Songwriting Advice
How to Write Pornogrind Lyrics
Yes you read that right. You want to write pornogrind lyrics that hit like a sledge and sting like a prank gone wrong. Pornogrind is extreme metal with explicit and provocative lyrical themes. The style trades subtlety for shock and for some bands that is art and for others that is pure circus. Whatever your intent, this guide gives you the craft tools, ethical guardrails, and weird prompts you need to write better, smarter, and less likely to get you banned from every streaming platform in existence.
Quick Links to Useful Sections
- What Is Pornogrind
- Why Lyrics Matter in Pornogrind
- Ethics And Legal Boundaries You Must Know
- Choosing A Voice And Angle
- How To Craft Images That Work
- Concrete detail beats vague outrage
- Juxtaposition and absurdity
- Make sound inform meaning
- Prosody For Guttural Vocals
- Song Structure And Length
- Editing Your Lyrics
- Writing Exercises And Prompts
- Vowel pass
- Object riot
- Redacted template
- Taboo map with safety layer
- Lyric Templates And Example Lines
- Performing Vocals Safely
- Production And Mixing Notes For Lyric Clarity
- How To Release And Label Your Work
- Handling Backlash And Criticism
- Common Mistakes And How To Fix Them
- Action Plan You Can Use Today
- Examples And Before After Edits
- FAQs
This article explains what pornogrind is, how to choose a voice, how to write imagery that lands, how to keep legal and ethical lines in view, and how to perform and release this material without burning your scene bridges. We break down technical terms so you are never left googling acronyms mid mosh. We give real life examples, writing exercises, templates, and an FAQ with schema for SEO and shareability.
What Is Pornogrind
Pornogrind is a micro genre inside grindcore and goregrind that uses sexual themes as a primary lyrical focus. Grindcore is a fast and brutal style rooted in punk and extreme metal. Goregrind is a sibling style that uses medical and gore imagery. Pornogrind mixes explicit sexual content with the same sonic tools such as blast beats, tiny songs, and guttural vocals.
Important terms explained
- Grindcore A fast, loud, and short song metal punk hybrid. Songs are often under two minutes and sometimes under a minute.
- Goregrind A variant of grindcore that focuses on medical and gore themes and on guttural vocal textures.
- Blast beat A drum pattern with very fast alternate hits between kick and snare that creates a wall of sound.
- Guttural vocals Low, throat heavy vocals such as growls and screams. These make prosody and vowel choices crucial.
- NSFW Not Safe For Work. Label your content this way so platforms and listeners are warned.
- DIY Do It Yourself. A scene ethic where bands record, release, and promote their work independently.
Why Lyrics Matter in Pornogrind
In this style the lyrics are as much an instrument as the guitar. They create a mood, a persona, a punch line, or a social jab. Fans expect something that shocks, entertains, or makes them laugh in a gleeful nothing is sacred way. The trick is to write lyrics that deliver that reaction without simply being lazy or hateful.
Real life scenario
You play a local show and your set is 12 minutes of fury. One line becomes the chant that people scream back between songs. That line is your currency. It needs to be clean in memory and savage in impact. If the line is sloppy the chant dies. If it is smart it becomes a merch slogan and maybe a shirt that sells more than your vinyl. That is the real power of good extreme lyrics.
Ethics And Legal Boundaries You Must Know
Shock can be art. But shock that endorses harm is a legal and moral landmine. Before you write, decide what you will and will not depict. Put a hard line under anything involving minors, non consenting people, trafficking, or illegal acts that glamorize harm. Those topics can get you deplatformed, sued, or worse.
Practical rules to avoid burning bridges
- Never write about minors in sexual contexts. That is illegal and toxic.
- Avoid non consenting sexual content. If you use such imagery, frame it as critique or condemnation and include content warnings.
- Label releases NSFW and provide trigger warnings when necessary.
- Consider how your local laws interact with depictions of certain acts. If you are unsure consult a lawyer or do more research before publishing.
- If your satire targets a group that is already vulnerable, expect backlash. Ask if the joke punches up or punches down.
Being edgy does not require cruelty. Violence and grotesque imagery are common in extreme metal. Use them with intention. Ask what you are trying to say. If the point is only to shock for attention the novelty will fade and the harm remains.
Choosing A Voice And Angle
Your voice decides whether the lyrics land as satire, comedy, horror, or plain sleaze. Pick an angle and stick to it. The common angles in pornogrind are shock comedy, surreal grotesque, medical clinic parody, and transgressive storytelling.
- Shock comedy Uses gross out surprises and rapid punch lines. Tone is taunting and playful. Think stand up that vomits glitter.
- Surreal grotesque Uses strange metaphors, dream logic, and body horror imagery without literal description. This can be creepier and more interesting than bluntness.
- Medical parody Uses clinical terminology as satire. This borrows from goregrind language but swaps gore for sexual absurdity. Keep it clever not exploitative.
- Transgressive storytelling Builds a persona who narrates unauthorized impulses. If you take this route make the persona clearly distinct from your real life position.
