Poll: Do you enjoy instrumental music?

[Jonluw]

Hiya escapists.

I just felt like knowing if the people on here enjoy instrumental music more or less than its vocal counterpart.

Personally, I find instrumental music to often be more enjoyable than music with lyrics. It's purer, and I don't have to focus on trying to figure out what it is the singer is trying to say. I can more easily get lost in instumental music, the emotion it provokes feels stronger, and instrumental music normally has a higher technical and musical level.
Plus, pretty much all classical music (the symphonies. Disregard opera) is instrumental.

This has also led to the slightly strange situation that I really enjoy music with lyrics I can't understand. Particularly, then, Japanese music. It has the advantage of being born of a slightly different musical tradition so it's new and interesting, and due to my interest in anime I come across new artists fairly effortlessly. And I happen to find Japanese to be rather easy on the ear.

So how about you?

Note that for the purposes of the poll, music with vocals but not lyrics counts as instrumental.

 

[Nouw]

Definitely. I tend to enjoy songs with lyrics more often but that's only because of number-crunching. I'll enjoy a song regardless of vocals.

 

[Xeraxis]

Absolutely. I'd say it helps immerse me more into the song compared to vocals. That's not to say I wouldn't listen to a song with vocals, but I prefer instrumental over voice most of the time.

 

[Vault101]

well...not nessicaryly instrumental..but i like music without vocals just fine

 

[Jonluw]

well...not nessicaryly instrumental..but i like music without vocals just fine

How is music without vocals anything but instrumental?

 

[Offworlder_v1legacy]

If a song can tell a story or keep me interested for it's duration without vocals, then it is a better song than one that has vocals that fails at those things....so yes, I enjoy instrumentals.

 

[Vault101]

well...not nessicaryly instrumental..but i like music without vocals just fine

[

How is music without vocals anything but instrumental?

Electronic?....

Spoiler: like this

on a somwhat related note bad lyrics can really ruin good music

case in point

[spoiler/] [/spoiler]

 

[Vault101]

If a song can tell a story or keep me interested for it's duration without vocals, then it is a better song than one that has vocals that fails at those things....so yes, I enjoy instrumentals.

in some cases voacals can really limit how you can feel about a song

like if you have this really cool track...but its only about "partying at the club" then BAM..it becomes just as boring and shallow

but if it not then your imagination can go crazy with it..I think somwhere I read a quote by Deadmau5 talking about collaborating where he basically said he didnt want to ruin a songg by "making it about the club" which I totally agree with/respect

for me this mainly applys to "electronic" type stuff

 

[Vault101]

like if you have this really cool track...but its only about "partying at the club" then BAM..it becomes just as boring and shallow

Subject matter is irrelevant. The finesse with which the subject matter is brought to life is what counts. Take Lil Wayne. The lyrics on his mixtapes tend to be nothing but talking about how awesome he is, but those mixtapes are so cherished because he talks about how awesome he is better than anyone.

In some cases I guess

I did say I liked rap (and obviously since so much of rap IS talking about how awsome oneself is..)

but often, as with the case of some "pop" music (or otherwise) theres not really much to keep me interested

 

[Cheesus333]

Absolutely. Especially instrumental covers of songs that have lyrics to begin with, such as the work of this fine group [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMfuS-XGP4M].

I like a lot of purely-instrumental stuff too, like post rock and a little classical every now and then. And, of course, good old 8-bit music.

 

[Scrustle]

I enjoy them equally. The most important thing about music is how it sounds. Lyrics are secondary. The voice is just another instrument. What it says may be nice, but is not necessary in any way to make enjoyable music. Just as music is not necessary to make a statement worth listening to.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

It's pretty much the only thing I listen to.

Listen to that. HNNNNNG.

 

[ChaoticKraus]

Yeah, but i don't agree with the fact that instrumental is automatically better. A talented songwriter can add something to a song that the music can't achieve on it's own.

In the end i think it has a lot to do with what kind of music it is. Some genres wouldn't work at all without lyrics. But the opposite can also hold true, as a DJ/House fan i often get irritated when awesome dancefloor bangers gets a "radio edit" with someone singing over them to get radio to pick it up. In some cases this works, but most of the time they turn out worse.

There's an example in the spoiler box. This guys whiny falsetto puts a damper on the absolute bubbling insanity as the song builds up to the drop.

Spoiler

Relevant part starting at 1:02.

Relevant part starts right away.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

It really doesn't make any difference to me, because I view vocals as basically another instrument anyway. I rarely pay attention to lyrics anyway. A good singer can add to a song, but the lack of a singer usually doesn't take away from a song.

That said, I usually listen to stuff with vocals simply because there are very few instrumental metal groups.

 

[OneCatch]

So how about you?

I actually own rather a lot of film soundtracks, some of which are among my favourite albums. I'm just as happy listening to them as a regular album. Does that count?

 

[Yuno Gasai]

I have a really strong inclination towards Chinese and Medieval-esque instrumentals. I find Chinese instrumentals to be very soothing and peaceful (not to mention excellent music to write assignments to!), whereas the medieval instrumentals I enjoy tend to be more upbeat and lively.

 

[Thistlehart]

Vocals are great when their sounds add to the music. They're even better when they manage to evoke a feeling that corresponds to the emotion provoked by the score. Also, vocals provide a sense of progression and movement, to me. I feel like the piece is going somewhere, and not just trying to be pretty or complex for the simple sake of being pretty or complex.

I really enjoy instrumental music that is able to have that sense of movement; when it feels like it's going somewhere. However, it is hard to find instrumental music that can do that. I would assume this is usually because the artist is so fascinated with how complicated, artistic, edgy, technical, etc. ad nauseam, they can make their music that it feels more like they're masturbating than trying to communicate anything.

Take Jazz for instance. I don't like it, but then again, I don't think it's actually for me. As I understand it, Jazz is usually music for musicians. It is meant to be technical, complicated, and difficult. I'll take Ronald Jenkees over any Jazz legend you care to name.

One dude at a keyboard/synthesizer that's there to have fun, and whose music demonstrates that beats out a Jazz orchestra full of people trying to prove how good they are (no matter how good they might sound).

 

[ScatterBen]

Explosions In The Sky and Mogwai are two of my favourite bands. The former are entirely instrumental and the latter primarily so. They're both fantastic, though, and I highly recommend listening to the first two EITS albums and Happy Songs For Happy People and Mr Beast my Mogwai.