Academic Argument: Matchbox Twenty - More Than You Think You Are

As I have previously discussed in some of my posts, many of the popular alternative rock songs from the 90's and early 2000's all revolve around the common themes of love, relationships, regret, etc.  But times change, cultural views constantly shift.  Today there is a much more different view of these themes in society; divorce and adultery are much more common, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues have taken a prominent role in the media, and technology plays a big role in relationships.  With all that said, are these themes that are spoken of in a much more generic sense in the songs still relevant and applicable to today's society?  I would argue that they are and can be applied to all of the situations that I previously mentioned even if the lyrics don't mention those views verbatim.  This week I'll look at Matchbox Twenty's 2002 album, More Than You Think You Are, and see how these themes play out within it.

If you've ever heard someone say that times change, it is certainly true. According to the study done by Gábor Orosz and his team on the effects of declaring a relationship Facebook official, "22% of the Americans reported that they first met online, which is approximately the same proportion of couples who met in bars."  To be honest I was kind of surprised that this statistic wasn't higher.  It seems like almost everyone has a ton of "friends" who they know from online but never actually talk to or hangout with in person.  Facebook was created in 2004 and was one of the earliest social networking sites.  That was essentially the start of the modern social networking movement.  Before then, people didn't really meet online or casually stalk someone's profile after meeting them in person, but today all of that is commonplace.  More over, the youth of today's society aren't really used to a world without social networking.

Besides just how the ways in which we date have changed, our overall view of relationships and love has changed as well.  Throughout the 20th century, the divorce rate steadily grew.  In the early 1900s the divorce rate was in the teens; one out of every two marriages that happened in the 90s has ended in a divorce.  Gay marriage, which was previously unheard of, was officially legalized in every state by the Supreme Court's ruling of Obergefell v Hodge in 2015.  In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state in the US to legalize gay marriage and since then, the LGBT movement has gotten a lot more publicity from the media.  In her book, Love, In Theory, E. J. Levy shows that, in today's society, love stories can come in many different shapes unlike the classic cookie cutter Nicholas Sparks stories; she tells of a gay brother at his sister’s second wedding while dealing with his father’s mistress being in attendance, a lesbian student who turns out to be bisexual and falls for a male professor, as well as a straight female college professor who falls in love with a man who is her polar opposite. All of her stories shed light upon a different view of love in today’s society that might once have been seen as a little out there.

Alternative albums of the 90s and 2000s showed these themes, at least on the surface, only in a very straight forward way.  That's not to say that other views of these themes aren't normal, but rather that this is simply the common way that they are portrayed in most alternative songs.  The vast majority of songs in the alternative genre are a guy singing about a girl.  Matchbox twenty is no exception to this.  

"Cold" is a song off the album that deals with a relationship full of mistrust, jealousy, and a failing relationship.  The song opens with a harsh sounding electric guitar and then brings in an almost eerie sounding piano and guitar which creates a darker mood.  Through the lyrics, Rob Thomas, then tells a girl in a somewhat accusatory tone that he thinks she cheated on him but that he doesn't want her to leave.  In the study of the effects of declaring a relationship on Facebook, it is shown that once a couple "goes public" on Facebook, there is then an increased sense of jealousy and a stronger tie to the significant other (Orosz et al.).  While Facebook wasn't around when this album was written, it is easy to incorporate the much more modern issue of Facebook jealousy to the message of the song.  Once two people become Facebook official, it is obvious to the public that they are off the market but it also makes it easy to read into online interactions between one significant other and someone outside the relationship as a threat to that relationship.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard my friends talk about a fight that they were in because their girlfriend saw another girl post a picture with them or similar issues.  Modern cultural norms like technology and social networking don't discredit themes from older works, but rather add new perspectives to them.

"Bright Lights," one of the hit singles off this album, tells the tale of a girl leaving her boyfriend to pursue her dream of being an actress in New York City.  A quiet and comforting piano breaks the silence while Thomas recalls how the girl left but goes on to say that he still wants her to come back so they can be together.  The song almost seems like a broadway performance as it starts out quiet but then grows while the lyrics tell a very clear story.  The second line of the song is "took all except my name," which shows that this is the girl he wanted to marry.  While the lyrics don't suggest that the couple in the story were married, the message could be taken as she left his name behind which would hint at a divorce.  The lyrics from this song could easily make up one of the stories out of E.J. Levy's book, Love, In Theory.  The point is, whether or not the lyrics specifically say it, the listener can easily relate the straight forward themes presented in the alternative music to the much more modernized scenarios that play out in society today.

One of my favorite songs off this album is "Downfall."  It has a classic Matchbox Twenty sound that relies on a steady drum beat throughout with a little bit of piano and guitar layered on top.  Rob Thomas pleads to the girl to give their love a chance.  He thinks about how this girl should be with him instead of this other guy.  He doesn't say that she should cheat on her boyfriend but that's definitely one way they audience could take it.  At the end of the second chorus, Thomas is joined by the sound of a choir in the background.  In my opinion, I see the choir as serving two main purposes: firstly, it shows that Thomas is pleading to this girl, begging her almost, to give their love a shot, and secondly, the choir is a large group of people which brings in this sense that many people can relate to this feeling because they all sing it with such emotion that it creates a sense of empathy.  Once the choir fades out, we’re left with a lone, quiet piano behind Thomas’ vocals. If you listen to the song all the way through, that one part that lasts all of maybe 10 seconds serves to capture the emotion of the entire song. It makes for my favorite moment of the entire album. This song was one of the 5 singles released from the album. It wasn’t shown much love on the charts but I definitely recommend you listen give it a listen.

Many more songs off the album continue to hit different themes of relationships and love. “Disease” has a harsher sound to it relying on a heavy electric guitar sound that matches the tone of the lyrics. Thomas talks about a girl who he loves even though he knows she is bad for him. He struggles through the relationship and wrestles with the idea of ending it or pushing through. Another song with similar meaning is “Feel.” It also has a strong electric guitar presence. The guitar coupled with the lyrics show a feeling of anger as he tells of a girl who treated him poorly in a relationship. The song opens with a lone guitar sound played only on the left side before coming in on the right as well. That brief opening creates a sense of physical feeling to connect to the song which I thought was very clever on Matchbox Twenty’s part. On a different note, “Hand Me Down” is one of the slower ballads from the album but actually has a positive meaning that preaches being faithful in a relationship. It has a steady, but soft, drum beat throughout the song with a soothing steel guitar and soft piano on top.

Matchbox Twenty, like a lot of alternative music, touches the surface of these themes with their lyrics and lets the audience take the rest of the meaning by adding their own personal experience to the music.  They sing about themes that are timeless even though the scenarios that they play out in may change.  In an interview about the band, Thomas said, "We were making these albums and speaking from our heart, and so you could never take us down if we were starting from that point."  They made music that meant something to them and allowed others to relate to it.  Their songs tell stories that the audience can interpret in a way that lets them relate it to their own personal triumphs and tribulations.  Whether a song is from 1990 or 2000, most alternative songs have a message that can transcend time and changing cultures.

Works Cited

Jacobs, Jay S. "This Is How a Solo Album Breaks." PopEntertainment. PopEntertainment, 3 May 2005. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Levy, E. J. Love, in Theory: Ten Stories. Athens, GA: U of Georgia, 2012. Print.

Orosz, Gábor, Ádám Szekeres, Zoltán G. Kiss, Péter Farkas, and Christine Roland-Lévy. "Elevated Romantic Love and Jealousy If Relationship Status Is Declared on Facebook." Frontiers in Psychology Front. Psychol. 6 (2015): n. pag. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.