Vocals or not?

[Cerrax]

Ok sorry this is my first attempt at a poll and I messed it up. Choose YES for vocals and NO for without vocals.


I personally don't care for vocals in a song. The human voice is not as interesting and dynamic to me as other instruments. Plus there's hardly any room for interpretation because the words tell you what the song is about. A wordless song lets you imagine anything you weant about the music. And sometimes vocals ruin a good song. Like all the growling and stuff in metal songs. I would love them if nobody made any noise, because all that beautiful music is covered up by obnoxious growling and yelling.

 

[Ori]

I usually prefer just the music, but when the singing is in a language you don't know, it can become just as essential.

 

[Cerrax]

I usually prefer just the music, but when the singing is in a language you don't know, it can become just as essential.

That is quite true. I love the group Era, but that's because everything is in Latin.

 

[evearael]

Do you prefer songs with or without singing?

Yes!

 

[Buttercup]

That's a tough one Cerrax.

There are times when I definitely prefer no singing and listen to electronic tunes or classical. But, then sometimes lyrics really are the defining flavour of the song. I think Bono is one of the best lyricists out there and his words have moved me to tears on many an occasion. I would listen to rap if there was no singing. I really like alot of the music but then they mess it up with all that crap they sing.

So, guess I don't know.

 

[Sunstone]

It much depends on my mood and the song. Overall, I might lean towards enjoying voice as an instrument more than a conveyor of language, but I sure do like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen at times.

 

[c0da]

I voted yes because I think many songs would sound empty without lyrics, although when I do listen to music, I tend to pay more attention to the guitar parts within the song, being a guitarist myself.

 

[Mister Emu]

With...

Being a vocalist in regards to music wouldn't have anything to do with it at all... nope nothing

Though I do love instrumentals as well... some music just wouldn't be there without the lyrics...

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I like the vocals. One of my favorite vocalist is Cradle of Filth's singer, Dani. His vocals can go really deep to really high pitched in the same word, and it's great for alot of thier songs. And then theres some songs that would be meaningless without vocals, such as Hinder's "Get Stoned."

 

[Cerrax]

A lot of people are mentioning that songs would lose their meaning without lyrics but I think songs have their own story when you remove the vocals. Try it with a karoke CD that has a song you really like. The song sounds totally different without the vocals.

Rob Dougan's album "Furious Angels" is actually two CD's one with vocals and one without. I also have a string quartet version of Evanescence. The way the song sounds is so different and sometimes better!

 

[Opethian]

I love vocals, when sung by the right vocalist. A few years ago I only liked clean vocals and I hated all that growling and yelling in metal, just like you said. Only, on a certain magical day during that time, I picked up an album called Still Life from Opeth. That was the day that my entire musical perspective changed, and it was like I had a musical (r)evolution. Nowadays, I love death metal and black metal growls by a lot of different vocalists, along with clean singing. I think for certain musical parts, the whole wouldn't be as good if it weren't for the growls, because they just fit with the music, and the shifting from clean to growls and reversed can make for great dynamics. It's also very strange how some vocalists can put so much passion, nuance, and articulation in those growls. Just listen to Katatonia's Brave Murder Day album, where Mikael Akerfeldt sings his Black Metal style shrieks. The passion captured in his voice, shrieking above the atmospheric Doom Metal music, is the perfect match, and the album wouldn't be nearly as good without it. This doesn't mean I can't appreciate instrumental music though, although the lack of vocals needs to be made up for by making the songs more progressive, with a thicker wall of sound and more instruments/atmosphere, to be able to keep it intresting. I like stuff like Metallica's Orion, Testament's Hypnosis, Opeth's Silhouette etc... as instrumentals.

 

[ChrisP]

like Bob Dylan

>.< thankyou for pointing out why I shoulda voted Yes.... but I voted No.

If you don't like vocals, I sincerely and completely reccomend the Montreal band Godspeed You Black Emperor! They're very very good. Repetitive slow build with excellent subtle instrumentations to keep you interested. Like an orchestra with rock and string instruments.

 

[michel]

I said 'Yes' because although I love instrumental music, lyrics add a dimension. Many is the time I have thought (as an aspiring poet) "I would give my right arm to write lyrics like that"; There are some that are so incredible. The immediate ones that come to mind are the Beatles songs, Bob Dylan (I saw Sunstone's comment), Donovan......yikes, there's no end to the good ones.

 

[Scarlett Wampus]

Lyrics (if they make sense and/or aren't just oohs and ahhs) give a song a narrative and direction of thought that isn't there without them. Much music I like would be ruined by lyrics because the style conveys a vague feeling, its meant to be vague. Sometimes I'm in the mood for that, and sometimes I want to hear someone saying something.