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Do you care about lyrics?


RaiCoss

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I mostly listen to music for the melody and sounds, I don't really hear or read lyrics. I mean I'm kind of new to certain genres so when it comes to just really low growling, I can't really hear the lyrics yet. I mean I'm probably going to learn to hear the lyrics some day.

But then again when I can hear the lyrics I do pay attention to them. They're not the most important thing in a song for me, it's still more about what they sound like. Also I pay more attention to lyrics if they are in Finnish, then it just kind of sinks in. Like I understand English very well, but still when it comes to music I don't listen as well as when it comes to Finnish. If there's something weird in the lyrics in English or any other language, I just kind of ignore it, but in Finnish it's like wait what.

Honestly though, they still matter somewhat. Even if I wouldn't really listen to lyrics, I still wouldn't want to listen to, say, NSBM and other stuff like that. 

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  • 4 months later...

Personally, I enjoy lyrics because they add another dimension to the song. Also, it's always nice to hear the story behind the music. I just feel like  the purpose of the lyrics is just to pull you in more besides just the music...unless if the lyrics are crappy, then it's all music for me. The only bands I really focus on the lyrics are Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Megadeth, and Black Sabbath. To me, their lyrics actually means something.

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  • 2 months later...

it's depend's on band or what lyrical themes they bring. i am personally very taking seriously about lyrical when told about History,science,depression,darkness, and lyric were reflected my life..but \i don't taking so serious lyrical theme such like serial killer,mutilated,raped,etc yeah you know mostly that lyric just taken imaginary from lyricist

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Oh look! A zombie thread. Albeit a good one.

The obvious problem is that you have two elements colliding here. The lyrics and the song. The lyrics can be stupid as fuck without really taking much away from the song, as long as they are well sung. However, this doesn't work the other way around. No amount of text cleverness will help you if the song sounds like shit. 

Which leaves us with the obvious conclusion that form is more important than content.

Like I said to this friend of mine just the other day: "I'm willing to put up with a lot of weird shit in people's personality as long as it's a smart person. Less so if they are stupid." Meaning that if it sounds really good, you don't care so very much about the lyrics, do you? Songs about drinking, fighting and fucking is really all I myself want from my rock'n'roll ... but opinions differ. 

Generally speaking, it seems people get the overall better results when they write lyrics to fit the "money riff" rather than the other way around ... and to be honest, the better songs seem to be bordering the completely meaningless, in terms of "lyrical contents". Something that got improvised on the spot, to fit the rhythm and the melody, or whatever.

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On 1/27/2019 at 11:59 PM, MaxFaust said:

Oh look! A zombie thread. Albeit a good one.

The obvious problem is that you have two elements colliding here. The lyrics and the song. The lyrics can be stupid as fuck without really taking much away from the song, as long as they are well sung. However, this doesn't work the other way around. No amount of text cleverness will help you if the song sounds like shit. 

Which leaves us with the obvious conclusion that form is more important than content.

Like I said to this friend of mine just the other day: "I'm willing to put up with a lot of weird shit in people's personality as long as it's a smart person. Less so if they are stupid." Meaning that if it sounds really good, you don't care so very much about the lyrics, do you? Songs about drinking, fighting and fucking is really all I myself want from my rock'n'roll ... but opinions differ. 

Generally speaking, it seems people get the overall better results when they write lyrics to fit the "money riff" rather than the other way around ... and to be honest, the better songs seem to be bordering the completely meaningless, in terms of "lyrical contents". Something that got improvised on the spot, to fit the rhythm and the melody, or whatever.

This is interesting, especially the form/content distinction.  I think that generally people would agree that form is more important than content, but that conclusion is strained when especially extreme lyrical content is expressed in a song.  That is why so many people object to NSBM even though it typically is formally identical to most other Black Metal songs.

I agree that form is more important than content, but that conclusion nevertheless appears morally questionable in some instances.  I wonder, then, if art could legitimately be considered to be outside of morality.

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7 hours ago, Balor said:

many people object to NSBM

They do, because it's fucking stupid. These ridiculous nancy boys can take their nazi fantasies and stuff them up their poop shoot. WTF. Either they are real nazis, in which case they deserve a solid beating every day for the rest of their lives, or they're just common morons who think this is a valid way of making yourself interesting. Either way, I'm not gonna start crying when that nazi ass is getting kicked.

Creating art is a valid reason to break the normal rules for acceptable conduct and good taste. Morality isn't even an argument. However, this must not be confused for a free pass to be as stupid as you want, and get away with it. Nazi propaganda is not okay. Pretending to be into that stuff isn't cool. Nazis are no better than child molesters, when it comes to how much respect they deserve. Why even try to communicate? Better to just punch them on the nose without any further ado. 

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54 minutes ago, MaxFaust said:

They do, because it's fucking stupid. These ridiculous nancy boys can take their nazi fantasies and stuff them up their poop shoot. WTF. Either they are real nazis, in which case they deserve a solid beating every day for the rest of their lives, or they're just common morons who think this is a valid way of making yourself interesting. Either way, I'm not gonna start crying when that nazi ass is getting kicked.

