51 Comments on “Alpha Music”

1. If you like 80’s Rock you’ll like Steel Panther. Lyrics are positive and mostly about banging chicks 😉

2. I rarely listen to lyrics of songs, I’m usually too busy thinking about or doing something else to pay attention to the actual words. However, I like to think The Wanderer by Dion is a perfect Alpha 2.0 song. He basically says how he sleeps with lots of different women and how if he starts to get oneitis for one he’ll go off somewhere and have sex with someone else, and how happy he is.

3. I like this article.

    

   While I like “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak I completely agree that the lyrics are negative and beta and since that is part of the song, my subconscious is absorbing that message to some degree.

    

   It’s not a positive song and I can remember the times I listen to it, it just makes me feel “bad” so I shouldn’t listen to it.

    

   Conversely, I listen to other music  that is upbeat and LOUD and it makes me feel powerful and pumped and clearly there is a positive effect to that.

    

   As always another homerun by Blackdragon.  Get on those podcasts thou.

4. Great topic BD … Wouldn’t it be great if you could magically just ‘scramble’ the vocals such that the words were incomprehensible to you, like a language you don’t know? That way you could enjoy the musicality of the recording without letting the lyrics spoil it for you. Even if the lyrics don’t propagate the ghastly self-defeating mentality of a beta loser, so many otherwise good songs have lyrics that are just too dumb or boring.

   BD I know you didn’t say ‘Here’s my complete list’ and you wrote “There are many others”, but I’m just a bit surprised you didn’t mention any songs by The Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin. They’ve got many great songs for working out. Doesn’t matter how young you are — for example, I just met a 19 year old cellist who loves Led Zep.  Also, the James Bond movies have many badass songs (great for workouts), and some energizing instrumental music too.

   Once in a while I’ll try to imagine (or even sing) alternative lyrics while listening to a great song with lyrics I dislike (such as Cocaine — I’m anti-drugs). Other than the lyrics, that’s a great badass song. Anyone else ever do this?

5. Ignore the one pro-Obama line.

    

    

    

    

6. Awesome post I listen to pop music for the beat but consciously remind myself and actively dismiss the lyrics while listening.

   Eminem’s Till I collapse is a great one.

   And Hans Zimmer soundtracks are the perfect blend of electronic and classical, great stuff for working out and amping you up

7. Have you heard the new Judas Priest BD?

    

    

8. Hi BD,

   Ever since I started reading your site I have become very aware of the lyrics of the songs I listen and try to avoid ones with beta messages. I have found George Thorogood to have a lot of alpha themes in his lyrics, and also early Stones. Of. Of course Sinatra My Way is the epitome for me.

   Thanks for all you do, loved the book!

9. For me, what pumps me up the most is Tool, specially the Lateralus album. It’s a whole journey of self improvement.

10. Such a shame that some of the most beautiful melodies out there have the worst lyrics.

    Funny how most music is about “we’ve just met and life is wonderful” or “we’ve parted and I feel like slitting my throat”.

    One doesn’t hear many about, “we’ve been together for half a century and life is still wonderful”.

    Most songs are about NRE or when it fails. That should say something.

    Lots of good instrumentals out there, including so much “classical” stuff that life is too short to hear it all.

11. Hey Blackdragon,

    I have been anonymously reading your blog for a little over a month now, and want to go ahead and tell you in this post that I think your (almost always) level-headed, self-improvement-based analysis is really great. It’s quite difficult to find blogs like yours that really center around trying to find the truth in a humble way.

    Anyways, I was reading this post and it is really interesting to me. I also really enjoy 80’s metal and the like, but have gravitated towards more of screamo-based and punk music in the last few years. Sounds weird, I know, but I really think this music embodies some of the qualities you say Alpha music should have. Also, it has massive musical variations within songs, much like classical and jazz songs do. It constantly talks about the true nature of girls (and banging a lot of them in open relationships), as well as trying to destroy the Disney illusions. Johnny Craig’s early music in particular has a lot of songs like this. However, there seems to be a lot of negative lyrics as well. What do you think the tradeoff between Alpha message and negative lyrics is? Could you possibly discuss negative lyric’s effects and drawbacks more in depth? I am curious.

