why do you like the music you like?

[Dominic]

I was having this discussion with my brother about the different kinds of music we like...and why we like it.

He really gets into lyrics...whether it's Dylan or Patty Smith or John Mellencamp or even Journey...he says it's usually the lyrics that hook him. The music itself - the sound - is usually secondary.

For me, it's the opposite. I like a great Springsteen lyric as much as the next guy, but I also love his music. The sound he makes. I don't dislike Dylan or Mellencamp, but the songs of theirs I do like it's because they hooked me with the music - not the words.

It's strange...one of my favorite groups is The Cars - and their lyrics are pure nonsense much of the time...but I listen to them because their sound is ear candy to me. I can't get enough of it.

It's why I don't like much rap or hip-hop. The songs I do like - California by Tupac, some Missy Elliot and Outkast - it's simply because it sounds great to me.

that's why I can like some pure pop songs that a lot of people won't because the lyrics are so bad...

On the other hand, sometimes the lyrics are so bad that it makes the song horrible to me, for some reason. Tim McGraw's Don't take the Girl is, IMO, the worst song ever recorded simply because the lyrics are so godawful and treacly. It makes me cringe...the sound of it, while not great, is certainly not horrible though.

Then there's the strange case of Sheryl Crow. I happen to like a lot of her stuff, however, her lyrics are often mystifying and complete gibberish. Sometimes it works, like in the stream of conscious ditty All I Want To Do. I also really like the song If it Makes You Happy, but the lyrics are often maddening:

I've been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos,
And drank til I was thirsty again

Huh?

I've noticed a lot of her lyrics are like this and for some reason it's made me like her a little less.

Anyway...why do you like the music you do? Lyrics? The sound it makes? Both together?

[Kimbell175113]

I am a lyrics man; for example I love Aimee Mann, and I hear people complain about the production on her albums but for me it's not a big deal.

There are always exceptions, though. I have been getting into Arcade Fire recently, and their lyrics are definitely below average in a few spots, but it's forgivable since everything else about their music is so effective.

So basically I agree with your OP and have nothing to add.

edit: obviously if any one aspect is really terrible then it ruins the whole thing, but that doesn't happen too often

[Dominic]

[ QUOTE ]
I am a lyrics man; for example I love Aimee Mann, and I hear people complain about the production on her albums but for me it's not a big deal.

There are always exceptions, though. I have been getting into Arcade Fire recently, and their lyrics are definitely below average in a few spots, but it's forgivable since everything else about their music is so effective.

So basically I agree with your OP and have nothing to add.

edit: obviously if any one aspect is really terrible then it ruins the whole thing, but that doesn't happen too often

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm...I'm a big Aimee Mann fan, too...and it's mostly 'cause of her lyrics...so I guess I AM like my brother sometimes...and I love the Arcade Fire and Tool...and couldn't tell you one line from one song...they just sound awesome.

[MrWookie]

I agree. I'm mostly a music man. If the music is good, the words can often be immaterial. There are a few exceptions, though. If the lyrics make me laugh, it can make a song that's ho-hum musically into one of my favorites. Take the old blues double entendre classic "My Handyman"

Whoever said a good man is hard to find
Positively absolutely sure was blind
I've found the best man there ever was
Here's just some of the things that my man does...

Why he shakes my ashes, greases my griddle
Chimes my butter and he strokes my fiddle
My man is such a handy man (oh yes he is)

He threads my needle, creams my wheat
Heats my heater and he chops my meat
My man is such a handy man

Now I don't care if you believe it or not
He's so good to have around
And when my furnace gets too hot
He's right there and turns my damper down

Great innuendo. Mostly, though, great lyrics are the gravy, not the meat.

[sards]

I agree with you, Dominic. To me, lyrics are secondary. If I want poetry, I'll read poetry. In fact, when I listen to music I rarely even pay attention to the lyrics. Sure, there are some songs in which the lyrics are prominent either for being terrible - I'm thinking of modern pop country music here - or for being good, but most of the time I consider the vocals just another instrument.