Creating art is a valid reason to break the normal rules for acceptable conduct and good taste. Morality isn't even an argument. However, this must not be confused for a free pass to be as stupid as you want, and get away with it. Nazi propaganda is not okay. Pretending to be into that stuff isn't cool. Nazis are no better than child molesters, when it comes to how much respect they deserve. Why even try to communicate? Better to just punch them on the nose without any further ado. 

If this is the case, then wouldn't it be fairer to say that content matters just as much as form from the perspective of critical analysis?

If sending a stupid message is grounds to disregard a particular piece of music, then the message must be acknowledged before one can decide if the music is good or not.  What about bands that never release their lyrics?  This appears paradoxical.

Or are you saying that form is still more important than content, but that content is nevertheless valid grounds for criticism?  I tend to agree with this statement.

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9 hours ago, Balor said:

This is interesting, especially the form/content distinction.  I think that generally people would agree that form is more important than content, but that conclusion is strained when especially extreme lyrical content is expressed in a song.  That is why so many people object to NSBM even though it typically is formally identical to most other Black Metal songs.

I agree that form is more important than content, but that conclusion nevertheless appears morally questionable in some instances.  I wonder, then, if art could legitimately be considered to be outside of morality.

What one considers art is very personal also.

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8 minutes ago, Natassja said:

What one considers art is very personal also.

That is an interesting point.  I suppose that rather than moralizing art, one could instead simply consider immoral things to not be within the realm of art at all.  That way, one could still insist that art is free expression without the worry that evil people might abuse such license.

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10 minutes ago, Balor said:

That is an interesting point.  I suppose that rather than moralizing art, one could instead simply consider immoral things to not be within the realm of art at all.  That way, one could still insist that art is free expression without the worry that evil people might abuse such license.

True. Opens up a whole can of worms.

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  • 2 months later...

For me, I think that lyrical content is very important, perhaps as important as the way it is preformed. Lyrics are a representation of the kind of tone or mindset the artists themselves are aiming for (audience wise) and they (the lyrics) can also serve as a reference point to encourage the listeners to seek out similar bodies of work, as well as encouraging the listener to try to find out more about the source material and inspiration behind the concepts. To give the listeners something to think about, or at the very least, to convey stories or statements. It enhances the experience.

I`m not saying all songs are built to provoke thought or articulate statements, but I do think that sometimes good lyrics have an equal impact as the music itself. A person is more likely to pay closer attention to something that resonates with them.

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It depends on the music. Like most people these days I listen to a variety of stuff, and lyrics can be the most important thing for me in some contexts or almost irrelevant in others. If I can barely hear what somebody's growling anyway it stands to reason that I'm going to care less than where a prominent clean vocal is concerned. Good lyrics will certainly add something regardless, though, and bad lyrics will always take something away; just a question of how much really.

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  • 5 months later...
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  • 6 months later...

IDC about the lyrics too. Add to that the fact that about 80% of the metal I listen to is in a language that I don't speak: Korpiklaani rarely sing in English, Thyrfing have just one song in English, Svartsot and Finntrol have NO songs in English, Pentagram/Mezarkabul sing entirely in Turkish, Rammstein have just one or two songs in English... The only bands I have singing in English are Satyricon, One Man Army and The Undead Quartet, Sirenia, Stratovarius and Darkseed. Oh, and Ravdina, whose most songs are English and one or two in Russian.

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  • 10 months later...

I don't care about lyrics. Right now I'm listening to Dimmu Borgir "Spiritual Black Dimensions" and Dimmu Borgir is well known for having some of the stupidest, most nonsensical lyrics in black metal in that they just string random words together in English that sound profound or spooky.

Although I know the lyrics of this album, I don't care that I do and I only know it because I read them at the time in my life when I was angsty and cared about lyrics & because I listened to this damn album so much when I was 17-20. I must admit though, after not having listened to it for over a decade, it's nice to go back and revisit it even if Dimmu Borgir is like the Metallica of black metal.

Even with other bands that I am really into, I do not know the lyrics to most of their songs because I refuse to sit there and read along while listening to the album. Emperor is an example of a band whose lyrics I barely know. I know the lyrics to maybe four of their cuts: Inno A Satana, I Am the Black Wizards, Elegy of Icaros, and With Strength I Burn.

Nokturnal Mortum, I know really like two songs worth of lyrics by them and unfortunately they aren't the ones that I really want to know (The ones that I wish I knew are the ones on Twilightfall, Lunar Poetry, and Goat Horns).

Burzum, I know Dunkelheit and War, that's it.

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  • 4 months later...

I think one of the best things about lyrics is how easily they divide people. Two people can listen to a song and get two totally different meanings from the same lyrics. It doesn't really matter who is right or who is wrong, it doesn't even matter if both sides are wrong and the writer wrote the song about cuddling kittens, the ability to divide with what is sometimes little effort if amazing.

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