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?