As with most bands, recurring themes were present throughout TISM's extensive output, the most common being death, violence, fame and prominent figures, drugs, including alcohol, and the Australian Football League. Many of TISM's lyrics are tinged in fatalism, mocking both the superficial and the sublime side of the human condition and the desire for people to be loved and respected (even just in the titles of such songs as "If You're Not Famous at Fourteen, You're Finished", "If You're Ugly, Forget It" and "Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me").