When you...

[cliffbass]

listen to a musical piece. You give more emphasize at words or music?
I always listened to music.Unfortunately today most youngsters give more meaning to words than music.I think thats the reason why pop, hip-hop, rap, is so popular. However other genres are left behind like heavy metal,hard rock,techno etc. Most of the people nowadadys whispering or singing to words not the rythm.I am sure that they can't even hear a instrumental piece.Unlike me i give more fact to music,whispering the rythm,feel the substance.I'm proude about my self and shamed for the others.Hope you understood me.

Please post your feed back

[nutso42]

I listen to both. When I first hear a song, the music is 100% what makes the song for me. But after I've gotten the melody well into my head, I instinctively gravitate towards the lyrics.

[RWP]

Always music first with me. Sometimes I don't even notice the words. My wife and daughter are the exact opposite.

[cliffbass]

Originally Posted by RWP

Always music first with me. Sometimes I don't even notice the words. My wife and daughter are the exact opposite.

yeah damn ...

[Kwesi]

Me and a few friends were talking about this the other day. I agree that the most important part of music is well... the music. When I listen to music vocals definitely contribute to the music but too me it doesn't matter what they say as long as I enjoy what I'm listening to. If I really paid attention to the lyrics then I wouldn't be able to listen to a lot of the music I do because the word would either not make sense or sound very "socially unacceptable" (whatever that means ).

I think that people do listen to music for the words now more than ever. I think a good example of that is if you compare gospel rap to the stuff you see on MTV. If you take away the vocals from both, they'd sound very similar but one generates so much more revenue than the other and, to a degree, I think the words contribute to that difference.

However, I disagree that that is why popular music today is popular. I think it's popular because it's simple. You don't have to be any sort of deep appreciation for music to enjoy what you see on TV and hear on the radio. It's straight forward and easy to understand (lyrics help with that). Complexity and lack of any sort of lyrical messages is what makes some of the stuff that I like so much less enjoyable to others. When you take away things that make music easy to relate to (lyrics) and instead add things to make the music itself more interesting you lose a lot of people because they're listening for words not music. They're not expecting the music to deliver what they what so they can't enjoy it as much.

As musicians, we can because we know what goes into creating it and many layers that the music has.

[jchrisk1]

Always the music. I listen to the vocal expression, but never the words themselves. The only time I listen to the words is when someone says,"did you hear what he/she said" and rewinds it for me to listen to. And it is still hard for me to focus on the words. I just pay more attention to the musicality of the vocalist than what they have to say.

[cliffbass]

Originally Posted by Kwesi

Me and a few friends were talking about this the other day. I agree that the most important part of music is well... the music. When I listen to music vocals definitely contribute to the music but too me it doesn't matter what they say as long as I enjoy what I'm listening to. If I really paid attention to the lyrics then I wouldn't be able to listen to a lot of the music I do because the word would either not make sense or sound very "socially unacceptable" (whatever that means ).

I think that people do listen to music for the words now more than ever. I think a good example of that is if you compare gospel rap to the stuff you see on MTV. If you take away the vocals from both, they'd sound very similar but one generates so much more revenue than the other and, to a degree, I think the words contribute to that difference.

However, I disagree that that is why popular music today is popular. I think it's popular because it's simple. You don't have to be any sort of deep appreciation for music to enjoy what you see on TV and hear on the radio. It's straight forward and easy to understand (lyrics help with that). Complexity and lack of any sort of lyrical messages is what makes some of the stuff that I like so much less enjoyable to others. When you take away things that make music easy to relate to (lyrics) and instead add things to make the music itself more interesting you lose a lot of people because they're listening for words not music. They're not expecting the music to deliver what they what so they can't enjoy it as much.

As musicians, we can because we know what goes into creating it and many layers that the music has.

