Lyrics or no lyrics?

[AbstractStream]

I feel this is a good question. It really depenns what mood I'm in I guess.
I loooove soundtracks and instrumentals but at the moment, I'm leaning towards songs with lyrics.

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

I like both. Interestingly, my two favourite genres differ completely on the matter. One is Classical music - mainly piano pieces, with the occasional symphony. These have no lyrics whatsoever, and are stunningly beautiful.

My other favourite (or should that be favoured?) genre is Hip-Hop, preferably pre-2002. As I'm sure you all know (although I'll be damned if most of you don't generalise massively about this)[footnote]Ironic.[/footnote], Hip-Hop relies mainly on lyrics - and the backing tracks are less musical for the sake of it. Now, that's not to say that making Hip-Hop beats doesn't take skill - but diverging this already fairly convoluted post down that train of thought would be straying from the point.

Which is, come to think of it, that either is fine. There is a time and a place for lyrics, and there is a time and a place for...well, as Mendelssohn would call them, songs without words.

 

[God's Clown]

I prefer instrumental, it's more relaxing to me. I've always loved hearing people express themselves through an instrument of music, so that helps to.

As for Death/Thrash metal thing, I personally only dislike the singing in the songs. I don't consider screaming singing, it's screaming. They are yelling at me, why are they yelling at me? I appreciate the instruments, but the singing just detracts from it.

 

[Phlakes]

It completely depends. Sometimes lyrics ruin what would be a great instrumental piece, and sometimes it's the other way around.

 

[Ickorus]

I prefer songs without lyrics, though it depends. If they're sacrificing instrumental values for the lyrics then I don't want to listen to that song.

And I think a lot of death and trash metal songs need to die in a fire, lyrics or not, that's not music, it's randomly hitting 3-4 instruments while screaming through a puppy's anus.

I feel like im running head first into the bully circle here but I completely agree with you on all points.

There is some decent death metal out there but it's ridiculously rare and even then the screaming bugs the shit out of me.

Like you I also gravitate towards lyricless music but when a singer uses his or her voice as an instrument (See: Sigur Ros, Mar, Múm, and Two Steps From Hell for examples) I couldn't be happier with it.

I do still listen to some lyrical music if I think the singer is good or if the lyrics are unique but otherwise I don't really bother with it as it normally doesn't connect with me on the same level.

 

[Detective Prince]

Depends. Sometimes bad lyrics can kill a beautiful melody. I do listen to soundtracks and orchestral tracks a lot but I'm a fan of prog rock so sometimes there's lyrics needed but you do tend to end up of like 10 minutes of a solo. XD Which is always nice.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Lyricless for sure. I love the sound of the human voice in music, but lyrics just kill it for me - that is, I love chanting. Thus for those who have heard of her , Yuki Kajiura being my favourite composer should go without saying... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF6eNuAvLIE]

She really does write the best vocal jibberish... though I agree, awesome stuff... (really should get the MaiHime OST)...

OT: Anyway, it depends on the era of music I'm listening to, but even then... both.

Baroque - (almost) pure instrumental (not a fan of religious music, except the occasional oratorio)
Classical - either (though I favour orchestral)
Romantic - either (though I favour orchstral, once again)
Contemporary - either (a lot of OST's, rock, OCR stuff, s'all good)

 

[Something Amyss]

Lyrics, but I'm not opposed to instrumental tracks.

I like to sing along, though.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

Instrumental music and music with lyrics are different styles and are therefore good in different ways. I don't see one as being better than the other.

Instrumental allows more technical musical experimentation as well as an appreciation for the pure emotional expression rather than the specific meaning of a song.

Music with lyrics has the ability to deliver a clearer message and causes the lyrics to become the most important part of a song. If a song has good lyrics, it is possible to forget that the instrumental portion is not particularly complex.

Both are great however...

The human voice is by far the most versatile instruments and is no doubt a handy tool of getting your feelings across. Music can be interpreted in a thousand different ways but the voice narrows it down MASSIVELY. If you want to express something specific lyrics help a lot.

The human voice is limited in that it has a far lower range of pitches that it can produce than instruments such as the guitar or piano. Additionally, it lacks the ability to be played/sung at the speeds of many other instruments. It has the unique ability, however, to deliver lyrical quality at the same time as melodic quality, something no instrument can do. Also, it offers more easily understood emotional depth than any other instrument.

I wouldn't call it the "most versatile" instrument but definitely a unique and important one. I think, for a piece meant to mean something specific that is not not designed for accompaniment that would explain it (video game music, plays, etc. ), lyrical music does work best. If a piece is merely meant to exhibit more general emotion or accompany another work, an instrumental piece works better as lyrics would distract from the emotion or whatever is happening in the accompanying work.

 

[Killertje]

Lyrics are annoying when I'm trying to study, so I prefer my music without them. However some songs are really good not just despite, but because of the lyrics. Those are the exceptions that stay in my playlist (all together so I can skip em when studying).

