Instrumental Music

I decided to start this topic because I put on Drukqs for a friend, and asked if she had liked it. She said she did but, said it would be so much cooler if it had lyrics. She asked if I agreed, I didn't obviously.

Amongst my friends and family they hate the fact that I mostly listen to instrumental music; electronic, classical, whatever. Do people just like to dance in a club, to a hot beat with some guy/girl rapping or singing about dancing in a club? Do others just like being able to sing to something catchy in their car on their way home from work? Do they like love songs and break up songs that much? I most often hear that they want to listen to something that makes them feel happy, and that most instrumental music can only be appreciated by musicians or people who appreciate music on a different level.

I am often told that instrumental music is depressing, boring or too repetitive. I don't dislike traditional pop music or rock or whatever other genre you can name. I was mostly exposed to 80s synth pop as a child and 90s hip hop and Freestyle Music, so I'd say there is some non instrumental music I do enjoy. And there is probably more I'd enjoy if I had been exposed to more of it. But even when I do listen to music with words, I tend to tune out the singing and listen to the music in the background. I also find, especially with current hip hop, if you find an instrumental version of a track it is very stagnant and boring; it just loops the same thing over and over as I guess the vocals are the focal point of the song.

In my opinion, I think music is supplemental to peoples lives, they turn on the radio to pass the time on the way home from work, or while on their way to their destination. It's kind of disposable in a way. Where as I find enjoyment in seeking out new music, be it new or old. I love the feeling of finding a new song, with an awesome melody or atmosphere to it it. I think there is so much more to music than just telling a story, or making it relatable through lyrics that appeal to a large range of people, like love songs and breakup songs.

What do you think makes one prefer Instrumental music over, current traditional popular music of the last few decades?

On some pills at the moment, so I'm sorry if this isn't too coherent or if I seem like I have my head up my ass. I'd just like some of your opinions on the topic.

Vocals are in a sense instruments, unfortunately they are highly constrained in traditional mainstream songwriting. they have to coherently make sense usually and sometimes tell a story or emotion... to rely on an instrument that is so constricted is very limiting sonically, and therefore I think anyone who chooses to listen solely to either instrumental or lyrical music, is doing themselves a disservice by not exploring all styles of music. To compare lyrical music and instrumental music is to compare abstract painting to landscape photography or something. Yes both are visual art forms, but each is trying to serve a different purpose. I have found lyrical music to most instantly gratifying, but instrumental typically keeps me listening over and over.

I think some people like the comfort of a Human voice.

I mean , Emos listen to their music because of the lyrics. They want to feel like there is somebody out there who understands them , and can relate to.

I wonder if it's a matter of being able to sing or dance along, or if it's the words that matter (I doubt it, considering the ridiculous lyrics in most pop music). I betcha I could get my friends to like Sigur Ros (even though they don't understand the lyrics) easier than I could get them to like Boards of Canada, just because there's a person singing something and they can vocalize to it.

Lyrics are used as another hook, just like a guitar riff, to catch the attention of the listener. The hook is repeated over and over again, just like the riff.

  On 4/10/2010 at 5:26 AM, Boxing Day said:

 

 

I mean , Emos listen to their music because of the lyrics. They want to feel like there is somebody out there who understands them , and can relate to.

and how is this phenomenon restricted to a teenage subculture?

i mean, this goes for all kinds of music

also, true poetry can be expressed in song. bod dylan, leonard cohen etcetcetc. every kind of music has its place

theyre bad people simple as that

You can have some very musical lyrics

and very not-as-musical instrumental music

interestingly enough, i remember reading a quote from brian eno saying that he thinks lyricism is more interesting than just music these days. something about how its incredibly easy for anyone to make something with their mac and have it sound decent. not very interesting, but decent.

i think he was being interviewd by alan moore for a bbc radio thing. anyone know what im talking about?

I haven't read your post, because I need to get to bed.

But simply replying to the thread title: people want vocals to connect with, for the most part.

And I think with the rise in popularity of things like post-rock and producer-driven instrumental hip-hop, instrumental music is much more popular than it used to be. More people dig electronic music nowadays than in the past, too.

follow the bouncing ball

now everybody--

most girls want to listen to something they can sing along too no mater what it actually sounds like

Thanks for the replies everyone.

