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Survival - Official 2012 London Olympics Song

Niall

By Niall
in Songs & Releases

How would you rate Survival, on a scale of 1-5?  

800 members have voted

  1. 1. How would you rate Survival, on a scale of 1-5?

    • Poor - What is this shite?
      75
    • Fair - Well, it's tolerable, but I'll skip it a lot.
      82
    • Good - Decent song, some good parts.
      167
    • Very good - Mostly enjoyable, some really great moments, but not perfect.
      314
    • Excellent - Holy crap, I love it. I had to change my pants.
      162

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Niall Dead Star

Niall

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I think this association with the Olympics has really hurt the track actually. It's that tying of the lyrics to the Olympics that makes them quite as cheesy and cringe worthy as they are. I'm finding it much easier to listen to if I instead associate it with something like The Hunger Games or Lord Of The Flies. Which actually would make more sense, unless Matt genuinely thinks athletes are killed in the Olympics, e.g. "I choose to survive," "Yes I’m prepared to stay alive," "I won't forgive, vengeance is mine." As much as it would liven up the games, those bits definitely don't scream Olympics to me!

 

The lyrics are admittedly still pretty bad, even if you do replace the Olympics with The Hunger Games/Lord of the Flies/whatever in your mind, but they're not quite as horrendously cheesy. Which would be a small plus, and allow you to let the lyrics fade into the background a bit more.

 

Definitely agree with this as I'd said earlier. It wouldn't necessarily make the song more sincere, but just make the lyrics seem at least relevant to some kind of source material and not the obscure drivel they are in the context of the Olympics.

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serpentsatellite Escapee

serpentsatellite

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I think this association with the Olympics has really hurt the track actually. It's that tying of the lyrics to the Olympics that makes them quite as cheesy and cringe worthy as they are. I'm finding it much easier to listen to if I instead associate it with something like The Hunger Games or Lord Of The Flies. Which actually would make more sense, unless Matt genuinely thinks athletes are killed in the Olympics, e.g. "I choose to survive," "Yes I’m prepared to stay alive," "I won't forgive, vengeance is mine." As much as it would liven up the games, those bits definitely don't scream Olympics to me!

 

The lyrics are admittedly still pretty bad, even if you do replace the Olympics with The Hunger Games/Lord of the Flies/whatever in your mind, but they're not quite as horrendously cheesy. Which would be a small plus, and allow you to let the lyrics fade into the background a bit more.

 

What else rhymes with "survive" that can be crammed in to a cheesy song lyric... That may be all there is to it.

Oh wait, no, "strive"... theory blown.

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forevermusic Escapee

forevermusic

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My opinion of this track seems to change every single time I play it. I suppose unlike other songs I don't have it on constant repeat mainly because I hate the bit where the beautiful classical melody turns into an Elton John/Scissor Sisters song, which feels a bit jarring.

 

It's got a decent groove on it and some good fretboard work but I can't really stomach the choir. Also it doesn't seem to have the reach-out-and-grab-my-ears production I felt when I first heard with The Resistance material.

 

I think this association with the Olympics has really hurt the track actually. It's that tying of the lyrics to the Olympics that makes them quite as cheesy and cringe worthy as they are. I'm finding it much easier to listen to if I instead associate it with something like The Hunger Games or Lord Of The Flies. Which actually would make more sense, unless Matt genuinely thinks athletes are killed in the Olympics, e.g. "I choose to survive," "Yes I’m prepared to stay alive," "I won't forgive, vengeance is mine." As much as it would liven up the games, those bits definitely don't scream Olympics to me!

 

The lyrics are admittedly still pretty bad, even if you do replace the Olympics with The Hunger Games/Lord of the Flies/whatever in your mind, but they're not quite as horrendously cheesy. Which would be a small plus, and allow you to let the lyrics fade into the background a bit more.

 

I have said that Survival as a title made me think of The Hunger Games, and it does make sense given that THG is essentially "If you don't win, you die", and a lot of the lyrics do bear to mind a sort of "I have to compete, I have to win or I'm fucked" sort of thing.

 

But that's if you take it seriously, as an athlete might. It's equally apt that the lyrics are more than a bit pedestrian, although I don't hate them as much as I did last night when I felt the lyrics dragged the song down, a bit like NSC before it.

 

It is hard to get around the lyrics but I agree association with the Olympics has dragged it down a bit, kinda like being associated with Twilight dragged NSC's credibility down almost from the first note.

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Tofu Escapee

Tofu

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I hear "So I told you" in this bit, actually. Makes less sense, though!

Yeah, sometime last night I started hearing that instead, too. I kinda like pretending it's a really fucked up pronunciation of survive, though. It makes me laugh which is better than making me want to kill the choir instead.

 

An I'm with the camp that doesn't mind the lyrics. It's more the drive behind it than the actual meaning?

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DifferentPerson Escapee

DifferentPerson

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Yeah, sometime last night I started hearing that instead, too. I kinda like pretending it's a really fucked up pronunciation of survive, though. It makes me laugh which is better than making me want to kill the choir instead.

 

An I'm with the camp that doesn't mind the lyrics. It's more the drive behind it than the actual meaning?

 

I still hear "So I trolled you..." :erm:

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Clunge Guiding Light

Clunge

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Does anyone feel it has a kinda gothic/even Soviet Russia feel to the track? What with the slightly militaristic drumming, epic choirs, dark scales, etc.

 

I love it.

 

This, for me, is far more exciting than nearly anything from The Resistance.

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Hyper Uno

Hyper

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Does anyone feel it has a kinda gothic/even Soviet Russia feel to the track? What with the slightly militaristic drumming, epic choirs, dark scales, etc.

 

I love it.

 

This, for me, is far more exciting than nearly anything from The Resistance.

 

Yes, indeed. On the Russian forums we agreed that he can enter the "Composers Union of the USSR". I know for a fact that he's been listening to Shostakovich Stalingrad Symphony :rolleyes:

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Mr. ORANGE Escapee

Mr. ORANGE

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Does the beginning of the prelude remind anyone else of the song "All by Myself"?

"When I was young... I never needed anyone..." :facepalm::LOL:

Yeah definitely, but the whole verse of All By Myself is actually a piano concert from Rachmaninoff (2nd ? Im not sure and too lazy to check on google) - those first two chords are a great combination and Muse have it in many songs but this time it sounds almost exactly like All by Myself :D And funny thing - just yesterday I recorded a piano parts for my band's song that is using those two chords (the melody is completely different though) but for a split second I thought "oh my god, it will be the same as our song and we won't be able to play it" :D But it ended up different...Such a powerful combination - major tonic and minor subdominant - oh, I'm having an orgasm :D:p

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Tofu Escapee

Tofu

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Its growing on me a little finally, still cringe at the scream at the end though :LOL:

 

I wonder if the final scream would sound as cringeworthy if there were no other voices and it was just chaotic instruments or something. At the same time, what's a better way to end a song that's already shamelessly and almost tastelessly OTT?

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