Real life example
You and your singer decide on a persona called The Clinic DJ. He narrates appointments gone wrong using surgical vocabulary and absurd punch lines. The audience laughs because it is ridiculous and because the clinical language gives the shocks shape. That single persona keeps the project coherent and easier to defend in interviews.
How To Craft Images That Work
Effective pornogrind imagery is specific, tactile, and musical. Abstract swear words or cheap shock do not stick. A good line places an object in your listener s mind and makes that object do something surprising.
Concrete detail beats vague outrage
Vague line
I wreck your life with my lust
Concrete line
The cassette player chews your voicemail and spits it into the ice tray
The first line is a threat. The second is an image that is weird and memorable without graphic detail. You can be obscene and still inventive. Use objects like kitchen tools, outdated technology, or thrift store items. These are punchable props for metaphor.
Juxtaposition and absurdity
Putting a refined detail next to something base creates comedy and recall. Think of a velvet cake served on a rusty meat hook. The brain pauses and laughs, or recoils, or both. Both reactions create attention which is the currency of shock music.
Make sound inform meaning
Because vocals are guttural you should pick words with strong low vowels and consonants that punch. Words with o and a vowels and with m b g k sounds tend to translate through distortion better than thin sibilants.
Example of vowel awareness
- Low vowels for impact such as ah and oh
- Round vowels for slug like feeling such as oo
- Avoid long streams of s sounds in a row because they disappear in heavy mix
Prosody For Guttural Vocals
Prosody means the alignment of syllable stress with musical rhythm. In grindcore your vocal bursts must hit strong beats. Because you often use extreme textures the listener only gets a few syllables to chew. Make those count.
Practical prosody checklist
- Count the beats. Clap the rhythm of your lyrics before you sing them.
- Place important words on the downbeat and on long notes in the breakdowns.
- Use short monosyllabic words in blast beat sections. They cut through better than long polysyllabic phrases.
- In slower slammed sections use longer words with open vowels so the guttural can bloom.
Song Structure And Length
Pornogrind borrows grindcore s economy. Songs are often short. That means each lyric segment must do heavy lifting. Common forms
- Intro vamp then one verse two chorus and out. Simple and brutal.
- Blast beat micro song under a minute with one hook line repeated like a mantra.
- Extended slam section that repeats a graphic image with small variation for emphasis.
Real life schedule
If you have only three minutes on a split EP you might write two micro songs and a longer closer. Place your best line in the middle of the set list where the crowd is warm. Make that line a chantable phrase to maximize merch potential.
Editing Your Lyrics
Edit like you are trimming a corpse for stage props. Remove anything that is vague, redundant, or legal trouble. Replace filler with sharper images. Keep the rhythm tight so the vocal can be performed without breathlessness unless that breathlessness is intentional and achievable.
Crime scene edit for pornogrind lyrics
- Read aloud at performance volume. If you cannot keep the energy for every line shorten.
- Underline every abstract word and swap one concrete image per underlined word.
- Circle every reference to illegal content and either remove it or change it to a critical frame or to a clearly fictionalized surreal image.
- Remove any line that repeats the same idea twice unless repetition is the device.
Writing Exercises And Prompts
Use timed drills to force creativity. Pornogrind thrives on instinct. Capturing the raw first pass is often where the best lines live.
Vowel pass
Set a two minute timer. Sing nonsense on open vowels such as ah oh oo with drums or metronome. Stop and circle the gestures you like. Fit a short phrase to each gesture using concrete images. This makes melody and prosody work first instead of words.
Object riot
Pick one object in your room such as a toaster. In ten minutes write ten one line images where the toaster acts like an unreliable lover, a weapon, or a surgeon. Edit the best three into a micro verse.
Redacted template
Use placeholders to keep legal and platform safe. For studio work write lines with blanks to fill later. Example template
[OBJECT] eats your [MEMORY] while the [SOUND] laughs
Fill the blanks with unusual items such as lamp, mixtape, or kettle. This produces weird combinations that avoid explicit content.
Taboo map with safety layer
List the taboo topics you are tempted to use. For each one write a line that treats the subject as critique, satire, or surreal metaphor. This lets you process dark impulses without endorsing harm.
Lyric Templates And Example Lines
Below are templates and examples. None of these cross into explicit sexual description. They will help you form the energy and rhythm you need. Replace bracket text with your chosen objects and persona details. Fill in with tasteful extremes rather than illegal specifics.
Template chorus
My [OBJECT] swallows the [THING] of the town
We feed it [SOUND] on Tuesday nights
It hums your name like a busted crowbar
Template micro verse
Glass teeth grin in the glove compartment
A postcard from the future says sit down
I whisper auction prices into the soup
Example punch lines
- The vending machine returns only applause
- Her voicemail plays like a tax audit you do not want
- We bake broken promises into a casserole and sell them cold
These lines are weird and suggestive without graphic sexual detail. They produce imagery that can live on a shirt or in a shoutable chorus.
Performing Vocals Safely
Extreme vocals can strain your throat. Learn healthy techniques so you can record and tour without losing your voice. You do not need to be a vocal coach to be careful. Basics matter.