     

    Look forward to hearing,

    Gaucho Rojo

12. Sad But True by Metallica. For awaking (or realize) your inner beast. The beast that should drive you when that moment of “less words more action” comes.

13. Am I the only person that loves jazz? Its simple and calming… I went from rock and rap to almost entirely jazz and reggae. Its calming and peaceful and most reggae is about love…or weed. 🙂

     

    I second JITB on All the Above. I used to just pump that song before I would head out.  I don’t think you even need to ignore the Obama line. He’s just saying look at me, I’m like this black man that is on top of the world.

14. Lana del rey – You can be the Boss

15. The embarrassing thing about so many lyrics is how pussy beta onetitis oriented so many are. 1960-1990 “love songs” seem like they were designed to turn men into supplicating betas. I suspect these songs did more relationship damage then is commonly acknowledged.

16. I know most white guys over about age 35 hate hip hop, but I have to point out that it is absolutely NOT “rage filled”. It’s completely exuberant, macho, bragging, reveling in what a sexy badass you are and how every chick wants to bang you and then begs for more, party music. I suppose that in the 80s/90s there was some more political or anger elements but nowadays (and the majority of it in the past), it has always been exuberant “I’m awesome and everyone wants me and I’m better than you” dance music.  It’s not going to win any points with religious people or moralists, but there’s no question it is pure testosterone, pump you up, make you feel like you’re the biggest badass around music. And has the best beat too. I don’t get how people don’t like it.

    The only reason I can figure that older white dudes don’t like it is because instead of identifying with the rapper, as they’re supposed to, they feel like a black guy is telling them how he’s going to fuck their girlfriend, hahaha.  But that’s no t how you’re supposed to listen to it, you’re supposed to put yourself in the rapper’s position.  Hell, I’m a white chick and I am positive that hip hop gets *my* testosterone up when I blast it in my car or headphones.

    Opening line to the Lox’s “Money Power and Respect” is one of the most high-energy, high dominance intros to a song ever, and it’s 20 years old now:

    “I believe in money, power, and respect. First you get the money, then you get the mothafucking power. After you get the power, mothafuckers will RESPECT you.”

    It’s also true. 🙂  And I get that hip hop lyrics aren’t going to make anyone feel moral or good about society, but if white guys had been listening to what the rappers have been saying about chicks for going on 30 years now, most of them would’ve been a lot more successful…

17. P.S. There is essentially no such thing as a beta, pussy, one-itis song in hip hop.  Even the tiny amount of arguably “romantic” songs are still alpha as hell…even if the rapper says he’s in love or has a main chick, he’s still talking about how he fucks other girls on the side and how much his chick loves sucking his dick, etc.  There is zero equivalent to the “‘I’ll die without your love” type songs that make up a ton of rock music.

18. @ Diggy — FWIW, no, you’re not alone liking jazz here, but “calming”? Yeah, some of it … and some of it is good energizing music for working out — like Coltrane’s Blue Train, Wynton Marsalis’s Double Rondo on the River, and a slew of other titles …

    @ Kryptokate, yes, good points, and I like the energy & beats of hip-hop, but not the mentality behind most of what I’ve heard of it — superficial with a vengeance, immature (ego swaggering is something to outgrow), ignorant-and-loving-it, etc.  

    I never felt like ‘That rapper is a guy who might take my woman’, I felt like he’s expressing & reinforcing a mentality of people with a threatened, resentful hostility toward any aspect of culture which goes beyond the orientation of an anti-intellectual, uneducated, hormonal 19 year old (instant gratification and ‘Let your body make all your choices for you’). Also, the sheer sound of a voice rapping usually sounds sonically ugly & boring to my ears; flat-footed, monotonous; relentlessly pushy & prodding; quickly tiresome.

    However, I like the Gang Starr tracks ‘Love Sick’ and ‘X Girl to Next Girl’. Those are clever and amusing. Have you heard either of those two?

