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Sigvatr

Do you care about the lyrics in music?

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I got into an argument with someone about this the other day when I was at work. I work night shifts at the gas station closest to the city center in Brisbane, which means I get to meet a lot of weirdos and serial killers who are usually drunk or fucked up.

Anyway, this one guy wanted to talk to me about music in general. He was into this punky sort of stuff in general and seemed to have a lot of opinions about the importance of music, especially in regards to culture and society and the effects that it has on them.

Me, on the other hand, consider music from a completely hedonistic point of view. If it sounds good and makes me feel good, I like it. Even if the lyrics are about something I am not in tune with.

So he pretty much asserted that, "You wouldn't listen to a Nazi band or anything, you know." Maybe he is one of those guys that thinks that the lyrics in music have subtle influences on the listener (which I don't think is necessarily the case), but I simply told him that I probably would listen to a Nazi band if the music was good. This disgusted him, and we didn't talk much longer until he left.

And quite frankly, I would. I've listened to bands that go beyond simply touching on violence and hatred to actually endorsing them. But I don't care. I haven't gone out to kill anyone, or feel like killing anyone, or even having malignant feelings towards anyone in particular. I just don't care about lyrics I suppose.

Maybe music played backwards is messages from Satan, but who gives a shit if it sounds good? This crap about "subtle influences in music" is complete garbage. Frankly, most people don't even find vocals in any kind of music to be particularly intelligible, or even understand them. It's like saying that looking at some wallpaper will have a subtle influence on you. It won't. Your mind doesn't even know how to comprehend it or approach it.

Hail Satan.

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Heh. Nazi bands.



Catchy song. That aside, I usually tune out the lyrics in music I'm listening to. This leads to embarrassing situations where I don't know the lyrics to songs I listen to all the time. I don't cure much.

Clearly the people commenting on the video above, and one ones like it, seem to care a lot about lyrics and symbols. YouTube is full of nazis. :/

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Even as a kid, I found music lyrics to be immature, to the point that I often listened to english songs rather than stuff in my own language, as I couldn't understand it and could just enjoy the way it sounds.

Looking for cultural significance in music lyrics is to me very much like playing first person shooters to stand still and look at the environments ; missing the forest for the trees.

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I'm with you, Sigvatr. Beyond your points, a lot of times the lyrics are fictional - the musician himself doesn't actually endorse them, their music is within a certain milieu, etc. Not every metal band is sacrificing goats to Satan and raping nuns if they sing about it, because they're operating within subgenre expectations.

Case in point, last year I went to a Skeletonwitch concert (any fans out there?), and talked to the guys after the show. If anything, they were MORE friendly than average, extremely gracious and humble. If you based your expectation of their behavior on their lyrics, you'd expect them to tell you to fuck off, maybe stab you in the face for approaching them. Their lyrics are just part of the fantasy.

Someone, I think Frank Zappa, said something along these lines about music influencing violence: "Do you know how many love songs there are? If music affected how we act, we'd all love each other." Paraphrasing, but close enough.

Eminem: "A lot of people think that...if I say that I'm gonna kill somebody that I'm actually gonna do it, or that I believe in it. Shit, if you believe that, then I'll kill YOU."

People who think music is warping us are just like (and often overlap with) the anti-video game zealots. Like we've just got a switch in our brains that will turn us into murderers if we hear the right sequence of words or see a certain set of images. Ridiculous. Hail Satan!

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I think it just depends greatly on the listener - their intentions as well as what they find meaningful.

In some music I find the lyrics are very meaningful, a good example being the old song Cold Missouri Waters. It's a story about the crew leader of a group of smoke jumpers. They had to escape the fire which got out of hand, and the crew leader decided instead of running he was going to burn out a big patch of grass and lay down in his fire shelter. The others thought he was crazy and kept running, and almost all of them died in the fire.

Since I first heard this song while taking a class on wildland fire fighting, it really hit home. I had been learning all about avoiding disaster in these kinds of situations and already knew the true story of this man. I learned the song and it gives me goosebumps whenever I play it.

On the other hand, there's plenty of music where I don't give a shit about the lyrics. Take for example, absolutely anything by The Mars Volta. Cedric is constantly making up words and twisting his phrases in as many ways as possible to make them completely incoherent. I love their music and his singing is a vital part of the band, but I rarely try to read into his lyrics very far.

