The importance of lyrics to your enjoyment of music
- Thread starter malakian
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The_Cookster
Regular
MrHimashi said:
hardXcore
intoTheRain
Regular
The_Cookster said:
haha.. Himashi can get pretty gangsta if you say the wrong thing and set his hardXcore ass off can't he...
He should come with a warning..
The_Cookster
Regular
Contrary to the above comment I'd prefer The Smiths if Morrissey's (poor) singing wasn't mostly his boring opinions but souless nonsense.
SweetSurrender
Rookie
Lyrics add a lot to the music for me. I'll listen to a band if they have crappy lyrics, but good lyrics make the music more enjoyable for me. Which is why to of my favorite bands are Modest Mouse and Bright Eyes. And usually I don't care about vocals, unless they sound really ugly or really generic.
Frozen
Rookie
It depends on the reason i am listening. The lyrics always have some sort of effect on my enjoyment (I'm not going to listen to something that is filled with racism, for example) but how much I pay attention to the lyrics varies depeding on what I am doing. If I just want to dance, I couldnt care less about the lyrics. When excercising I care somewhat, but for the most partthe vocals still arent as important as the beat and tempo. Now if I am just listening to music to lay back and chill then yea, the lyrics are definitely a huge part of my enjoyment. But course the lyrics could be the best in the world but if the actual music is terrible there is no way I am going to listen to it. If I just wanted to listen to what someone had to say I would be watching a news channel.
There is also some music that I like listening to such as jazz that doesnt even have any lyrics. Actually to me the best music is when someone is actually just playing music and not wailing into a microphone. I really dont give a damn about an artists opinions on certian matters and would just prefer to have them express themselves with notes.
There is also some music that I like listening to such as jazz that doesnt even have any lyrics. Actually to me the best music is when someone is actually just playing music and not wailing into a microphone. I really dont give a damn about an artists opinions on certian matters and would just prefer to have them express themselves with notes.
BoyAnachronism
Rookie
Truth be told, I'm really not that fussed about lyrics in music. I mean, if I wanted to focus of a series of words, I'd read poetry. Not that I can't appreciate great lyrics in music, there's certain artists as well who I feel need to have great lyrics in their songs (Bob Dylan, Morrissey etc) but I would never convince myself that an awful song with great lyrics was actually really good or vice-versa.
I do like lyrics to reflect the tone of the music though. For example, if the song is upbeat I'd expect the lyrics to be upbeat as well and vice-versa. Of course, there is the New Order thing of happy music/sad lyrics but I've never honestly listened to a New Order song for it's lyrical content! And there's probably some band out there who do really maudlin sounding music but give it happy lyrics, though I can't think of any artists like this off the top of my head!
Also, when it comes to Hip-Hop I understandably like it to have good lyrics too, but the production is just as important I feel, I can let, say, Snoop Dogg in his early days off for his slightly generic lyrics thanks to Dr. Dre's awesome production. It doesn't work the other way though, a lyrically good hip-hop song with awful production would probably rank in my books as a bad song.
Lyrics do occasionally move me, and I like it when they do so, though I've realised now that you don't actually need lyrics in a song for it to move you. I think it was probably Brian Eno's music which showed me that mostly instrumental tracks can be just as, if not more, moving as something with vocal in it. There was a point where I expected all of my music to have great lyrics, but I feel I'm past that stage now. So as a result, for me at least, lyrics don't really mean all that much in music, but I can appreciate them if they're good.
I do like lyrics to reflect the tone of the music though. For example, if the song is upbeat I'd expect the lyrics to be upbeat as well and vice-versa. Of course, there is the New Order thing of happy music/sad lyrics but I've never honestly listened to a New Order song for it's lyrical content! And there's probably some band out there who do really maudlin sounding music but give it happy lyrics, though I can't think of any artists like this off the top of my head!
Also, when it comes to Hip-Hop I understandably like it to have good lyrics too, but the production is just as important I feel, I can let, say, Snoop Dogg in his early days off for his slightly generic lyrics thanks to Dr. Dre's awesome production. It doesn't work the other way though, a lyrically good hip-hop song with awful production would probably rank in my books as a bad song.
Lyrics do occasionally move me, and I like it when they do so, though I've realised now that you don't actually need lyrics in a song for it to move you. I think it was probably Brian Eno's music which showed me that mostly instrumental tracks can be just as, if not more, moving as something with vocal in it. There was a point where I expected all of my music to have great lyrics, but I feel I'm past that stage now. So as a result, for me at least, lyrics don't really mean all that much in music, but I can appreciate them if they're good.