19. Kryptokate: Very true surviving the American urban environment entails being dominant to a certain degree but Drake type hiphop is changing that lol

20. @ lazyguy Yes, the materialism, brand-obsession, and “making it rain” ethos in hip-hop is really stupid. And it sends a terrible message to young people, especially given that most successful rappers are likely ultra-ambitious workaholics and ruthless business people yet they sell an image of themselves as careless, irresponsible, non-stop partiers. Same as Madonna or Lady Gaga.

    I’m not endorsing all the messages in hip hop and frankly I ignore the lyrics for the most part — I just like dance music. But as far as the sexual ethos and sense of dominance and confidence, you are not going to get anything that comes close to hip-hop.  There is lots of rock music/punk/metal that is really aggressive or angry but none that is also as exuberantly happy and sexual as hip-hop.

    I’m not familiar with those songs but like Gangstarr. I’ve been trying to think of one-itis/beta hip hop songs and the closest I can come up with are She Keeps on Passing Me By by Pharcyde…most romantic songs still have humor and are never truly pathetic and pitiful like you get in rock. Even if there are a handful of love songs, you still have 99 I’m-a-stud-and-bang-all-the-hotties songs to every 1 I-can’t-live-without-my-snowflake songs.

     

21. @Kate, that’s totally true. I grew listening to rap since it came out in the eighties, and even the precursor to rap, old school. However I think that in my case it was a catch twenty two since I grew up in a violent environment in addition to hearing this music, kinda like Eminem I suppose. So even though it helped me, I would have been better off growing up in a suburban environment while still listening to rap and hip hop. This way I would have had the comforts of suburban life, but realized some of the uncomfortable truths and “misogyny” distilled from rap. Then I could have made up my mind which way of thinking made more sense.

22. I’m not very big on lyrics unless they specifically grab my attention. I often just think of the singer’s voice as another instrument.

23. KRYPTOKATE – Email me about you-know-what. Or give me a better email address for you.

    Get on those podcasts thou.

    I’ve got another free one coming soon.

    I know you didn’t say ‘Here’s my complete list’ and you wrote “There are many others”, but I’m just a bit surprised you didn’t mention any songs by The Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin.

    I don’t really listen to that old stuff. The old stuff I listen to is orchestral. Other than that, nothing prior to 1980 with the exception of Black Sabbath. And I hate Led Zepplin. (The Stones are cool though.)

    Have you heard the new Judas Priest BD?

    Yes, and it’s not bad, but not great. They don’t have that same sound these days.

    One doesn’t hear many about, “we’ve been together for half a century and life is still wonderful”. Most songs are about NRE or when it fails.

    AWESOME quote! I’m Tweeting that. 🙂

    What do you think the tradeoff between Alpha message and negative lyrics is? Could you possibly discuss negative lyric’s effects and drawbacks more in depth?

    I can’t “in depth,” but the subconscious can’t “filter.” If you have a song with 50% awesome lyrics and 50% bad lyrics, the good lyrics are going to do far less good than the bad lyrics will do you harm. In other words, no, that’s not a good song (for purposes of this discussion).

    Am I the only person that loves jazz?

    I love jazz! Especially jazz guitar.

    The only reason I can figure that older white dudes don’t like it is because instead of identifying with the rapper, as they’re supposed to, they feel like a black guy is telling them how he’s going to fuck their girlfriend, hahaha.

    One of my favorite songs of all time is Momma Said Knock You Out. I listened to it so many times I can recite the song by memory.

    (I didn’t say rap was bad, I said the lyrics aren’t usually positive.)

    There is essentially no such thing as a beta, pussy, one-itis song in hip hop.

    Correct. Rap is Alpha Male 1.0 to the EXTREME.

24. It’s probably lame to single out one individual alpha song here (everyone’s got their favorites), but I’ll do it anyway: Hey Mister by Custom.  His irreverent breezy approach to sex with a hottie is just unlike any other song I’ve heard.

