How important are the lyrics?

just another monkey wrote:

sirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. could you list some lyrics composed by Gene Hoglan in any band he was ? I think I´d be really interested to read such

thanks.

You HAVE to check out his lyrics on "Time Does Not Heal" by Dark Angel. Particularly, "An Ancient Inherited Shame."

Quote :

This must be necrophilia, for I am dead inside
Your violent misogyny, your strength drowns my cries
In shock, I'm crippled with disbelief
This can't be happening to me
Oh god, this hurts, I'm bleeding from friction
"Unconcious" I'm pleading to be...

You cannot imagine the anger I feel
Nor can you imagine the pain and despair
This double jeopardy soon happens again
When they scrape me for semen and hair
My mind is frozen with your face intact
This atrocity from which I haven't been spared
From now on, I'll only know lovemaking through
An act of intense terror

The malevolence which pours over me
You fill me with your rage
It's mortifying, diabolical,
Controlling through this stage
I struggle to cope with what's happening
I'm praying for my death
I've done nothing wrong, I've been victimized
So I'll pray for yours instead

The physical torment inflicted on me
Is insufferable but it doesn't compare
To your terrible criminal mentality
And the scars I'll forever bear
To live through this brutal show of force
Will cause me years of torment and grief
Awaiting this misery to run its course
As I scream out innocent pleas

Suspiciously descriptive, actually. Must be one troubled individual.

Boris2008 wrote:

I kind of like bands who sing in other languages, it makes vocals just like another instrument to me.

Actually for me vocals are most of the time just another instrument, no matter what the language is. I have hard time to even get a grip of lyrics sung in my native language (Finnish).

I hear the words but I don't really listen to them. If I want to focus on the lyrics, I have to concentrate really hard.

Sometimes it takes me a couple of spins to understand what they are singing, sometimes I can't get into the lyrics no matter how many times I listen to it. Sometimes I notice an interesting line or two and want to focus on the lyrics immediately, but that's really rare. Sometimes I just notice a few lines and that's it.

To me, vocals are rhythm, melody and the emotion the sound brings. Lyrics are secondary. That's not to say I can't appreciate good lyrics though.


My girlfriend always listens to the lyrics first. I still can't understand how she does it.   

Temple of Blood wrote:

Less important than the music.

This.

There are only a few bands I don't listen to because of the lyrics: Steel Panther (mostly because it sounds like they are making fun of favorite genre), most Exodus material, some Mayhem, etc.

Otherwise the lyrics are not very important to me.

Being a bit of a liberal softy, I have a hard time with racist and blatantly misogynistic lyrics.

Boris2008 wrote:

Being a bit of a liberal softy, I have a hard time with racist and blatantly misogynistic lyrics.

So I take it the Rolling Stones are not your favorite band?

Lyrics aren't that important to me. Everyone always has something to say and sometimes I agree with them, sometimes not. I listen to the music and how the vocals are sung. Hopefully I like what I hear. I don't like when the lyrics are down right stupid though.

I like some lyrics better than others, but I can't remember a single case where a kick ass song was ruined for me by the lyrics. And lame tunes that I liked for the lyrics are also very few. If lyrics were so important, Ted Nugent would probably be driving a taxi in Detroit right now.

Lyrics are usually the least important in the music I listen to. I do try to avoid overtly political lyrics (especially left leaning ones) as I like my music and politics separate. Also don't like overtly hateful lyrics (especially when directed at Christianity). Also not very fond of overtly sexual lyrics either. If I was just listening to music it wouldn't be so bad, however, I don't enjoy singing along to lyrics I'm not comfortable with. Because of that, they can usually be overlooked when I don't understand the lyrics.

What the hell are fishes? Isn't the plural of fish still fish?  

it depends on style, but overall music is prime.

Metal lyrics, in general, suck. Which is why I love the music even more.

Thrasher73 wrote:

What the hell are fishes? Isn't the plural of fish still fish?  

I believe that was the wackadoodle's attempt to insult evangelical Christians.

MetallicSeminarian wrote:

Boris2008 wrote:

Being a bit of a liberal softy, I have a hard time with racist and blatantly misogynistic lyrics.

So I take it the Rolling Stones are not your favorite band?

Yeah, I kind of have to put some of their stuff down to the fact that it was another time and that they often wrote as characters rather than themselves and.........who am I kidding, they are assholes! Great band, terrible people! I mean, Under my Thumb!? C'mon!

And the less said about Bill Wyman the better!    (We can all make excuses for these people, but if Mandy Smith had been your 13 year old daughter, you would be out with the pitchforks!   )

Thrasher73 wrote:

What the hell are fishes? Isn't the plural of fish still fish?  

I think fishes is used when referring to more than one species. So two sharks would be two fish, but a shark and a tuna would be two fishes.

Citanul wrote:

Thrasher73 wrote:

What the hell are fishes? Isn't the plural of fish still fish?  

I think fishes is used when referring to more than one species.  So two sharks would be two fish, but a shark and a tuna would be two fishes.

Nope, that would still be two fish (of a different species)

Fishes is only used by Ze Mau & the cat from Red Dwarf

Boris2008 wrote:

Citanul wrote:

Thrasher73 wrote:

What the hell are fishes? Isn't the plural of fish still fish?  

I think fishes is used when referring to more than one species.  So two sharks would be two fish, but a shark and a tuna would be two fishes.

Nope, that would still be two fish (of a different species)

You might be right - I'm not sure if I used it correctly there.  But "fishes" can be used in certain circumstances.

http://grammarist.com/usage/fish-fishes/

In an attempt to segue back to the thread topic, Fish's lyrics are pretty good.

Boris2008 wrote:

Citanul wrote:

Thrasher73 wrote:

What the hell are fishes? Isn't the plural of fish still fish?  

I think fishes is used when referring to more than one species.  So two sharks would be two fish, but a shark and a tuna would be two fishes.

Nope, that would still be two fish (of a different species)

You can have multiple species of fishes.

Lari wrote:

Boris2008 wrote:

Citanul wrote:

Thrasher73 wrote:

What the hell are fishes? Isn't the plural of fish still fish?  

I think fishes is used when referring to more than one species.  So two sharks would be two fish, but a shark and a tuna would be two fishes.

Nope, that would still be two fish (of a different species)

You can have multiple species of fishes.

I stand (kind of) corrected.

It's also okay if you are in the mafia apparently (although I guess everything is okay if you are in the mafia, who is going to correct your grammar?  )

Very important, as they take the music to a different level and add a whole new dimension to the listening experience. That said, I listen to the music first and check the lyrics if music's interesting, and in some cases, despite the killer music the magic's gone due to unfitting (or poor) lyrics. For example, Slowly We Rot lyrics may not be poetry, but they fit the album perfectly. The aforementioned Time Does Not Heal lyrics are one of the best, but would be really out of place on SWR album. Some of my favourite lyricists: Gene Hoglan, Kelly Schaefer, Jeff Hanneman, Warrel Dane (early), Chuck Schuldiner (later stuff), Craig Locicero, Russ Anderson ...

BTW, I somehow expected more people more interested in lyrical content here, as this used to be (?) more of a Christian metal forum in the beginning.

Yes, "Time Does Not Heal" has some of my favorite lyrics. Them and WATCHTOWER. After that other bands are way down the list for me.

sovdat wrote:

BTW, I somehow expected more people more interested in lyrical content here, as this used to be (?) more of a Christian metal forum in the beginning.

Don't get me wrong, great lyrics certainly enhance a song. I enjoy well written lyrics and I roll my eyes at some crappy ones. However, it doesn't make or break a song for me.