Like you Sigvatr, I find I can listen to music that has a message I don't like. This happens a lot with rap...although there is a lot of rap that ISN'T just about bitches and money (well known stuff too, Eminem happens to be one of the most meaningful lyricists I know of in this genre...it's funny that people think he's so offensive when actually he raps honestly about real life much more than some of those other guys). But yeah, if some guy is rapping only about getting pussy and making bills, I can sort of take it with a grain of salt.

So I guess it depends on a lot of factors. Some listeners jive with a certain topic while others do not - but also some lyricists try to tell a meaningful story while others use vocals more like another instrument. A good example of this would be Sigur Ros, who released an album (or more?) where all the vocals were composed of a handful of nonsense syllables that they liked singing :D

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lyrics in popular music are utter garbage, i always cringe when i focus and realize what the radio is hammering into my brain. a lot of my favourite music is purely instrumental, so lyrics are optional for me anyways, however they can be awesome.

i grew up on nick cave's songs, no one compares to his dark genius. i consider tori amos and beth gibbons great lyricists and it's always fun to listen to anathema telling me i'm a worthless alcoholic. whenever godspeed you black emperor uses a vocal part, it's mesmerizing. and one can always go to sigur ros or cocteau twins and their invented bullshit languages.

re: nazi music.. well, more like aryan pride music



this is hilarious. if laibach sang it, i'd immediatelly consider it a parody, but the guys mean it.

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I barely even notice lyrics in most cases. I kind of filter them out.

Possessing musical talent doesn't imply an ability to convey any meaningful message, or even to make sense at all.

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According to the higher art people, whatever you want to call them, you should not only find the meaning of a work, but appreciate it for its artistic value whether you agree with what it says or not, like atheists appreciating Christian works and vice versa.

Speaking of Nazis

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Well, Nazis are the one thing that brings us all together. No matter your race, religion, social status, most people are raised to hate the Nazis. As time goes on and the old folks die off though, we'll see less of this, and now we're in the phase where we'll make jokes about it, since our parents tell us about it but it's not so relevant to us.

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I believe it can influence your attitude, emotions, and what you dream about at night.

But I think much of that will depend on what your head is already filled with?

There are plenty of songs that I'll listen to but don't agree with the lyrics because the beat is just so damn rockin'!

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I care about the lyrics if I can understand them. If I can't, I don't give a damn. Lyrics can both make and ruin a song for me, depending on what kind of images they create.

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Aliotroph? said:

Die Fahne Hoch

I don't know what they're singing but I love that song! The first time I've listened it was in Wolf3D <3...

I usually pay attention to lyrics and I can say that some have, in fact, influenced me, even if subconsciously (-- does that word exist? --). Things like "...Never give your trust away, you'll end up paying 'till yout dying day" or "With all the money in the world you can't buy my respect!" or "Take a look to the sky just before you die; it's the last time you will!".

But of course, that doesn't mean I don't like silly stuff like, say, "Woah black Betty bam-ma-lam"...

So, bottom line, at the same time I care and don't care about lyrics :P

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Well, the songs I listen I do really cares about the lyrics, same as the MV. Sometimes I will watch MV of English songs(But seldom), but usually I will watch MV and songs sung by Taiwan singers(Singers in Mainland China are totally crap). As for Cantonese songs, I do the same since there's chinese lyrics lol. Bad lyrics leads the song become a shit.

Here's one example, one of the chinese(or Taiwan) song which I like most since the lyrics are nice and beauitful, sung by Sarah Chen:



Song name: Is it right if I love you using this method(Oh my English sucks)

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Eh... My views on lyrics are kind of complicated. I do think lyrics are important, but it doesn't necessarily matter to me if I agree with them or not. On the other hand, poorly written lyrics can utterly ruin a song for me. Basically, it comes down to whether or not it seems as if any intelligence or creativity went into writing the song. There are times when terrible lyrics can cause me to utterly hate an otherwise mediocre song.

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It's more the sound of it for me, particularly as I tend to mis-hear lyrics anyway and rarely have much idea of what a song is actually about. Shit lyrics only bother me when they're really easy to understand (see: Rebecca Black) and I don't like the song much anyway.

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I won't refuse to listen to a piece of music just because the lyrics or theme seem contrary to my values, but I do 'care' about lyrics in most cases. I listen to a lot of songs for the wordplay, humour, or cleverness present in the lyrics, rather than for the music itself.

Likewise, a song with overly melodramatic whining or miscarried attempts at poetry will irritate me, but probably not to the point that I'd quit listening if the music itself is enjoyable.