    Hey Mister, how’d it get so bad?
    You raised her so well
    And now she’s calling me Dad
    In the back seat naked of a new Volkswagen;
    The perfect little gift for high school graduation.
    It’s not what you did.
    It’s not what you didn’t.
    God gave her a perfect body
    And now I’m all up in it.

    This song got on my radar because my then-girlfriend told me how aroused she gets by it.

25. @ BD

    I love jazz! Especially jazz guitar.

    Reunion by Gary Burton is one of my all time favorite albums. It is pretty old but still available on CD. Features Pat Metheny on guitar. 🙂

26. Hey BD I have been reading your blog for a couple of years know and have read your book. What do you think of ‘they don’t care about us’ by Michael Jackson, and ‘lose yourself’ by Eminem? I also have a couple of business ideas I would like to get your opinion of?

27. Four letters: ACDC

    1) Best song for a beta or Alpha 1.0 who turned Alpha 2.0: Jailbreak (only the first part)
    2) Best song for divorced guy after the crying phase: Back in Black
    3) Best song to weight lift: Thunderstruck
    4) Best song to pump you before sex: Livewire
    5) Best song to keep in mind while having sex: Heatseeker
    6) Best song to remember that crazy last night: You Shook Me All Night Long
    7) Best song to get rid of the “perfect 10” fantasy: Whole Lotta Rosie
    8) Best song to avoid gold diggers, freeloaders and provider hunters: Soul Stripper
    9) Best song to remember when talking to a girl demanding you go mono: You Ain’t Got a Hold on Me
    10) Best song to show a guy in full NRE who brags “She’s Not like The Rest”: Beating Around the Bush
    11) Best song to have around when fighting through SP: If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
    12) Best Alpha male 2.0 song ever: Bad Boy Boogie

    “On the day I was born the rain fell down
    There was trouble brewin’ in my home town
    It was the seventh day I was the seventh son
    And it scared the hell out of every one
    They said stop
    I said go
    They said fast
    I said slow
    They said lost
    I said no
    I do the bad boy boogie

    Bein’ a bad boy ain’t that bad
    I had me more dirty women than most men ever had
    All you women come along with me
    And I’ll show how good a bad boy can be
    I said right
    And they said left
    I said east
    And they said west
    I said up
    And they said down
    I do the bad boy boogie
    All over town

    I wouldn’t tell you no story
    Tell you no lie
    I was born to love till the day I die
    I just line em up
    And I knock em down
    And they all came a runnin’ when the word got around
    Just keep runnin’
    I said up
    They said down
    They said straight
    I said round
    They said lost
    I said found
    I said free
    They said bound
    Bad boy boogie
    Do the bad boy
    Bad boy boogie
    Bad boy boogie”

28. Another great post BD!  I’ve been saying for a while now how betafied much of music can be , especially anything top 40.  ALways some whiny bitch boy crying about getting her back, how she’s the only one, his everything, etc…  It’s nauseating.  I rarely pay much mind to the lyrics for certain genres because I know it’s horrible tripe, even though I may enjoy the song musically.   I remember how those old 80’s hair bands ALWAYS had to put the power ballad on every album and it would end up being the biggest hit-just goes to show how indoctrination finds its way into every form of media entertainment.

    I’m on board with you for metal/hard rock.  It always pumps me up and I dig the attitude of bands like AC/DC.  A lesser known but great Alpha song of their is “Ride On”-seems to be from the perspective of a guy in his 30’s/40’s who get’s down and lonely but instead of crying about it, just rides on.

    But I ain’t too young to worry
    And I ain’t too old to cry
    When a woman gets me down

    one of these days I’m gonna
    change my evil ways
    Till then I’ll just keep ridin’ on

29. I’m a huge fan of RnB and hip-hop (surprise surprise) though I like a variety of music and hippie stuff too from the 70’s.  Anyway, I love some “beta” music and will continue to do so, but if you are looking for something that will motivate you more in the pickup realm- go for the casual sex songs!  You can find those in any genre, but RnB is full of songs about sex (as well as love, but we are talking sex here).  Also, hip hop and rap are not really the same, hip hop tends towards more positive messages than hardcore rap.