The only music with singing that I can say I enjoy 100% is Brian Eno records from the 70s, and even the newer one "Another Day On Earth"

Other songs that I like with singing is Bohemian Rhapsody and Goodbye Horses, I'm sure there is more but those are the ones that really come to mind.

  On 4/10/2010 at 5:10 AM, Spore said:

In my opinion, I think music is supplemental to peoples lives, they turn on the radio to pass the time on the way home from work, or while on their way to their destination. It's kind of disposable in a way. Where as I find enjoyment in seeking out new music, be it new or old. I love the feeling of finding a new song, with an awesome melody or atmosphere to it it.

+1

I think melody and atmosphere are key to me, whether music has vocals (or lyrics) or not. But I do find instrumental music more interesting these days. I pretty much agree with most of the thoughts in this thread. But many artists I love also use vocals as an instrument, such as Cocteau Twins, recent Battles and maybe in some case Radiohead (bad example, probably). I remember years ago on the liner notes for the 4AD comp 'Lonely Is An Eyesore', Ivo Watts-Russell wrote something along of the lines of Cocteaus' music 'enhancing subjective experience'. Hardly an original point, but it pretty much sums up my own love of instrumental music, or music without explicit lyrical content (as opposed to just vocals).

mmmm.. there's a lot of good music which has vocals in it. Chances are higher that the track is good if the vocals are of equal or of lesser importance than the other parts.

Around 90% of the music I listen to is instrumental. I've had similar thoughts on the subject and it's hard to pin it down to just one reason.

Firstly, vocals fit into a certain kind of musical structure; namely verse-chorus-verse, etc. Also, lyrics can make a song more communal, marketable and memorable (in good or bad ways) - "oh yeah that one that goes lie 'da naanaaa blaaa poker face!'". The vocal hook has an almost god-like status in clubs, and the reasons for this are too many to list. But it could be suggested that with the bulk of simple 4/4 house "crowd-pleasers", you can be pretty sure that the beat won't be the main thing that'll differentiate one song from another. Lastly, I think there is a predisposition that vocals should be part of the musical make-up of a song, a set up that has proven difficult to shake through changes of musical tastes over time. Disco borrowed most of the stylings of RnB and Soul and it was the beat that was altered.

I think there will be a time when either vocals are tweaked to the point of being unrecognizable, or where they are completely absent. I hope.

I think it has something to do with the fact that most people are narrow minded idiots.

/me vomits on most music with lyrics

It's because people are so stupid, they really don't care or know anything about music.

They just want some catchy chorus lines to sing along to.

If people liked music, then souja boy, lil wayne, & t-pain would all be out of business,

instead their making millions. People don't care about talent, just catchy chorus hooks.

when i joined the forum, i was more into instrumental electronic music.

now, more into music with lyrics, indie rock, sonic youth, fugazi, neutral milk hotel, animal collective, wilco, you get the idea.

i think you convey a more human message when you add more human elements into the music, eg lyrics, guitar and piano playing, as opposed to entirely sequenced music.

i dunno. i suppose tastes change. i just enjoy listening to people's lyrics these days. i think i enjoy music that i wouldn't be able to make myself, and lord knows i can't write lyrics.

i think the only time that instrumental music works better in clubs is for dubstep - when there's an mc for dubstep, it's awful.

drum n bass mcs however are fantastic, and who hasn't sung along with n-trance's "set you free" or robin s' "show me love" when arseholed in a club?

everyone has a voice and uses it, so they can relate. I think the vocals are more important to people than the lyrics. growing up my dad played and listened to bluegrass, a fair amount of which is instrumental, so maybe that's why it never seemed strange to me.

  On 4/10/2010 at 4:25 PM, nene multiple assgasms said:

I think the vocals are more important to people than the lyrics.

actually, you have a point. i have no idea what most singers are on about, but i like certain phrases or the way they sing them.

if you asked me what the lyrics in my top 10 favourite songs were about, i probably wouldn't have a clue. except "i'm waiting for the man". you'd have to be a moron not to know what that's about.

Also as a side note, most of the Electronic Music that became somewhat mainstream popular in the late 90s had a vocal sample in them. Fatboy Slim, Prodigy, and even Come To Daddy to some extent. I'm sure there are many more examples. So yeah I guess people like having a hook they can sing along to, or it feels more human with a voice being present in a song. All good points made in this thread.

Yeah, everyone hates those lads Mozart and Bach.

Cunts.

yeah I hate it that most of my friends don't like instrumental music. I just don't understand them lol.