Poll: When listening to a song

[Amberella]

I really love to listen to the instruments and the melody/beat. But I do have a tendency to listen to the lyrics as well. Mainly to just get a better feel of the song.

 

[ScrubberDucky]

Generally speaking, my attention focuses on what you'd expect to be the top layer of the mix--vocals, guitars, keyboards. Often a drum or bass sound will catch my ear, though, and I'll shift to paying attention almost solely to the rhythm section. That's a skill I've "taught myself" over the years. I'm still not sure of its usefulness.

 

[Nouw]

I usually disregard the song as having separate parts and just listen to it as a whole.

 

[littlerob]

For me, the main thing is the instrumentals. I'll readily listen to, say, Joe Satriani's stuff (which is entirely instrumental) because the guitar work there is phenomenal.

Second comes the vocal style (not the lyrics themselves). If a song has a vocal style (example: screamo and the group of 'X-core' genres in general) that I dislike, but otherwise has damn good music, I'll listen to it and enjoy it for that.

Third is the lyrics themselves. I listen to music for the music, rather than the message. I don't speak a word of german, but I think Rammstein are brilliant. I can't understand a word of melodic death metal, but there's some fantastic guitar-work in there.

Here's an example of descending order: My Chemical Romance. The music itself isn't actually half bad. There's a fair few decent riffs and some technically good work going on. However, I'm not hugely partial to the 'american pop-rock' vocal style, and the actual lyrics themselves are melodramatic to the point of silliness (and this is coming from a guy who likes power metal).

 

[Vicarious Reality]

Most commercial pop songs focus way too much on singing
If i can not listen to it without song i will probably not listen to it

 

[Ccx55]

I will always get "hooked" by good melody and vocals, but non-lyrical music has never given me chills before.

Lyrics is what keeps me coming back to a song long after its original charm wears off.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

I always listen to the instruments first, must be because I play an instrument, and if the instruments behind the vocals, if there are vocals to begin with, are not that great or are garbage then it's a pass to me.

It might explain why I'm so picky when it comes to music, I'm not a snob, but if it's not interesting then it's going to get ignored. Although, I've heard vocals that completely ruin a song for me.

Depends on what music I'm listening to...

If it's baroque, then I can draw my focus back and forth from soloist (instrumental or vocal), basso continuo and the harpsichord.

If it's electronic/remix, then I tend to concentrate on the melody (mostly) and the rhythm.

And rock, well, I'll listen to what I can hear, which is usually the instruments, though I do sing-along (or rather, mime-along) as I go and tap my foot to the drums while reading. (Reading and listening to music go hand in hand with me...)

Same for me with Baroque, my favorite, and music in general when I'm reading. I don't listen to rock when I'm reading because I tend to get distracted easily that way, but some electronic jazz and classical music are the norm for me when reading.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

I've played instruments of various types for 20 years or so (not that seriously though) and this has meant I always listen for cool instrumental work before vocals. My wife, on the other hand, is a singer and will listen to things that are instrumentally boring to me but have some amazing singing. I appreciate a good voice, whether it's classically trained or interestingly growled, but the vocals usually don't make the song for me.

 

[Zantos]

I tend to listen to everything as a whole, but playing instruments I do appreciate some good instrumental work. I listen to a fair amount of completely or mostly instrumental stuff. And a good solo always goes down well.

 

[shrekfan246]

Well, I like to consider vocals to be another instrumental tool to be used as a way to enhance an entire song. I focus pretty heavily on the actual instruments, and occasionally can overlook a poor vocalist if the instruments are good enough, but I don't usually separate the two in my mind (like most of my friends appear to...).

Lyrics, on the other hand, I usually need to look up because the only time I can really determine the lyrics in my head while I'm listening to the song is if I'm solely focused on listening to the song. And when I'm listening to music, I'm usually doing something else as well. There have been times where I was listening to music while reading a book and got so into reading the book that my mind completely blocked out four or five songs before realizing I was still listening to music.

 

[RanD00M]

With how much ambient and instrumental music I've recently started listening to, I have to say instruments as they make the music itself. For the most part singers don't use their voices as instruments like they should but rather use it as something to spice up the music.