this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2026
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

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Having grown up late 90s into the 2000s I went from buying cds to lime wire to spotify.

In the last 6 months I have found such a greater appreciation for just putting on a whole album and listening to it front to back.

I feel there is a huge loss when going from one artist to another to another all random.

Today I am listening to Refused, The Shape Of Punk To Come

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[–] groet@feddit.org 25 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Pretty good litmus test on whether they're good musicians or just corporate karaoke.

Is a book of short stories or poems not art, just because it is not a monolithic novel.

An Album with 10 independent songs can still be a fully artistic package. Maybe each song is ment to be experience on it's own. Maybe the art form is to deliver a succinct and complete piece in 3-5 minutes?

[–] MurrayL@lemmy.world 7 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Agreed. There’s so much pointless elitism and snobbishness in this thread; very disappointing from so-called music fans.

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 2 points 15 hours ago

Disappointing, but not surprising.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 children)

If someone took a photograph of the Mona Lisa, do they deserve all the accolades of Da Vinci?

Of course not. Feel free to say thank you for showing this to me, but that's about all the credit they deserve.

Sorry if you're a member of Maroon 5, or some other band that purchases random songs and performs them as your own, but to me, that's the same as taking photos of OTHER people's paintings and putting them in a coffee table book.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Sorry if you're a member of Maroon 5, or some other band that purchases random songs and performs them as your own

A non-sequitur reply that says a completely different thing than what was discussed in the thread.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I thought it made sense in context, but maybe not since so many people seem to not understand what I'm trying to say.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Plenty of very talented people write individual songs instead of conceptual albums, and songs on a record often sound cohesively only because they were written in approximately the same period. I don't know where you got the notion that it's either whole albums or songs written by others, nothing in between.

For example, Velvet Underground operated pretty much in pop industry's recording mode despite their experimental approach to the sound and themes. 'The Velvet Underground & Nico' straight up opens with one of the poppiest songs they have, and the tracks aren't thematically linked aside from being generally about people at The Factory. Songs about drugs and BDSM are interspersed with heartfelt songs about Edie Sedgwick, Warhol, and a poor girl who wants to party. They also recorded a bunch of great songs that went unreleased for fifteen years, until the compilation 'VU'.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I don't know where you got the notion that it's either whole albums or songs written by others, nothing in between.

I don't know where anyone got that notion, because that's definitely not what I was trying to say.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I mean, that's how your comments read.

Others, it’s just ten songs randomly arranged. Pretty good litmus test on whether they’re good musicians or just corporate karaoke.

I’m not saying that the musicians in corporate karaoke bands aren’t talented, but I’ll give more credit to a composer than a talented cover band any day.

Sorry if you’re a member of Maroon 5, or some other band that purchases random songs and performs them as your own

Did you not know that record labels buy pre-written songs for bands to play as their own?

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

🤷🏻‍♂️ makes perfect sense to me.

Write your own album > play a series of songs that you paid other people to write for you.

You can disagree with that, or maybe you're offended because you're in a band that can't write songs. That's fine, but it doesn't change my opinion on the matter.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

You seem to hold two ideas in your head that are fighting for the share of the brain time: that conceptual albums are better than semi-random collections of tracks, and that artists writing their own songs are better than those getting songs written for them. Somehow you can't distinguish the two, or at least write as if you do.

Meanwhile, e.g. Nico's ‘Chelsea Girl’ has only one song co-written by Nico, but is a great album with two songs that are regularly featured in media decades later: ‘These Days’ and ‘The Fairest of the Seasons’, and also the splendid ‘Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams’.

Also btw, you might be surprised at how many popular songs are covers. This was particularly widespread in the sixties, when the same song could've been sold to several different performers in a few weeks.

After all, songwriting and singing or playing music are skills that aren't inherently related. Have you heard many poets sing their poems in a town square while playing a guitar or some shit like that? Many popular bands have someone like the drummer be the primary songwriter. Even the lyrics and the music are often written by two different people. Plenty of great labels have producers, songwriters, and house bands that are separate from singing artists that they publish — this was prevalent in the seventies with labels such as Stax (with Booker T. and the M.G.'s as the house producer and the band). It's changed somewhat in the recent times, with labels playing a smaller role both with the ascent of streaming and the preference for singer-songwriters.

Lastly, recall that e.g. Mozart was a great composer, but could perform perhaps just a few of his own pieces, as he was neither an orchestra, nor a conductor or an operatic singer, for whom he wrote.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Nobody here brought up cover songs though...?

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

Did you not know that record labels buy pre-written songs for bands to play as their own?