What do you prefer/look for more in music: melodic instrumentals, unique sounds, and kick-ass beats, or lyrics that have a deep meaning, poetry that you can connect with? Do you like thinking over the meaning that a song could have had, or do you just prefer listening to music for the feelings conveyed through the melodies? Discuss.

I get a much, much deeper meaning out of truly well composed music than lyrics. No lyrics can can take me to the state I reach with this good stuff or even close. Lyrics make me think, music makes me feel.

But sure, if it's just "awesome beats" I'd like some lyrics to go with them

Good sounds. I don't care for songs that are 2deep5me, and I listen to music because I like the sound first and foremost, not because I want a story told to me.

That said, lyrics and vocals are rad in their own right. Just not if they're there to show how deep the song is. I just want them to sound cool.

I articulated this incorrectly. Apologies. Of course music without lyrics in general is beautiful, I should not have narrowed that down so much.

it depends on the song. if it's a song that was clearly composed as a vessel for the lyrics then obviously i'll pay a bit more attention to the lyrics and be a lot more critical of it if they're dumb/bad, but if it's a song written to be a song that just happens to have lyrics then i can forgive them if they're weak.

Both, and not necessarily together.

I can appreciate instrumental music and written poetry in the same way I can appreciate music that has meaningful lyrics or awesome sounds in any combination or amount.

As a musician I'm more inclined to pay attention to the musical composition rather than the lyrics, but I can appreciate both. It depends on the song and my mood. Some pieces don't require vocals to convey their meaning, and some music is meant to compliment the lyrics.

I enjoy clever lyrics more lately, but the instramental has to be up to snuff as well. And i don't enjoy music that samples the entire instramental from other songs and is just sung over.

When I listen to music I tend to hear the vocals as just another instrument, so the actual lyrics don't matter much to me (plus about half the stuff I listen to is in languages I can't understand). What matters most to me is the overall sound, along with the interplay between the various instruments and vocal styles (bands with unique instrumental lineups and sounds particularly catch my attention).

Lyrics by and far. I prefer storytelling songs specifically.

Yeah, same. I generally listen to instrumental stuff though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOKbcSuCzYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziw4yd5R0QI

Both have their merits. Sometimes I'm in the mood for something I can really relate to or tells a good story. Other times I just want to jam out to something meaningless and repetitive but sounds nice. The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

WhyNotBoth.jpg?

Both. Lyrics to tell the story and music to draw me in.