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Snip

First of all, to make it clear: it is tHrash metal. 'Trash metal' is not a valid term, but I can excuse you from that since you don't seem to know much about the genre. Now, the problem I have with what you said is how it is apparently "random instrumentation and screaming from an anus", not the direct quote but it has the same meaning. This is the ignorance I was pointing out. The bands this can be accurately applied to is in such a minority, it is barely even worth trying to think of who it could apply to besides, maybe, Anal **** (but they're a popular example). The vast, vast, vast majority of metal bands, from Polish National Socialist black metal to brutal slamming death metal are all, in some way/shape/form musically construct and written, be it professionally or amatuerly by mostly passionate musicians.

To someone who doesn't like extreme metal, listening to a band like, I don't know - Coffins from Japan, may sound like a complete random mess. But the reality is, it is well constructed music that is of a different field than the type you enjoy.

 

[Serge A. Storms]

I don't listen to a whole lot that doesn't have lyrics these days, haven't even gotten my Jeff Beck out in awhile now.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Snip

Ah, I can already tell from that first sentence what this debate will be like. I can also see from the rest of your post there that this debate will yield no fruit at all and you are quite content with keeping your current view point, so it'll end here, lest we derail this thread.

 

[Fishyash]

The human voice is limited in that it has a far lower range of pitches that it can produce than instruments such as the guitar or piano. Additionally, it lacks the ability to be played/sung at the speeds of many other instruments. It has the unique ability, however, to deliver lyrical quality at the same time as melodic quality, something no instrument can do. Also, it offers more easily understood emotional depth than any other instrument.

I wouldn't call it the "most versatile" instrument but definitely a unique and important one. I think, for a piece meant to mean something specific that is not not designed for accompaniment that would explain it (video game music, plays, etc. ), lyrical music does work best. If a piece is merely meant to exhibit more general emotion or accompany another work, an instrumental piece works better as lyrics would distract from the emotion or whatever is happening in the accompanying work.

In regards to pitch I agree. However there are techniques (like yodelling) to reach different harmonics to extend the pitch range of the voice.

Also in regards to most versatile, I think only a synthesizer can produce more sounds and textures than the voice can.

In regards to expressing emotion... I don't think it matters too much. I consider the voice as an instrument itself rather than something seperate. You can convey emotions through speech, IMO it's the strongest instrument in regards to expressing emotions, because they are, for lack of a better word, more real. It's a real person conveying these feelings, rather than through an instrument.

This sounds kinda stupid but I am just thinking... why does adagio for strings sound sad? Why does the phrygian dominant scale sound "egyptian"? Why do bells make us think of christmas?

 

[Rasmus Emilsson]

I prefer songs without lyrics, though it depends. If they're sacrificing instrumental values for the lyrics then I don't want to listen to that song.

And I think a lot of death and trash metal songs need to die in a fire, lyrics or not, that's not music, it's randomly hitting 3-4 instruments while screaming through a puppy's anus.

EDIT: okay it appears A LOT of the people replying to me do not read this message. If they did then they would read the words 'A' and 'LOT'.. see where i wrote that? it's after the word 'and' and before the word 'of' It means that there is death metal that i like, but I think a lot of it isn't music. if you're screaming into a mic and trying to make as much noise as possible with your drums, base and guitar then you're not playing music, you're pissing people off who are riding the bus at 7am. And to those saying that i'm ignorant and it takes skill to do that.. it doesn't..

But AGAIN, this doesn't apply to ALL death metal (but most of it from what i've found). Even if you do still disagree, I don't care about your whining and your reasoning, that kind of music is generally bad.

You don't care about our whining, yet you don't point out even ONE reason why this kind of music is bad, and you explicitly call it "generally bad".

Just shows your ignorance and lack of education in the subject.

It's not easy to play Death Metal, obscure chords and playing fast, and that is general Death Metal. We have Technical Death Metal that borders on asian levels of skill to pull of. Sure, you can say you don't like that kind of music, but don't ever call music generally bad or something of that kind, you will only make yourself seem insecure and immature.

OT: I like lyrics, however, I really like soundtracks to movies and games.

 

[Shock and Awe]

I tend to prefer lyrics when I want to simply listen to music, for me it completes the experience. However, when I am doing something else and listening to music in addition to it, I enjoy instrumental songs since they more or less augment the mood.

 

[dex-dex]

I am going with a combo of the two. like a lot of Daft Punk's song have songs that are filled with lyrics and then there are others where you wonder if they are actually saying something and some with none at allit just depends and Da Funk video AWESOME!

 

[rosac]

I like both... I feel that some songs shine even more with lyrics, whereas other just dont need them to be awesome, and would in fact be worse with lyrics. Case in point being diplo vs. tiesto: cmon. Busta rhyme's doesnt add to the song, it changes it entirely.

 

[Vault101]

both..obviously

somtimes though the lyrics can really ruin a song if they have a stupid subject matter or are boring

case in point:


god I wished an insrumental version existed

 

[sgt. soap mctavish]

I have somewhat preferred instrumentals although i still listen to songs with lyrics.

I don't know what exactly it is with instrumentals, maybe that it can make a wide variety of emotions with sound.

For instance:

despair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbb41bHrdVY&feature=related