Lyrics or Instrumentation?

[North Wiedna]

When listening to a song, do you tend to focus on the lyrics, or on the instrumentation? For the latter, which instruments tend to stick out?

I tend to listen to instrumentation more than lyrics. Lyrics are an important part of the song, but, without the music behind it, you would just have words. I really like instrumentals, because the band gets their point across without directly stating it, for example, the last song on Le Orme's Felona e Sorona, "Ritorno al Nulla", is an instrumental. If you've heard the whole album, front to back, you will understand what the music is getting at.

I tend to hear drums in the front of the mix, particularly because I'm a drummer.

[Keelpeel]

When listening to a song, do you tend to focus on the lyrics, or on the instrumentation? For the latter, which instruments tend to stick out?

I tend to listen to instrumentation more than lyrics. Lyrics are an important part of the song, but, without the music behind it, you would just have words. I really like instrumentals, because the band gets their point across without directly stating it, for example, the last song on Le Orme's Felona e Sorona, "Ritorno al Nulla", is an instrumental. If you've heard the whole album, front to back, you will understand what the music is getting at.

I tend to hear drums in the front of the mix, particularly because I'm a drummer.

depends on the band
if it is thin lizzy per say, then lyrics
if it is ACDC, then guitar

[Der Teutoniker]

Generally the lyrics.

I'm not a musically inclined person, so I have a hard time, sometimes, differentiating between instruments.

[Hassett]

Instrumentation more than lyrics, though I notice both.

[Maskra]

Lyrics do matter, but if it doesn't sound good, it's not a good song. As for which instruments I notice, it depends. Cello/violin combo is often nice, but just flat guitar is great too.

[Soviet socialists cuba]

instruments,heavy guitar

[Vasilyevich]

depends on the band
if it is thin lizzy per say, then lyrics
if it is ACDC, then guitar

I'd say not just on the band but on each song individually. Taking Porcupine Tree as an example, since they're in my head right now, Heartattack in a Layby is all about the lyrics, but The Creator Has a Mastertape is more about bass and drums.

In fact that's what makes it an impossible question to answer for me. I don't tend do focus on one thing or another, it's all dependent on what I'm actually listening to at a time. If there's a particularly good drummer (Gavin Harrison, Hellhammer) I'd focus more on the drums; if a song has a particularly good bassline I'd focus on that; if a band is riff-tastic (Gojira) then I'd focus on guitars.

By the way, do you mean the actual lyrics themselves or the vocals as a whole? If you're listening to a band or artist that sings in a foreign language that you don't speak, would you count vocals as part of the instrumentation since you can't understand the lyrics?

[Mindhar]

I don't really like music with lyrics. That said, I do listen to it sometimes, but generally ignore the words (and, if possible, the singer).

What I listen for is primarily melodic lines and how they interact -- counterpoint, in short; and secondarily large-scale harmonic movement and structure. Mind, this is probably a consequence of being a composer and musician myself.

[The REAL Glasers]

It generally depends, but with a lot of genres that use thick, heavy distortion (Crust Punk, Stoner Metal, Sludge, etc.) and even some that don't (Post-Hardcore), I pay attention more to instrumentation.

However, with genres that are usually minimalist in instrumentation, I focus on lyrics, but it tends to be pretty fifty-fifty. Then you have bands like Dinosaur Jr that just blow you away in both dimensions.

[Keijzers]

Instruments are way more important than lyrics are in my personal experience. But lyrics still also have some impact, it's tough to say. Still, when I'm going nuts while listening to a song, it's almost always because of the instruments or the ambience. I listen music that sometimes really has lyrics I don't agree with, but then I still like the song because of the instruments.

[Rambhutan]

I tend to think it is easier to ignore bad lyrics than it is bad music. Sting was for the most part a terrible lyricist, but the Police are still listenable because of the quality of the tunes and the musicianship. Hal David was a brilliant lyricist, and combined with Burt Bacchrach's great tunes, the result was on occasion sublime. Struugling to think of a good lyricist with bad tunes...

In terms of what I listen to, I tend to switch between different instruments and voices, sometimes I defocus and listen to the overall sound.

[Buffett and Colbert]

Both, really. I especially like a song with good lyrics, though.

[Zwangzug]

Lyrics.

[Jingoist Hippostan]

Depends on the band, really. Generally instrumentation, just because I'm a musician and am thus interested in paying attention to what's going on musically and learning from it.

However, some bands I pay more attention to lyrically than others. For example, there's not much reason to pay attention to Neutral Milk Hotel musically - 90% of the time, nothing odd is happening, no weird chords, no big changes, etc. So I generally pay attention to the lyrics. Same with Silver Jews, who actually are musically interesting, but are lyrically amazing.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying Neutral Milk Hotel are bad when I say nothing interesting is happening. It's still good music, it's just not interesting from an analytical standpoint. Whereas Kreator are musically interesting, but lyrically awful. And then there's the Ramones, who are both musically boring and lyrically uninspired, but inexplicably still totally awesome. Yeah, they revolutionized music and all, but that doesn't change the fact that they recycle about the same four songs for most of their career, and most of their lyrics are only slightly more than repeating one or two sentences over and over again.

[Trotskylvania]

I usually pay most attention to the musical composition. More on the instrumental end, but the voice is part of this too. How the meter works together with the lyrics is important too. Time scale, tempos, harmony and dissonance, and of course, the pattern of musical notes themselves.

I dunno, maybe it's the composer inside me that's trying to get out that's does this, but I can't help but take a musical piece apart and put it back together when I listen to it.

[Cirona]

I tend to listen to the instrumentation, as I find myself more musically inclined.

However, lyrics like "just show me where your dick is" can be a big turn off.

EDIT: Unless if in clubs...

[Hoyteca]

Instrumentation, though what is the singer's voice but another instrument? I hate it when the singer breathes into the microphone. Please don't do that. Do what good singers do and pull your head away from the mic when you inhale. The listeners won't become confused if they can't hear your every inhale from twenty feet away.

[Georgism]

The sound first. If the sound sucks I might still listen occasionally if I think the lyrics are good.

[Alevuss]

It depends. With a lot of songs, I will listen to the lyrics first and after that I will listen to the instrumentation. If the instrumentation is bad, though, odds are I won't stick around to listen to the lyrics too much. For instruments that stick out to me, its usually piano/keyboard or the guitar.

[Zirconim]

When listening to a song, do you tend to focus on the lyrics, or on the instrumentation? For the latter, which instruments tend to stick out?

I tend to listen to instrumentation more than lyrics. Lyrics are an important part of the song, but, without the music behind it, you would just have words. I really like instrumentals, because the band gets their point across without directly stating it, for example, the last song on Le Orme's Felona e Sorona, "Ritorno al Nulla", is an instrumental. If you've heard the whole album, front to back, you will understand what the music is getting at.

I tend to hear drums in the front of the mix, particularly because I'm a drummer.

Depends on the artist and song. Sometimes I tend to listen to the instrumentation, and when I do, I listen to the bass, drums, or guitar, depending on the style of music. Mostly though, I pay attention to lyrics because it's the lyrics that move me, give me most of the emotion that the song gives off, be it sadness, bitterness, anger, ect. Also, I can't listen to a song with horrible vocals. I just can't. Have you ever tried listening to Deathcore?

[La Vida De Sangre]

Both matters for me.

[Batelo]

Both matters for me.

This

[North Wiedna]

Both matters for me.

This

I never said that lyrics didn't matter to me. I'm just asking which you notice more in a song.