- Warm up with gentle humming and sirens. Do not dive into full power immediately.
- Hydrate regularly. Dry vocal cords do not grow hair of steel.
- Use a mic technique that places your mouth close to the capsule to reduce the need to push.
- Record multiple short takes instead of one long scream marathon.
- If you feel pain stop and see a doctor or a voice therapist who knows extreme vocals.
Real life tip
A bass player in your scene learned the hard way after a week of screaming practice. They lost shows for two months. Now their routine is five minutes of warm up and short studio passes. You do not have to test your limits by breaking them.
Production And Mixing Notes For Lyric Clarity
In a heavy wall of sound lyrics can vanish. Decide what you want listeners to hear. If you want the chorus to be chantable keep the mix clearer on that section. If the verse is meant to be swallowed, bury it slightly for texture but not for incomprehension.
- Use compression on the vocal to keep it present in the mix.
- High pass guitars a little to open space for the mid range of the voice.
- Add a secondary spoken or shouted take underneath the main vocal in key moments to create clarity and depth.
- Automate volume so the hook pops without reducing overall heaviness.
How To Release And Label Your Work
Streaming platforms and stores often require explicit flags. Label your tracks NSFW and explicit. Create a band statement that explains the artistic context for your work. This helps journalists and venues understand your intent and reduces knee jerk bans.
Practical release checklist
- Tag your tracks explicit and use content warnings in descriptions.
- Submit a press bio that explains your angle such as satire or surrealism.
- Think about age gates on your website and merch storefronts.
- Prepare a concise artist statement for promoters so they can make booking decisions with clear information.
Handling Backlash And Criticism
Some people will hate you. Some people will be right to call you out. Do not reflexively double down. Decide ahead of time whether you are open to dialogue or if you will refuse to engage. When you choose to respond do so with clarity and accountability if you made a mistake.
Real life scenario
A band released a song that some listeners perceived as promoting harm. The band posted a calm explanation that they intended critique and apologized for any pain caused. Then they removed the offending lyric and re released the track. The engagement cost time and money but kept relationships with venues and labels intact.
Common Mistakes And How To Fix Them
- Mistake Writing the same shock line everyone uses
- Fix Replace cheap shock with odd detail or surreal metaphor
- Mistake Lyrics drown in the mix
- Fix Simplify the chorus phrasing. Use fewer syllables on blast sections
- Mistake No clear persona or angle
- Fix Pick a persona and write five songs from that point of view
- Mistake Unnecessary illegal or hateful content
- Fix Remove or reframe the content. Use satire or surrealism instead
Action Plan You Can Use Today
- Write one persona description in one sentence. Keep it outrageous and specific.
- Pick an object in your room and write five one line images where the object acts like a character.
- Do a two minute vowel pass over drums or click. Mark two gestures you like.
- Write a chorus of three lines using one of the gestures and one object image. Make each line singable and short.
- Run the crime scene edit. Replace abstract words with concrete details. Label any risky content and either rework it or add a framing statement.
- Record a short demo with the vocal close to the mic and keep energy high. Listen back and cut one line that feels redundant.
Examples And Before After Edits
Before
I want you so bad it hurts
After
The coat rack swallows my appointment card and coughs up your name
Before
Dirty calls in the night
After
The rotary phone spits spare change and a postcard from a ruined hotel
The after lines keep tone and edge but move away from explicit sexual phrasing. They create memorable images that can be screamed cleanly over a blast beat and that are less likely to trip platform content filters.
FAQs
Is pornogrind illegal
Writing the lyrics is not illegal in most places. Creating or distributing content that involves minors or illegal sexual acts can be criminal. Always avoid producing content that depicts or promotes sexual crimes. If you are unsure check local laws or consult legal help. Label your work explicit and provide content warnings to protect listeners and yourself.
How do I write explicit themed lyrics without being exploitative
Focus on surreal imagery and satire rather than real life exploitation. Use metaphors and objects to shift the scene into the realm of fiction. Make your intent clear through art statements. Do not glamorize illegal actions. If you are critiquing something make that clear in interviews and in your online materials.
Can I perform pornogrind at normal venues
Some venues are fine and some will refuse. Smaller DIY spaces and underground clubs are more likely to accept extreme content. Always provide a description in advance so the promoter can give informed consent. Be prepared to play to different crowds or to face age restrictions.
What is a safe process for writing gore or sexual content
Create boundaries before you write. Use a redaction pass to remove any lines that cross personal or legal lines. Write in a persona to keep distance. Use a trusted friend or scene member to vet content before release. Label your work and provide trigger warnings when relevant.
How do I make my lyrics chantable
Keep the chorus short and use repetition. Use simple strong vowels and place the title word on the downbeat. Test the line by having a friend shout it back. If they can repeat it after one listen you have a chantable hook.
Are there production tips to keep lyrics audible in heavy mixes
Yes. Use compression on the vocal, carve space in the mid range by equalizing guitars, add a doubled take for clarity, and automate volume to let the chorus breathe. Mix with reference tracks you like and check on cheap speakers to ensure lyrics cut through in real life scenarios.