    In any case, you will find many classic “player” songs in the hip hop/rap genre and in RnB you can find a lot of “Bump n Grind” style stuff.

    There are a lot of older 70’s songs that are not oneitisy.   I’ve said this before elsewhere, but check out some old Bob Dylan “It Ain’t Me Babe”

    “You say you’re looking for someone
    Who’ll pick you up each time you fall
    To gather flowers constantly
    And to come each time you call
    A lover for your life and nothing more
    But it ain’t me, babe
    No, no, no, it ain’t me, babe
    It ain’t me you’re lookin’ for, babe”

     

    Here’s a list of songs I started to put together a while back that I said they should play at swinger parties-  I’m so sick of going to swinger parties and hearing 80’s prom music and country, lol

    Actin Up- K camp
    Freak Like Me-Adina Howard
    OPP-Naughty By Nature
    Ditty-Paperboy
    Get Off-Prince
    Ain’t Too Proud to Beg- TLC
    Closer-Nine Inch Nails
    Nothin But a Good Time-Poison
    Talk Dirty to Me-Jason Derulo
    Blurred Lines-Robin Thicke
    The Humpty Dance-Digital Underground
    I Like Big Butts-Sir Mixalott
    Girls They Love Me- Heavy D and the Boyz
    Girls-Beastie Boys
    Bad Boy-Gloria Estefan
    Dress You Up- Madonna
    Push It-Salt N Pepa
    Girls Just Wanna Have Fun-Cyndi Lauper
    Mr. Loverman-Shabba Ranks
    The Way You Make Me Feel-Michael Jackson
    Lick Em Low Lover- AMG
    Bump N Grind- R Kelly
    It’s Wrong, But It’s All Right- Dolly Parton
    Hit it From the Back- Mobb Deep
    Adults Only- Slick Rick
    I Get the Job Done- Big Daddy Kane
    Fucking You Tonight- Notorious Big/R Kelly
    Freak Me- Silk
    Let’s Get It On-Marvin Gaye
    I Want Your Sex-George Michael
    Shoop- Salt N Pepa
    Need You Tonight-INXS
    Sexy Can I-Ray J and Yung Berg
    Slow Hand- The Pointer Sisters
    Do Me- Bell Biv Devoe
    I Wanna Sex You Up- Color Me Badd
    I Wanna Be Down- Brandy
    Physical- Olivia Newton John
    Yer So Bad- Tom Petty
    You Know I’m A Hoe- Master P and Ice Cube
    Candy Shop- 50 Cent

    You could add in songs like
    “Big ole Butt” by LL Cool J
    “I Gotta Man” by Positive K
    “I’m a Player” by Too Short
    or “Stroke You Up” by Changing Faces

30. I know some of those are cheesy old songs and I was trying to appeal to a certain population but there are just sooo many songs out there that AREN’T beta/oneitisy.  You should never run out of them, haha.

     

31. Check out “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. Doesn’t get more alpha.

32. Holy shit I love that song.  I’ll also throw in Wasted Years by Iron Maiden as a suggestion.

33. Even listen to Sid Vicious sing My Way? 🙂 I admit I like it.

34. Hi Stephen,

    Who remembers, “I remember you” by Frank Ifield? 🙂

    There was a rumour that Sid Vicious was going to cover this Ifield number and call it, “I remember you……….you Bastard!” 😀

35. Just thought of one: “Dont Owe you a Thang” by Gary Clark Jr.

36. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You by Led Zep. Says it all, really.

    Also if you like jazz guitar, then Herb Ellis was the master. Grab his “Nothing But The Blues” album and sit back and luxuriate.

37. @ Adam — Thanks for the tip. I just checked out that Herb Ellis album and it sounds great (and it’s all instrumental, no singing — just the way I like my jazz). I’ll be getting a copy soon. Got any more suggestions for jazz recordings?  Here’s one for you (it sounds somewhat similar to the Herb Ellis music) — the soundtrack to the Steve McQueen movie BULLITT — jazzy music by Lalo Schifren (who also did the music for the old TV show Mission Impossible, Enter the Dragon, and many others).

