How much do you care about the lyrics?

26 comments

1. A lot.

   The lyrics tell a story.

2. I don’t care at all the voice is another instrument as far as I’m concerned

3. I pay attention to lyrics way more than I used to back in the day.

4. Lyrics are primary, voice/ melody are worthless without a story (unless it is jazz)!

5. Lyrics and the sound go hand in hand it has to sound good but you don’t want to search up the lyrics and find out that it’s a song about a magical unicorn and their fairy friend

6. I pretty much only listen to singer songwriter stuff now, so pretty damn important.

7. Less than I care about melody.

   I might respect a song with excellent lyrics, and sounds awful, but I’ll listen to it far less than a song with generic lyrics which sounds good.

   That being said it is a real treat when you find a song with both.

8. I care that it’s there, because voice is an instrument in its own right and adds a lot to a song. In some subgenres of metal for example switching from harsh vocals in verses to cleans in a chorus creates a good dynamic. I absolutely don’t care about what it says though, songwriters are generally just really bad writers, it’s actually pathetic most of the time, and you only find yourself humming to the lyrics if they hit a good spot musically. It’s even less of a problem in certain metal subgenres involving fry screaming since you couldn’t tell what they’re saying even if you tried.

   Of course it’s better if it’s at least grammatically correct and makes some sort of sense, but I wouldn’t try too hard to go beyond that (and those who do usually end up writing nonsensical dictionary entries anyway, especially in prog metal), the most important part is that the music hits the right beats emotionnally, and vocals should just strive to achieve that the same way other instruments do. Song lyrics aren’t about the meaning as much as they’re about the feeling

9. A fair amount. It can’t just be a jumbled up bunch of words or something pertaining to some niche scenario (aka panic at the disco). If it repeats a line more than 3 times then I’m out bc that’s just lazy asf.

10. Hardly. 60% of my music has no lyrics, 20% has lyrics but with few verses, background vocals that that add ambience but barely audible or shitty repeated lyrics that make no sense, 20% Actual songs with decent lyrics.

    I’m more of a rhythm, melodies & instrumentals guy. If a song just so happens to have decent lyrics as well, that’s great too but not a must to go on my playlist.

11. To me it’s: sound first, lyrics second. That being said, just go try and write stuff down. If you like it, keep it. If you don’t like it, throw it away. Making music is about experimenting and trying out new stuff. Just remember that your lyrics probably aren’t as bad as Kiss lyrics

12. Lyrics are the most important part of music to me. It’s what drew me into punk music and hip hop. In punk they may not be the best musicians or able to afford a decent recording, but a strong message in the lyrics and the emotion they are deliver with will override all that. Hip hop is amazing story telling, I’m a white suburban male but I have learned a lot about how a different part of society lives through their music, I tend to stay away from most of the mainstream artists as the story telling seems lost in the mainstream, but there’s still plenty of artists with great storytelling out there.

13. When I need a moment for myself

14. I’ve been listening to Yes and 70s-era Genesis since I was old enough to drop a needle. I still don’t know what they’re singing about.

15. They are as important as anything else, but that might have to do with the fact that I’ve been making music in the past myself. Musicians pay more attention. Most people don’t realky care about lyrics or melody, they only pay attention to the groove/beat.

16. If the sound alone is good, you don’t need lyrics all.
    Cringy/toxic lyrics can be worse than no lyrics.
    To make a truly great, remembered for a generation song, you need both lyrics and sound.
    You can get away with alot when it comes to lyrics and still have a ‘good’ song.

17. Metal

18. I listen to a lot of prog/melodic death metal like Insomnium and Wintersun. The vocals frequently aren’t the focus of the song like they often are in other genres, but they do give the song a much better ability to tell a story or drive an emotion that you can’t get with just an instrumental piece.

19. They’re the whole point.

20. Very important. For example, people who don’t understand Rammstein’s lyrics miss out on half the fun.

21. It *really* depends for me, and it seems there’s no rhyme or reason. I think lyrics are the most important part of a song, personally, but there are also songs that I *adore* that have really repetitive lyrics or are too loud/fast for me to hear them.

    Feel free to drop a link man, I’m glad to give you feedback.

22. if the lyrics are stupid, that’s a no from me no matter how good the song is. i just can’t deal with stupid.

23. I care about them a lot. I read every lyrics and try to find out meaning . I maybe weirdo but I relate myself to some of lyrics and start to fall in love with song

24. It depends on the music. Typically the heavier it is the less the lyrics matter. I mostly listen to rap and to me it’s just a poem that someone reads to me. At that point it’s all about the lyrics and delivery rather than the melody.

25. I usually don’t pay that much attention to them, but every now and then they peak my interest. It certainly won’t be the main factor in determining whether or not I like a song though; that is all up to the sounds/melody.

26. Depend on my mood . if I’m sad I listen to the lyrics if I’m ok I don’t put as much focus on the lyrics.
    Some one once said when you’re find you hear the lyrics but when you’re sad you understand the lyrics .