Yes we as musicians know what goes into creating it and many layers that the music has /agree. So the main problem is that we understand the music (musicians)and those who don't probably get what they want from the lyrics.I think that the reason of this is the education system.Here in high school no music lessons delivered.But if yes most of the student will not pay attention. but lets forgot about this. I remember when i was a child i still was giving more matter towards music.So should i consider this as gift?

[cliffbass]

Originally Posted by jchrisk1

Always the music. I listen to the vocal expression, but never the words themselves. The only time I listen to the words is when someone says,"did you hear what he/she said" and rewinds it for me to listen to. And it is still hard for me to focus on the words. I just pay more attention to the musicality of the vocalist than what they have to say.

Yes me too i don't care what they have to say.If the vocals matches with the songs patterns then the song becomes awesome.But i don't like to much bla bla bla.Thats why i prefer metallica instead of megadeth songs you know music is good but words expressions doesn't match (megadeth).Take example creeping death from metallica the part that james says Die Die Die with that awesome expression makes that part better than it is

[tplyons]

Depends on the mix... there's some music out there you just can't hear the music over the vocals... and there is some music where you can't understand the lyrics because the singer has his/her mouth full of marbles. It's very dependent on the piece.

[jmattbassplaya]

Depends on the artist and how they mix their music and individual songs.

[becker4567]

Music always. Once you start listening to the lyrics, you find out how incompetent some 'music' writers are.

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Reminded me of a similar thread I created some time ago:

How important is language for you to dig a song?

[daystcity]

A lot of times the lyrics can by rythmic and add to the groove, that's mainly when I think about them. On Brand New's The Devil and God are Raging Inside me, I find myself paying attention to the lyrics because they have a purpose. Other than that it's pretty much music for me!

[Bassic83]

I always key in on the rhythm section, first and foremost. Then the keyboards. Then the guitar, sax, or whatever soloists. Last is the vocals, and if I don't like the voice, I don't hear the words. I guess that explains why I can't remember words to songs worth a crap...

[KingOvHell]

It depends on who i am listening to. Someone like Bob Dylan i will always listen to the lyrics.

[Jeff K]

Before I started actually playing an instrument, I was a lyrics freak. Of course I listened to the music as well, but if I liked a song, I habitually memorized the lyrics.

Once I started playing, I'd concentrate more on the chord progressions. To this day, there are certain songs that we play that I don't always know all of the lyrics.

[your idol]

some of my favorite CDs..and i mean favorite over a decade plus, i know all the words to em but i also know every riff and drum break and fill and every silent count until the music comes in on the disc and i dont even know what the tracks are named.

if its good and you are musician you just cant help but get into it. listening to lyrics are important especially when sighting heavier music. a good musician with use trigger words or points of emotional content to know when to dig in or back off.

i think of lyrics as just a bunch of words strung together and i feel as a bassist its my job to add the rhythm and syncopation to the words and most importantly the punctuation.

(this is an opinion and a reference point in my mind) i think a band/album that does this perfectly is Deftones Adrenaline. its full of points where the music is doing all of the talking and letting you know what emotions are trying to be conveyed just by how the music is being played.

alot of albums now dont have that focus, its all about consistant clairity but truth is it sounds like someone recorded 10 seconds of music and looped it for 3 minutes and called it a song. its sterile and radio friendly but theres plenty of people in the music world smell it out for what it is. show me one of your favorite musicians who have nickleback on their ipod and ill eat it

[P. Aaron]

I gotta like the lyrics before I can really like a song.

[JTE]

It's the SONG for me. That means the lyrics, the melody, the harmony, and the rhythmic structure. The arrangement, bassline, vocal perfirmance, guitar solo, etc. are NOT the song. That's why while I think "Stairway to Heaven" is a great record, it' a terrble song. That's primarily because the lyrics are awful and banal. Make's Yes' lyrics almost kinda make sense. It's a toss-up between "... to be a rock and not to roll" or "I'll be the sky your way" for pretentious silliness pretending to be "poetic".

John

[cliffbass]

hmmm more?