are those dreams or are those prayers?
So close your eyes, son, and this won't hurt a bit

Well things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
The boys just dive right off the cars and splash into the street
And when they're on a roll she pulls a razor from her boot
And a thousand pigeons fall around her feet
So put a candle in the window and a kiss upon his lips
As the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And pay the fiddler off til I come back again

[Melmoth]

Ah good old Cradle of Filth. They used to be shockingly anti-religion. Are they still around? I once bought their CD but never got round to listen to it! Very, very controversial band, indeed.

Yes, they're still around Kafka's crow... but, again, I insist, leaving aside whether you are interested in their music or not, I really believe it's worth taking a look at some of their lyrics...


theyre the joke of black metal

That should be discussed somewhere else armenian....


Anyway, to the point. Here are some revealing songtitles as examples of what the thread is about (some clues in brackets) :

Iron Maiden:


The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Sillitoe),
The Lord of the Flies (Golding),
Phantom of the Opera (Leroux),
The Ides of March (Wilder),
Murders in the Rue Morgue (Poe),
Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Colerdige),


Metallica (some of them already mentioned in previous posts):


The Call of Ktulu (Lovecraft), For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway), One (I can't come up with the name...)

Cradle of Filth's puns and literary references:


Venus in Fears (Von Masoch)
Malice through the Looking Glass (Carroll)
Beauty Slept in Sodom (Perrault)
Carmilla's Masque (LeFanu)
Benighted Like Usher (Poe's The Fall of the House of...)
Cthulu Dawn (Lovecraft)
Absinthe with Faust (Marlowe, Goethe)
Lovesick for Mina (Stoker's Dracula)
The Byronic Man (the Romantic Lord B.)

... to name a few bands and songs...

PD: armenian... I'm just talking about titles and lyrics... some other day we'll discuss on music...

[integrity]

Bah!Nonsense :lol: :p :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ_FgL5l1og

Ha ha ha! :lol:

Awwww...Dio...I have a soft spot in my heart for him, I do.

He's just a lovable old medieval history enthusiast.

[manolia]

Yeah i too have a soft spot for him. He is -up to this day - my favorite singer. When i was younger i used to think that he is cute :blush: :lol:
Looks are getting better, music is getting worse at the metal industry (imo) so i'll just stick to the era of bad haircuts, silly clothes, ugly men but great music :D :)

[spookymulder93]

This is by far the best thread on this site!

Animals is a great album.

David Bowie's Diamond Dogs is based off of 1984

[Bastable]

One of my favourite bands atm is "Titus Andronicus", named after the play by Shakespeare. "The Fall" were named after the novel by Camus. "The Doors" were named for "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley, "The Velvet Underground" were named for a book of the same name. There's also "Gogol Bordello" and about a million bands referencing A Clockwork Orange.

[Silvia]

Both David Bowie's wonderful album Diamond Dogs and Muse's The Resistance have been inspired by George Orwell's 1984.

[Lost_Souls]

Regarding Heavy Metal- since I consider myself to be an expert in the genre- many Scandinavian bands- whether they belong in the "Hard Rock" or "Heavy Metal" genre, have stated that their inspiration, regarding the lyrics, comes from many sagas, myths, and fantasy literature. Amorphis, Blind Guardian (from Germany), Battleloar, and many many other acts, all mention the Scandinavian sagas as a tremendous influence for their music, and even more "popular" and famous bands, like Nightwish and Epica, regard literature and poetry as an indispensable part of their music. The frontman of Nightwish, Tuomas Holopainen, has often stated that Walt Whitman's excellent poetry is a major influence for him.

Walt Whitman? Wow, you wouldn't have guessed it from their lyrics. That said, 'The Poet and the Pendulum' has some good lyrics about the pressure of being a writer (better sung than read!):


The dreamer and the wine
Poet without a rhyme
A widowed writer torn apart by chains of hell

One last perfect verse
Is still the same old song
Oh Christ how I hate what I have become

[...]

Please, no more words
Thoughts from a severed head
No more praise
Tell me once my heart goes right

My ultimate favourite literary metalhead is Dani Filth, damn that guy can write beautiful lyrics, I'll post some soon.

[Kyriakos]

I don't believe i ever read anything in song lycirs which could be thought of as comparable to high poetry.
But then again i do not like much music...

[Eiss]

Returning to the thread's subject, i.e. JoanS' comparison of lyrics to poems or proze, that is: lyrics as literature, not the influence of writers on bands or singers, I had to remember Nick Drake of course, for instance:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtyLL_BE-oo

But listen to all his songs. He's a poet.

From this thread Marilyn Manson suprised me - he's big.

[spookymulder93]

Marilyn Manson is a beast. That man can write some beautiful songs. In the Shadow of the Valley of Death is epic. IMO song lyrics are better than poetry, or maybe it's just that poets don't add music to their poetry. I'd like to hear some of the classic poems added to some awesome music then maybe I would actually like poetry.

I think a lot of the progressive metal bands use a lot of mythology in their music.

[k.brignell]

The Hold Steady's 'Stuck between stations' has references to On the road and John Berryman

[MaineTim]

2112...a wonderful album that never ceases to amaze me. I've heard it's based on a book by Ayn Rand, though I never read it (I'm not a fan of Rand - I'd read Peart's books over hers any day).
It's based on the novella "Anthem", which I read in that same time period. Now memory is a tricky thing, but I remember it being tolerably good, though I'm not a particular fan of hers either. Lot of years 'tween then and now, however...

[Alexander III]

This has been mentioned probably but Jim Morison and Bob Dylan were both heavily influenced by Rimbaud, in fact Morison's experimentation with heavy drugs started as he was trying to follow Rimbaud in achieving truth trough the derangement of the senses.

[LuggageFan]

Shocked and appalled that we are on page 4 and nobody has yet mentioned Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights".

[ariella]

Courtney Love of Hole. She is deserves more recognition, her lyrics are poetic and whatnot, definitely one of the best.
Her band 'Hole' is even half named after a quote from Euripides' "Medea" which reads "there's a hole that pierces my soul."

also the band Babes in Toyland influenced by Grimm brothers fairy stories & Sylvia plath maybe. Having similar influences to Hole.

I think Alice in chains have good lyrics, I prefer the ones written by Layne Staley over Jerry Cantrell (sorry Jerry) but unfortunately he is dead now.

[ariella]

I'm not into Nirvana but got to mention Kurt Cobain and William S Burroughs, didn't he really like him or something? but I think W.S.Burroughs seems to have been associated with alot of musical things.
also 'Patrick Süskind, whose novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer inspired Cobain to write the song "Scentless Apprentice" from In Utero'