Music, Lyrics or Vocals?

Which is the most important?

I'd like to say lyrics are the most important, but on more than one occasion I've stopped listening to an artist* because I can't stand his voice.

* Including Bob Dylan and Neil Young. God damn I hate their voices.

Lyrics > Music > Vocals in my opinion. Amazing ones of any of the three are awesome but if I had to rank em that'd be it. I'd rather listen to deep meaningful lyrics but there are some people who have great voices or the music is great and those can compensate for lack of something else.

music > vocals > lyrics


pretty lyrics are great and all, but if you put bad music on it or the singing isn't too great, it doesn't do the lyrics justice.


the most important part of a song is still the music (even though many times the lyrics are a base for the music). anyways, if it doesn't sound nice to the ears, then I don't even wanna know the lyrics, even if they are beautiful.

You should listen to some spoken-word poetry Evil. Better yet, look up an guy by the name of Sage Francis. I agree that if it's shit music or someone with a terrible voice then it really doesn't matter but lyrics make a good song a great song. Otherwise it's just a nice beat or good voice and sometimes that's enough but not usually for me.

lyrics do make a good song a great song. but you'd need a good song for that first.


hence music > lyrics



besides, spoken word is also good and all, but if I hate the guys voice, i'm not gonna keep listening for the lyrics. music should be about what you hear first and not what it's about..

If music does not evoke any emotion or connection then it fails. This is best done lyrically (not saying that it can't be done through instrumentals or a capellas). Would you rather listen to Lil' Wayne and his nasty beats but retarded rhyme schemes/lyrics, or would you rather listen to something with actual substance. Take pop music for example, sure it's catchy and most have great voices, but it's like the reality/celebrity shows of TV.

I guess it must be cause I'm a musician then, but I'd rather here something with a good tune, then good lyrics.

i get a lot more emotion out of a beautiful piece of music than I could possibly get from a beautifully written lyric.

I'll give an example:





listen to it unrelated to what you know about the story of the game, but that to me is a beautifully crafted piece of music, and it doesn't have any lyrics. that part starting at 2:46 gives me f-ing goosebumps, I've never ever had lyrics give me goosebumps cause they're so good. I get a lot of goosebumps just from listening to a tune.

another example, I dare you to not find any emotion in it:




that music does things to me a lyric never could.


EDIT:

I'll add a third one with good lyrics and tune:




beautiful, beautiful song, but the first thing i hear is the beatiful singing and the guitar play and then I hear the lyrics. you could replace the entire lyric with "blablabla" and I'd still think it's beautiful.

Music > Vocals > Lyrics.

However I absolutely hate it when people just sing noises instead of words. The la-la-la verse is the bane of many a good song.

Music>Vocals>Lyrics

Thats not to say that i think vocals are all that important, but i think good music can make any vocals go with it. Remember that darkness song that was horrendous vocals was still popular though.

Lyrics have to be really bad for me to hate a song for them, but even then its more likely to make me hate the artist then the song if the music was good. Plus i can ignore lyrics.

Even though this topic is completely subjective, you are all wrong. MAybe I'm just way too sophisticated.

HBO's Sex Slave wrote:

Even though this topic is completely subjective, you are all wrong. MAybe I'm just way too sophisticated.

You listen to rap which is much more about the lyrics than anything else so your viewpoint is understandable. For just about any other genre music > vocals > lyrics is simply the way it is - people listen to music with lyrics in languages they don't understand or with no vocals at all and enjoy it just as much as anything else.

Eevil-Psycho wrote:

I guess it must be cause I'm a musician then, but I'd rather here something with a good tune, then good lyrics.

i get a lot more emotion out of a beautiful piece of music than I could possibly get from a beautifully written lyric.

I'll give an example:


*Video*


listen to it unrelated to what you know about the story of the game, but that to me is a beautifully crafted piece of music, and it doesn't have any lyrics. that part starting at 2:46 gives me f-ing goosebumps, I've never ever had lyrics give me goosebumps cause they're so good. I get a lot of goosebumps just from listening to a tune.

another example, I dare you to not find any emotion in it:

*Video*


that music does things to me a lyric never could.


EDIT:

I'll add a third one with good lyrics and tune:

*Video*


beautiful, beautiful song, but the first thing i hear is the beatiful singing and the guitar play and then I hear the lyrics. you could replace the entire lyric with "blablabla" and I'd still think it's beautiful.

Does this give you goosebumps?



Because I get goosebumps every time I hear it.

Also, Music>Vocals>Lyrics

I'm gonna be a copout and say they're all equally important. Yeah, I know:



Really though, you need a balance between the three of them to make a song worth listening to. If any one of them is weak, then the song just isn't going to be as good, you need that equilibrium.

Yea I see the point of Music>lyrics but for me 9/10 me liking an artist/band comes down to lyrical. I can still appreciate good music don't get me wrong. I actually play music though I could never get into guitar like everyone else.

I think this question can only be answered on a case by case basis. Sometimes bad instrumentation, vocals or lyrics will get to me and sometimes it just won't.

For me, it's gonna be Music>Vocals>Lyrics. But that's probably because I always listen to IDM, which usually has no vocals or lyrics, with the exception of some mild sampling.

Rockstar_Trevor wrote:

Does this give you goosebumps?

*video*

Because I get goosebumps every time I hear it.

Also, Music>Vocals>Lyrics

good song, but no it doesn't

I gotta admit i thought nonny had stopped being cool but then he posted at the exact time as me and basically said the same thing, so i guess he still is.

Skip wrote:

I'm gonna be a copout and say they're all equally important. Yeah, I know:



Really though, you need a balance between the three of them to make a song worth listening to. If any one of them is weak, then the song just isn't going to be as good, you need that equilibrium.

To quote Zero:

Quote :

You're wrong. You're opinion is wrong and you should feel bad.

Music > Vocals > Lyrics

I listen to Killswitch Engage, so I can't be too picky about lyrics. Vocalizing is just rubbish. That's probably why I don't like modern pop musicians too much.

Music > Vocals > Lyrics.

Most of the time for me anyway. Like this for instance, who gives a shit what they're talking about? It's catchy and I like how it sounds.

I honestly prefer music on its own if forced to choose, though I don't mind lyrics and vocals thrown on if given the choice of all three.
But just one of the three?
Music all the way.
I prefer the sound of instruments alone because of how I can envision and imagine more when I'm writing, reading, playing games, or just chilling like a motherfucker.