38. @ lovergirl  Not into swinging and never been to a swinger party but I love that whole list!

39. @lazy guy,

    Great idea to get the soundtrack to Bullitt. Now just have to see if I can find it on vinyl. Herb Ellis played with three other guitarists; they were known as the great guitars. Check out their work. George Benson is also excellent.

40. Best Alpha 2.0 songs –

    Let Her Go by JT Money
    Pimp Bones by Top Prize

    In Pimp Bones, his main prostitute tries to get him to settle down and marry her. His response in the chorus, ‘Stop, hell no, b$tch you can go, if you don’t want to be my ho no more and I’ll keep moving on, my body’s full of pimp bones…’ It’s fantastic.

    One other I have not seen mentioned:
    You’re the Best from Karate Kid soundtrack

41. Not Let Her Go but Ho Problems by JT Money. Wrong title.

42. I don’t think lyrics are really as relevant as you think, considering most songs’ lyrics can’t be completely made out. If you can’t make out the lyrics yourself, what makes you think your subconscious will? Take a song like Smells Like Teen spirit by Nirvana, the words are pretty meaningless (Even Dave Grohl admitted it. Yes I know he didn’t write the song) but it still evokes a certain emotion in you. Even if they could be made out, what if you didn’t know what the words meant?

    But yes, I do agree that if the lyrics could be made out and understood it could mess with your psyche.

    IMO however, I think it’s more the tonality and the music itself. If you think about it, most important communication is NOT words itself but body language and tonality. That’s why if you watch a TV show in spanish (assuming you don’t understand it), you can still get the gist of what’s going on in the show fairly accurately.

43. I don’t think lyrics are really as relevant as you think, considering most songs’ lyrics can’t be completely made out. If you can’t make out the lyrics yourself, what makes you think your subconscious will?

    You are correct. You must be able to understand the lyrics for them to take an effect. So if you can’t understand them, you’re safe.

    The problem is the vast majority of music people listen to has very clear lyrics.

44. Excellent point, I’ll pay more attention to lyrics. Increasingly, I listen to songs with strong male voices. For example Sverker (from the album of the same name) by Corvus Corax. Just dripping with testosterone and viking raids. Or Soultaker from the Black Symphonies album by Blutengel, or Riders on the Storm by The Doors.  Also, Wagner’s The Ride of the Valkyries (I do love the smell of napalm in the mornings).

45. BD,

    Great post! When I became red-pill aware, I had to consciously edit the music that I was listening to. I made a Pandora station where I can edit the music that plays at work during the day.

    Another mind trick that I played on myself was I imagined the sad, beta whining singers were actually singing TO me instead of me to someone else. (When I am not in control of the music.) It is pretty powerful stuff.

46. Def Leppard- Too Late For Love

    … my favorite song of all time

    You ever see Def Leppard live back when they were in their prime (80s/early 90s)

47. You can NEVER go wrong with the Rocky 4 soundtrack. I was only 2 years old when it came out and I jog and lift to it many times. When the main training montage comes on, I get a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th wind while lifting or running.

48. http https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnTCPyDIrMY

     

    This is blackdragon were he to be a black man in another life. Hahah hilarious

49. My list

    Disturbed-Inmortalized
    Disturbed-What are you waiting for?
    Linkin Park- One Step Closer

    🙂

50. I’ve been having a Thanksgiving Rambo marathon, and rocking ‘It’s a Long Road’ tonight 🙂 (credits song from First Blood).

     

    The whole First Blood soundtrack rules

51. So important! I realized this one a few years ago when I started having experiences that mirrrored the sadgasm moments in certain songs I liked.  Stuff like “I was sworn but now my kingdom’s come down, I’ll wear my crown just one more time before the dawn” started to reflect in my life.

    The subconcious is a targeting system.  I don’t permit anything of the sort unless it gets emotionally transmuted to something desirable half way through, then it’s sort of a pavlovian training for where to go if I ever feel that way.

    Glad to see you like Queensryche