Also, I'm sort of a music snob in that I believe that I like music purely because it is objectively good; this means that I like certain stuff from virtually all music genres. I tend to look down a bit on some people because I think they listen to music for more superficial reasons: they listen to something because it's "cool," because it's associated with a particular subculture with which they identify, because it's perceived as culturally or socially relevant by critics and the cultural elite, etc. I realize that my snobbery isn't really justified, but that's the way I feel.

[daveT]

Nothing kills a song quicker than a good tune with bad lyrics, although it is always the music that catches my ear first. I have learned that I should just try to enjoy the music. But as a musician, I can't bring myself to stop trying to hear the lyrics. That is why I love certain bands, and throw out others that I used to like. It is a "song" not music. Call me pent up, but a good song needs good music and lyrics, it can't exist with one and not the other for me.

[thirddan]

i am a total sound person...i don't care what the lyrics are at all, as long as they sound good to me...this lets me listen to a lot of foreign language music as well...

i've tried to describe the kind of music i like to friends and can only use what i feel...for songs that i like i feel as though the sound fills the whole room i'm in...can't really describe it any other way...

for the most part i listen to all different types of heavy metal, including some more soft genres like symphonic metal or gothic metal...usually a metal band w/ a female lead singer and a backup male vocalist...bands like nightwish or epica are my favorites...if a song can get me to head bang or it makes me want to move around then i like it, even if th lyrics were just the same word repeated for 4 minutes...

this goes for all types of music i like, from the 4 seasons to opera to metal...

[jesusarenque]

The lyrics are far more important than the music.

[Pharcyde]

Some people might disagree with the fact that I consider Rap a genre of music, and that's cool. To tell you the truth, I actually understand where they're coming from. Let's face it, the vast majority of rappers and some producers don't even know the very basics of music theory. Although Soulja Boy can Superman that ho with the best of 'em, I'm pretty sure he'd get that deer-in-the-headlights look on his face if handed a sheet of music and asked to identify its key. But since Rap is widely accepted as a legitimate form of music, I continue to label it as such.

My love for Rap (yes, I love that [censored]) stems from my respect and admiration for some rappers' lyrical ability. And when I refer to lyrical ability, please don't assume that that is restricted solely to content. I fully concede that the content of most mainstream Rap lyrics can be summed up by the following list: bitches and/or hos, money, jewelry, guns, drugs, and braggadocio (forgive me if I've left anything out). I measure lyrical ability by things like the creative brilliance some rappers exhibit when referencing the aforementioned staples of the genre's content. For example:

I was the n*gga with the mask on
That would yak dudes for jewels.
Ain't gotta say it.
That dude's the truth.
Make me put that tool to use,
And these n*ggas'll be in the game shakin
Like Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.
-Joe Budden, "6 Minutes of Death"

I also take storytelling prowess, flow (defined by Wikipedia as "rap delivery... defined by prosody, cadence, and speed"), and content (when offered) into account when I try to gauge a rapper's lyrical ability.

Now don't get me wrong, I like a lot of Rap songs that have absolutely terrible lyrics. Cuz a hot beat and a decent hook make it pretty easy to ignore [censored] lyrics imo.

Sorry for writing an essay, but I felt like I needed a damn good explanation for why I like Rap considering I'm only the second person in this thread to mention it.

[Kimbell175113]

Good post, Pharcyde. One of things I like about rap (at least in theory) is that it takes lyrics seriously, more so than rock or pop or country usually do.

One thing that comes with my lyric-centric view is that I have an appreciation for a wide variety of styles and uses of lyrics. It's not as though I have a fixed idea of what "good lyrics" means, and I dismiss any song that doesn't qualify. When I hear a new song, I have an irresistible compulsion to memorize every word, and it forces me to get acquainted with a lot of different... I guess 'personalities' is the word I'm looking for. And when you pay that much attention to something, you can't help but start to feel a connection to the writer. It's a fun thing.

But whatever, I know I'm in the minority, and it's not as though I hate music for its own sake. I have nothing but love for the songs istewart mentioned. (And it's not as though The Decemberists don't know their way around a pen; I think I may have to fight you to have that song on my side of this dichotomy.)