[westernquinoxrox]

rudeness gets u so far man
then u just wanna fuck the pain away with merzbow's 13 japanese birds series

[Green Magnesium]

This thread is insane.

For the record, i like everyone here... except westernequinox. What gives dude? Thought I had you blocked.

[atsonicpark]

quinox is probably the best poster on this board.

He's like a parody of everyone on noisefanatics.com

...at least I think so

[infinitemusic]

I disagree. I think lyrics are just as important as the music. If not, why don't you just listen to instrumentals? (actually you explained why, but that's how I feel). But I really like the Stooges lyrics, they're top notch. I also think that lyrics that are really blatant and preachy are annoying. That's what turns me off to most punk music. Totally artless and transparent and boring (plus the boring guitar). Sonic Youth lyrics, though... I get turned off of them a lot and sometimes I laugh out loud just like I do when I listen to Black Sabbath. Really forced or obvious rhymes are annoying as hell.

[schizophrenicroom]

sway- i agree with you that lyrics often are just like a supplement. a good example is deerhoof. apart from songs where their point is kinda to show off a really goofy lyric or something they just are there for.. more awesomeness

[atsonicpark]

"I only write lyrics so that I have an excuse to scream into a microphone." - Steve Albini

"In my opinion the majority of song lyrics are useless and for imbeciles." - Dave Riley, 1996

"The lyrics are definitely not the focal point of the music. They’re the last thing we’re worried about." - Bob Weston, 1996

"If you’ve ever written a song that had words in it and then written the words down and looked at them on a piece of paper they just look fucking retarded. There’s just no reason to do that. The other thing is that I think that puts too much emphasis on the literal meaning of that version of the lyrics because the lyrics are quite fluid with us. The subject matter is generally pretty stable but the precise words that are sung aren’t. If I were somebody like Bob Dylan who wrote lyrics that were intended to be read in one specific way then maybe I wouldn’t be embarrassed about it." - Steve Albini, 1996




I agree with all that, and I'd like to make special mention of stuff like Jandek where the lyrics are really the focal point. That's why that stuff is awesome, really. But most rock bands have useless, throwaway, unimportant lyrics. Specifically, the bands I listen to often have the vocals/lyrics buried in the mix. THere's plenty of good lyricists out there (Slint, Captain Beefheart) but really it's hard to mix melody with good lyrics. Because you end up compromising one or the other and it sounds stupid.

Deerhoof! Their words are just an excuse for the lead singer to sing the same notes she's playing on guitar. And I love them for it, haha.

[Torn Curtain]

It depends on the language too, bad lyrics in English won't be as bad as bad lyrics in French (for instance for some reason words randomly put together will always work better in English than in French).

[infinitemusic]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

I agree with all that, and I'd like to make special mention of stuff like Jandek where the lyrics are really the focal point. That's why that stuff is awesome, really. But most rock bands have useless, throwaway, unimportant lyrics. Specifically, the bands I listen to often have the vocals/lyrics buried in the mix. THere's plenty of good lyricists out there (Slint, Captain Beefheart) but really it's hard to mix melody with good lyrics. Because you end up compromising one or the other and it sounds stupid.

See, the thing with those quotes is, none of those people wrote very good lyrics, so of course they would say that. I like Big Black, but lyrics are not what you focus on when you listen to Big Black, and that's why I'll only ever be a casual fan. People who actually do write good lyrics usually talk about how they are very important. It might be a cause/effect thing, but it's the way it almost always is.

And I really don't think it's that hard to mix a good melody with good lyrics. Well, I guess it is hard, but I don't care. I want both because both are extremely important to me.

^^^ And that's interesting about the langage difference

[atsonicpark]

I just have never personally paid attention to lyrics much, but if that's something that's important to you that's cool... nothing wrong with it. To me, a great lyric just can't move me unlike, say, a great chord progression.

[infinitemusic]

Well, what I'm trying to say is that I don't get moved without both. Like, I always pay attention to the music first, but if I can't make the transition to paying attention to the lyrics and still enjoy the song, I won't like it for very long.

[DeadDiscoDildo]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

"I only write lyrics so that I have an excuse to scream into a microphone." - Steve Albini

"In my opinion the majority of song lyrics are useless and for imbeciles." - Dave Riley, 1996

"The lyrics are definitely not the focal point of the music. They’re the last thing we’re worried about." - Bob Weston, 1996

"If you’ve ever written a song that had words in it and then written the words down and looked at them on a piece of paper they just look fucking retarded. There’s just no reason to do that. The other thing is that I think that puts too much emphasis on the literal meaning of that version of the lyrics because the lyrics are quite fluid with us. The subject matter is generally pretty stable but the precise words that are sung aren’t. If I were somebody like Bob Dylan who wrote lyrics that were intended to be read in one specific way then maybe I wouldn’t be embarrassed about it." - Steve Albini, 1996




I agree with all that, and I'd like to make special mention of stuff like Jandek where the lyrics are really the focal point. That's why that stuff is awesome, really. But most rock bands have useless, throwaway, unimportant lyrics. Specifically, the bands I listen to often have the vocals/lyrics buried in the mix. THere's plenty of good lyricists out there (Slint, Captain Beefheart) but really it's hard to mix melody with good lyrics. Because you end up compromising one or the other and it sounds stupid.

Deerhoof! Their words are just an excuse for the lead singer to sing the same notes she's playing on guitar. And I love them for it, haha.

It's hard to make good lyrics, and when u try to have pop hooks it's even harder. But there's an acoustic song that closes our record that I'm quite proud of the lyrics, to me, they look good on paper and flow to the ear...

[Sonic Youth Gossip]

For the record Pavement have fuckin brilliant lyrics. Especially when you come to terms with exactly how much bud they blaze.