3

3
6/29/13

Something I find interesting is the different opinions people have on the importance of lyrics in music.  I personally feel like lyrics are secondary in most cases.  To me music is about the sound of it all, the feelings invoked from hearing the different sounds together, not just what somebody is saying.  The only genre I listen to in which I can concede the importance of lyrics would be rap/hip-hop.   Rap/hip-hop music is arguably the most lyrically intensive genre.  Personally I don’t actually enjoy the lyrics of most rap, especially post 2001 rap music.  I do have some old school rap favorites like 2-Pac, but I find that my enjoyment of that music comes from the sound of an entire song, instead of the story or meaning that can be gleaned from the lyrics.  My favorite band of all time is a progressive rock band called Tool.  I listened to Tool for around two years without knowing a vast majority of the lyrics or even song titles.  What I found was that the vocals were used like another instrument, as opposed to always being the focus of a given track.  As such I was never interested in trying to know “what a song was about” from the lyrics, and instead was able to just enjoy feeling from the music.   I also greatly enjoy some sub-genres of electronic music.  In most of the electronic music I enjoy, the lyrics are very ambiguous.  It again creates a situation in which vocals are just part of the melody, and sometimes are absent entirely.  In the case of Tool, being a rock band, it is rare to find similar music in their genre that I enjoy.  On the contrary, electronic music is filled with countless examples of artists whose music doesn't place a heavy emphasis on lyrics, but still entertains the use of vocals as a complementary piece.