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Since a lot of the music I listen to has distorted vocals, I can say I am able to listen to music with lyrics I don't care about. I even listen to music in different languages. One thing I love about music is that listening to it can be approached in many different ways. You can listen to all the instruments together, or single out one instrument and listen to that. This gives music a 'replay' value as each listen can be different.

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Some songs have a lyric that is meant to be listened to. Some songs have a lyric that has a meaning. Some songs with meaning can be about something that I care about and some may be irrelevant to me. Some songs have a completely meaningless or utterly trite lyric. Some songs have a lyric that is little more than an additional instrument on the track that just happens to have words. etc etc etc

There is no one answer to this question for me. Sometimes I care, sometimes I don't and there are many shades of caring between.

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Lyrics matter sometimes. I listen to a lot of grindcore bands such as Agoraphobic Nosebleed and even when looking up the lyrics it's difficult to make out the words and even upon reading them it's hard to even determine what the song is even about. It's mostly a bunch of sentences you would say to someone if you were really really pissed off, which seems akin to the angry sound of the music it accompanies.

I've also listened to bands such as Watchmaker, which have a vocalist but doesn't actually say any words. Just abysmal screaming and angry sounds.

However I do listen to a lot of bands with really controversial political and moral messages that I find really interesting. Chokehold's music has extremely an extremely left wing point of view, that I agree with and disagree with at times, I still think it's awesome to use music as an approach to delivering a message most people wouldn't hear elsewhere.

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j4rio said:

friday friday

we we we so excited



monday monday

just gotta lo-uhve mu--nday

Almost forgot my other favorite set of lyrics:

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I generally avoid music that has lyrics. One big exception is Rush, because their old stuff is totally epic (Caress of Steel, Fly by Night, Farewell to Kings, 2112, Hemispheres).

Oddly enough, I don't mind lyrics (esp. beautiful ones) when I can't understand them. :)
For example:
Anuradha Paudwal - [Kagaz Ki Kashti Barish Ka Paani] - Jis Din Se Juda Wo Humse Hue

Edit: I can't find that song online, but this is similar (though not nearly as good):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65nmlxkvJoE

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Clonehunter said:

Almost forgot my other favorite set of lyrics:


Blue is my corvette, it's IN and OUTSIDE?!?!? Who wrote these subtitles?

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I think it's obvious nobody cares about lyrics in popular music, since it's all the same shitty song about "love" or partying or some generic overly sexualized nonsense.

Music is more important than what the vocalist has to say, despite what the mainstream industry and its blind followers think, but lyrics that actually mean something and sound like some actual thought and IQ were put behind them is certainly a nice thing.

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I like the lyrics of songs if they have some sort of meaning that was actually thought out well, but the lyrics for most popular music are just uncreative shit.

I generally listen to foreign music, Rammstein, Eisbrecher, Megaherz, and other German bands being my favorite. I'm tired of people getting weirded out when I mention that, because none of them have lyrics that are even slightly Nazi/Pro-Aryan. I just like the vocals.

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I generally don't care much about lyrics. A lot of the music I listen to is instrumental or light on lyrics (jazz, classical, VGM, prog rock, experimental industrial, etc.). However, good lyrics can make a song better and bad lyrics can really bring a song down.

Luckily, most good musicians can think up some clever wordplay and most bad lyricists are also bad musicians. I think the best example of this is rap. Bad rap (pretty much everything played on the radio in the last 15-20 years) is pretty much just lyrics about slapping women, killing people, and collecting bling (like a GTA game!) with some shitty repetitive looped sample and beat. Meanwhile, good rap has intelligent lyrics but is usually backed by awesome turntable action, infused with jazz, or mixed with more melodic tunes to make some pretty good music.

Still, there have been some perfectly good songs ruined by horrible lyrics, and some really bad songs with awesome lyrics, but these tend to be few and far between.

Then there is music with total gibberish lyrics which still remains awesome. Coil did this a lot, for example. You can basically just make up the meaning of the "words" in the song to fit your interpretation of the song, and it works pretty well.

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For me, lyrics are one of several factors that I judge a song or an artist on. Sometimes a band's vocals and instrumentals somewhat suck, but the lyrics to at least some of their songs make me like them.

As for their meanings:

I'm not a skinhead, but I like some hatecore music.

I'm not religious, but I like some Christian metal bands (the lyrics are all epic heaven and hell stuff / empowerment / whatever regardless of who it is anyway).

I'm definitely not a CT nut, but Sons of Liberty is a big improvement compared to the last four albums Jon Schaffer was involved with (imo).

Basically, I'm open to like just about any band from any genre as long as they do something I consider good.

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