I wish I could remember the song I heard this morning that gave me this idea. Generally, I consider it bad if it's overtly and clumsily sentimental. (Though there are other criteria.) I consider much of Bryan Adams' canon to be such.
"Cloud #9"
Clue number one was when you knocked on my door
Clue number two was the look that you wore
And that's when I knew, it was a pretty good sign
That something was wrong up on cloud number nine
Well its a long way up and we wont come down tonight
Well it may be wrong but baby it sure feels right
And the moon is out and the stars are bright
And whatever comes is gonna be alright
Cause tonight you will be mine - up on cloud number nine
And there ain't no place that I'd rather be
And we can't go back but you're here with me
Yeah, the weather is really fine - up on cloud number nine [...]
"Pretty good sign"?
"The moon is out and the stars are bright"?
"The weather is really fine"?
And "cloud number nine" itself....
This is tiresome.
Then you have his older stuff such as "Cuts Like a Knife" and "Straight from the Heart." The titles themselves should serve as warnings for our purposes here. These and "Cloud #9" are tired metaphors. Bad poetry.
This is what I mean, and you can find this everywhere. Mind you, I like many Bryan Adams songs. They're catchy and make you want to dance. But lyrically, they are suspect if you want to view songs beyond sentimentalism.
Poetry can be varied in form, style, mood, tone, etc. Not everyone likes all of types of poetry, but it can be said that much of it can be gauged as being objectively beautiful regardless (even somewhat). Many of these songs? Not so much. At least not lyrically, and especially when you look at some of the great lyrics.