Fun Stuff > BAND
Lyrics or no?
IronOxide:
Lyrics often come on the second or third listening for me, but they serve pretty great purpose in the music. Lyrics without singing can be very poetic and powerful (Slint, "The Gift", and Phil Ochs's "Talking _____" songs), while other people can just turn their voice into an instrument (Aforementioned Sigur Ros, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Steve Reich). Neither is particularly better than the other, they just provide different ways for the artist to emote or storytell onstage.
EDIT: That was really 2000? I kind of blew that.
Rawrbiquesauce:
--- Quote from: IronOxide on 10 Nov 2007, 23:30 ---Lyrics often come on the second or third listening for me, but they serve pretty great purpose in the music. Lyrics without singing can be very poetic and powerful (Slint, "The Gift", and Phil Ochs's "Talking _____" songs), while other people can just turn their voice into an instrument (Aforementioned Sigur Ros, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Steve Reich). Neither is particularly better than the other, they just provide different ways for the artist to emote or storytell onstage.
EDIT: That was really 2000? I kind of blew that.
--- End quote ---
you know, you could bribe me and edit your poast to a more epic one. no one would need to know...
Thrillho:
--- Quote from: Rawrbiquesauce on 10 Nov 2007, 22:56 ---where do bands like interpol or cake fit in on this equation? monotone(ish) vocals dont make for the best instruments, but i still enjoy the music, even if im not listening to lyrics
--- End quote ---
With Interpol it just becomes a drone. Plenty of bands use drones; although he has been getting better, on the last album there's much more melody. But for me Interpol have always been much more about the music.
Johnny C:
Interpol were better when the vocals were droned.
SleeperCylon:
The way I see it, the instruments and the melody are the first determiner of how good a song is, and great lyrics are a bonus.
Of course, sometimes when I learn what the lyrics are it makes the album less enjoyable because you start focusing on the lyrics instead of the sound. I had this experience with Jens Lekman. I saw him in concert, and many times he would preamble his songs with an explanation of the lyrics. So now when I hear "I'll be your boyfriend so you can keep seeing your girlfriend", I'm not focusing on the great melody. I'm focusing on the cuteness of the story.
But there's also the other side, like The National. If the lyrics were anything other than "Stay inside till somebody finds us, do whatever the TV tells us..." the song would be less enjoyable.
A lot of artists, of course, use the lyrics to show off how weird they think they are. People such as Brian Eno, Scott Walker, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart. It's almost impossible to imagine how you might listen to their music if the lyrics weren't so odd.
(Just try listening to 'We're Only In It For The Money' with different lyrics and say it's the same music!)
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