Well fancy that... the part I put in bold really surprised me.
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“You’ll never guess which pop band has the most sophisticated song lyrics of all time” - The Mirror Online
Dec 03, 2014 20:48 By Martin Bagot, Patrick Scott
The Mirror’s data unit analysed various song lyrics and calculated how many years would have to be spent in education in order to understand them
Today in weird news:
“Depeche Mode have the most sophisticated lyrics out of any of the UK’s best selling bands.
The 80s electronic band came top after the Mirror’s data unit analysed their lyrics and calculated how many years fans would need to spend in education to understand them.
The average Depeche Mode song required 10.3 years in education – the equivalent to a 15-year-old.
This was the higher than legendary UK music acts such as The Beatles, David Bowie and Queen.
One of Depeche Mode’s most sophisticated songs was Macro, the opening lines to which are: “Overflowing senses, heightened awareness, I hear my blood flow, I feel its caress.
“Whispering cosmos talking right to me, unlimited, endless, God breathing through me.”
Elton John came in second place followed by Dire Straits, Pet Shop Boys and David Bowie. Robbie Williams was a surprise inclusion at seventh.
The analysis compared the lyrics to over 6,000 different songs by UK acts.
Each song was scored on the readability of its lyrics using the Coleman Liau Index and the SMOG index, two algorithms used to determine the difficulty of school texts.
An average was taken of each song’s score in both of these tests to fix on its final score before each artist was given an average score based on all of their lyrics.
The least complex lyrics out of all 6,093 songs was for ABC (Freeform) by the Eurythmics, which is just the 26 letters of the alphabet spoken one after the other.
The 10 bands with the most sophisticated lyrics were:
Band // Years of Education Required to Understand Average Song // Letters Per Word
Depeche Mode // 10.3 // 3.8
Elton John // 9.3 // 3.7
Dire Straits // 9.2 // 3.7
Pet Shop Boys // 9.1 // 3.7
David Bowie // 8.7 // 3.7
Rod Stewart // 8.7 // 3.7
Robbie Williams // 8.6 // 3.6
Ub40 // 8.5 // 3.7
Queen // 8.5 // 3.7
Def Leppard // 8.5 // 3.6
The 10 bands with the least sophisticated lyrics were:
Band // Average Readability Score // Letters Per Word
Led Zeppelin // 4.4 // 3.5
The Who // 5.3 // 3.8
Smiths // 5.5 // 3.6
Beatles // 5.7 // 3.5
Jethro Tull // 6.1 // 4
Joy Division // 6.5 // 3.9
Fleetwood Mac // 6.5 // 3.6
The XX // 6.7 // 3.5
Paul McCartney (solo) // 6.7 // 3.6
Coldplay // 6.9 // 3.6
The ten songs with the longest words on average were:
Band // Song // Letters Per Word
U2 // Ito Okashi // 6.8
Oasis // Manuk Dadali // 6.1
Coldplay // Chinese Sleep Chant // 5.9
Robbie Williams // Minnie The Moocher // 5.9
Depeche Mode // Macro // 5.6
Genesis // The Dance Of The Giant Hogweed // 5.5
David Bowie // Band Intro // 5.4
David Bowie // Law // 5.3
Spice Girls // My Strongest Suit // 5.3
Eurythmics // Jennifer // 5.2″
Kudos to Martin Gore! If this undeniable fact of praiseworthy news in a British newspaper won’t boost DM’s reputation in the UK, then nothing will.
>>
“You’ll never guess which pop band has the most sophisticated song lyrics of all time” - The Mirror Online
Dec 03, 2014 20:48 By Martin Bagot, Patrick Scott
The Mirror’s data unit analysed various song lyrics and calculated how many years would have to be spent in education in order to understand them
Today in weird news:
“Depeche Mode have the most sophisticated lyrics out of any of the UK’s best selling bands.
The 80s electronic band came top after the Mirror’s data unit analysed their lyrics and calculated how many years fans would need to spend in education to understand them.
The average Depeche Mode song required 10.3 years in education – the equivalent to a 15-year-old.
This was the higher than legendary UK music acts such as The Beatles, David Bowie and Queen.
One of Depeche Mode’s most sophisticated songs was Macro, the opening lines to which are: “Overflowing senses, heightened awareness, I hear my blood flow, I feel its caress.
“Whispering cosmos talking right to me, unlimited, endless, God breathing through me.”
Elton John came in second place followed by Dire Straits, Pet Shop Boys and David Bowie. Robbie Williams was a surprise inclusion at seventh.
The analysis compared the lyrics to over 6,000 different songs by UK acts.
Each song was scored on the readability of its lyrics using the Coleman Liau Index and the SMOG index, two algorithms used to determine the difficulty of school texts.
An average was taken of each song’s score in both of these tests to fix on its final score before each artist was given an average score based on all of their lyrics.
The least complex lyrics out of all 6,093 songs was for ABC (Freeform) by the Eurythmics, which is just the 26 letters of the alphabet spoken one after the other.
The 10 bands with the most sophisticated lyrics were:
Band // Years of Education Required to Understand Average Song // Letters Per Word
Depeche Mode // 10.3 // 3.8
Elton John // 9.3 // 3.7
Dire Straits // 9.2 // 3.7
Pet Shop Boys // 9.1 // 3.7
David Bowie // 8.7 // 3.7
Rod Stewart // 8.7 // 3.7
Robbie Williams // 8.6 // 3.6
Ub40 // 8.5 // 3.7
Queen // 8.5 // 3.7
Def Leppard // 8.5 // 3.6
The 10 bands with the least sophisticated lyrics were:
Band // Average Readability Score // Letters Per Word
Led Zeppelin // 4.4 // 3.5
The Who // 5.3 // 3.8
Smiths // 5.5 // 3.6
Beatles // 5.7 // 3.5
Jethro Tull // 6.1 // 4
Joy Division // 6.5 // 3.9
Fleetwood Mac // 6.5 // 3.6
The XX // 6.7 // 3.5
Paul McCartney (solo) // 6.7 // 3.6
Coldplay // 6.9 // 3.6
The ten songs with the longest words on average were:
Band // Song // Letters Per Word
U2 // Ito Okashi // 6.8
Oasis // Manuk Dadali // 6.1
Coldplay // Chinese Sleep Chant // 5.9
Robbie Williams // Minnie The Moocher // 5.9
Depeche Mode // Macro // 5.6
Genesis // The Dance Of The Giant Hogweed // 5.5
David Bowie // Band Intro // 5.4
David Bowie // Law // 5.3
Spice Girls // My Strongest Suit // 5.3
Eurythmics // Jennifer // 5.2″
Kudos to Martin Gore! If this undeniable fact of praiseworthy news in a British newspaper won’t boost DM’s reputation in the UK, then nothing will.
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