Poll: Do you pay more attention to the music or the lyrics?

[SoranMBane]

It depends. There's some songs and artists where I pay more attention to the lyrics, and others where I pay more attention to the music. For example, with these...

Spoiler

I mostly pay attention to the awesome lyrics, while these...

Spoiler

I mostly listen to for the music.

 

[Fijiman]

Three times out of five I'll be listening to a song mostly for the music of it and not the lyrics. In fact, I generally don't really care about what the message of the song is as long as I like the music. However, if the lyrics are start going in a direction that I really don't like then it doesn't matter how good the music might be.

 

[Something Amyss]

It depends not only on whether I'm listening to music with lyrics, but also the genre and the artist.

A good chunk of the fun of Queen is singing along to the lyrics.

I would be embarrassed to do the same with Nine Inch Nails.

A lot of folk/country artists I listen to, I do so with a vocal focus. The opposite is true of metal.

I'm sorry I can't give a simple answer to a complex question.

 

[iAmNothing]

Being a drummer, I often get caught up by the melody and rhythm rather than the lyrics

Although this isn't always the case, especially when it comes to genres like rap which are strictly lyrically based...

Oh, and Tool! One of my favourite bands with some incredibly deep lyrics so I like to focus on them when I listen (but they also have some insane drumming so it often depends on my mood)

 

[Old Father Eternity]

To me it is more important how the two, instrumental and vocal parts go together, vocals (unless you go a-capella) should complement the instrumentals and in most cases it does so. There have been quite a few times when I have heard a really nice instrumental beginning only to have it ruining by bad vocals, be it because unsuitable use of voice or bad lyrics.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Well, being a heavy metal fan, I lean more toward the music than anything. It's the riffs that matter, the riffs and the guitar tone. That's the fucking cream of it man. To me, well written lyrics are a nice bonus to a band's overall package. If a band has awesome lyrics, then that's cool. If they have horrible lyrics, then I'm okay with that as well. A lot of what I listen to, individual lyrics aren't easily made out anyway.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

depends on how prominent the singing is, when the lyrics drown out the music itself they are more important, obviously.

part of the reason I don't like pop music, the instrumentals (if used at all) are not so bad, but the lyrics are often either cliché and overdone or downright retarded, which is extremely frustrating if they are emphasized in the song.

I do find that music like "Two steps from Hell" manage to turn the vocals into instrument in their own right.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

I think it's more about what[b/] they're saying (or in this case singing) rather than how they're saying(/singing) it. If it has a nice beat then that's great. But if the lyrics are something stupid then I won't want to listen to it.

 

[Something Amyss]

Being a drummer, I often get caught up by the melody and rhythm rather than the lyrics

Although this isn't always the case, especially when it comes to genres like rap which are strictly lyrically based...

Oh, and Tool! One of my favourite bands with some incredibly deep lyrics so I like to focus on them when I listen (but they also have some insane drumming so it often depends on my mood)

Oddly enough, I couldn't name a single Tool lyric, even with a gun to my head. I love the music, though.

 

[Arfonious]

I tend to listen more closely to the lyrics as I like to sing.

But once I've heard a song enough times I start to listen to the different tracks. It's amazing how the same song can feel so different depending on what you are focusing on.

 

[trollnystan]

The first time I listen to a song I focus on the lyrics more I think. Then with subsequent listenings I start to focus more on the actual music. I tend to sing along either way though -_-;

 

[-Samurai-]

Usually both. I don't really listen to songs if the lyrics and music don't fit together. Kinda ruins the groove. Even if the lyrics are bad, as long as the pattern is good, I'm ok.

I do listen to some foreign bands like Guitar Wolf or The Street Beats, and I can't understand the lyrics, but I always pay attention to them because they're a part of the music.

While I was learning to play guitar, I mostly focused on the instrument part, but now that I can comfortably play and (badly)sing at the same time, I pay attention to the patterns of both.

Saying "Don't say both" doesn't make sense. Some people don't concentrate on just one part of the song. Some of us listen to a song for all of the parts that make it what it is, not just one piece of it. Some people don't.

 

[Headsprouter]

Lyrics are annoying. If a song has lyrics, the less applicable it is. I suppose you could say I prefer a lack of lyrics, but that a presence of lyrics means I tend to focus on them, and get distracted from the music. So yeah, I focus on lyrics, but prefer the lack thereof.

I'm going to turn this into a VGM thread. I'll just drop this here...


Listen. The music is whimpering on it's own, no words are necessary. I like A Capella when people don't tear the backside out of it by making making fart noises and shit and end up making it laughable.


Like this. That's all you need. I A Capella like this, myself, sometimes.

 

[snekadid]

I prefer the music, having listened to songs internationally I have basically learned just to treat voices as another instrument in the performance and just stop trying to understand the words. Of course there's some songs like "Komm, susser tod", where the lyrics make the song better because of a stark contrast between the melody and the lyrics.

 

[WindKnight]

I listen to a lot of Japanese, orchestral and opera, so generally the vocals are to me just another element of the music for me.

This has led to one embarrassing moment when someone pointed out to me the cheery j-pop song I was boogying too had 'f***you/off baby' in its chorus.

 

[Korak the Mad]

I tend to listen to music that usually doesn't have lyrics. Most of the stuff I listen to is just instrumental, but I do have a few songs that have lyrics.

It mainly depends on the song, some songs that have lyrics are just awful, but some songs that have lyrics added to it can sometimes be better than the original. Even some songs that have the lyrics but have an instrumental version that can be better than the one with lyrics.

 

[wintercoat]

Sometimes the lyrics don't matter, they're just another part of the melody, the singer just another instrument.

And sometimes the lyrics matter. They have meaning that rises above the melody, or they're fun and quirky.

And even still, sometimes...sometimes the lyrics are the only thing that matters.

 

[Ieyke]

A lot of the time I don't even fully understand the lyrics until waaaay later. I'm far more focused on the overall aural effect of the song that the music and lyrics create, if that makes any sense.

 

[Jayemsal]

Its called LISTENING TO MUSIC...

So......... yea...

 

[DarthFennec]

I tend not to really pay much attention to the lyrics. I'll listen to a song fairly often, but then later I'll try to figure out what the song is about and I'm often surprised at the lyrical content. Even if I memorize the lyrics by that point, it still happens. Rap and hip hop are exceptions, because there often isn't "music" in those genres, but on the other hand, I find most rap and hip hop completely unlistenable anyway. Most of what I listen to is techno, orchestral, and j-pop, none of which have meaningful lyrics as far as I'm concerned. So I guess I pay more attention to the music.