[KapnKrunch]

Way back in the day, I stayed up late to watch a movie on my 13" black and and white TV. I'm not going to name it.

But I sat there terrified during a scene where a blinking light on a monitor approached a stationary light on the monitor, and the actors were all screaming: "Get out of there! Get out of there."

On a thirteen-inch black and white.

Decades later a friend treated me to a viewing of his highdef TV with elaborate sound system. I was really impressed at first. Then I thought that the movie was kinda dumb. I lost all interest in twenty minutes.

For me, here is an important message about the relationship between music and gear. What is the music about? How is it expressed? Does it sound good? In that order, I think, for me.

What do you think? Everybody has a different take on the importance of lyrics, arrangement, performance, sound quality.

 

[Guest]

if it grab's me by the booboo, I'll listen to it.

 

[KapnKrunch]

if it grab's me by the booboo, I'll listen to it.

Lol. Don't go all philosophical on me now. Good one.

 

[Guitar101]

For me, here is an important message about the relationship between music and gear. What is the music about? How is it expressed? Does it sound good? In that order, I think, for me.

What do you think? Everybody has a different take on the importance of lyrics, arrangement, performance, sound quality.

For me it's the sound first. If I hear a new song playing, I can tell if like it right away. If I do, I'll U-tube it, grab my guitar and try playing along and then I get the chords and lyrics from the internet. Many times I'm playing and singing the song before I even know what the lyrics are about. Sound quality only comes into play if I want to add it to my play list.

 

[mhammer]

The list of tunes that I thought were fantastic...until I actually heard the lyrics, is probably big enough to exceed the allowable storage space of this website.

Sometimes, yes, content IS king of the procession. But there are a whole lot of times when feel leads the way. And I guess that taste is part of what creates feel. For me, restraint (a big part of taste) often establishes the feel.

 

[Steadfastly]

First of all, the song must have a story to it and the lyrics must be understandable; next the music must be of high quality, both in production and content.

 

[Granny Gremlin]

For me, here is an important message about the relationship between music and gear. What is the music about? How is it expressed? Does it sound good? In that order, I think, for me.

I'm with the Kapn, though I'd reorder that a bit - 'does it sound good,' as the most superficial element, comes first just because it is the first thing you perceive (before the lyrics start). However if it's horrible lyrically somehow, or even just banal, I lose interest. Occasionally a song can transcend my usual tastes if the content is meaningful, or funny, or otherwise appealing in some way (and in turn may cause my tastes to expand or allow for other approaches - e.g. 'good' production vs 'lofi'). This is what happened to me with the Smiths; tween me was like "this sounds like shitty old person music; there isn't even any distortion," but because the older (alt-rock/[post]punk) kids were always playing it, eventually I caught some of the lyrics (and to be fair, the guitar work) and went "now hold on there a minute."

 

[Alex]

Sound, feel, vibe and probably some X factor that i can't pinpoint which what makes some music magical. I treat vocals like another instrument and rarely listen to the lyrics (my wife and daughter retain lyrics immediately which always amazes me).

Neil Young did a Much Music segment in the late 90's and took questions from a small audience. A woman asked him about "Rust Never sleeps" and Young told the story of him jamming with the guys from Devo. Booji-Boy kept blurting out "Rust Never Sleeps" while they were playing and Young stopped and asked "what did you say?". It ends up Booji-Boy worked in a paint store in Ohio and their motto was rust never sleeps. love it.

 

[mhammer]

Sound, feel, vibe and probably some X factor that i can't pinpoint which what makes some music magical. I treat vocals like another instrument and rarely listen to the lyrics (my wife and daughter retain lyrics immediately which always amazes me).

Neil Young did a Much Music segment in the late 90's and took questions from a small audience. A woman asked him about "Rust Never sleeps" and Young told the story of him jamming with the guys from Devo. Booji-Boy kept blurting out "Rust Never Sleeps" while they were playing and Young stopped and asked "what did you say?". It ends up Booji-Boy worked in a paint store in Ohio and their motto was rust never sleeps. love it.

I don't think it was the store's motto, per se. I think it was the corporate slogan of Rust-oleum. Of course anyone working in a paint store would have been aware of the slogan, and possibly taken a shine to it. It IS kinda catchy, after all.

 

[KapnKrunch]

Interesting. Neil Young jammin with Devo. Theres a group, like Captain Beefheart, that sound so appalling to me that I am totally entertained by it. Then some of the content settles in, and I enjoy the music more too. Its a real mix for sure.

Btw, I have a couple of instrumentals that mean a lot to me, but how do I communicate that meaning to the listener? They are both sentimental pieces. One about my dog being killed by a bear (that I later shot in the head). The other about my teenage buddy being so stoned he could only play two notes ("they sounded so good together").

And oh yeah thanks for the B.A.D. music, GrannyG. Wonderful!

 

[Diablo]

I don't pay much attention to lyrics, unless it gets right in my face with something annoying or offensive. otherwise, it makes little difference to me if youre singing about fishing in Bobcaygeon or driving your Ferrari over 55mph. I just don't care, past the sound of the voice.
a lot of the new pop I find has repetitive nonsense lyrics (Gwen Stefani, Beyoncé, etc), or annoying sampled sounds like babies crying/squealing, police sirens, etc.

production quality is important to me however...its the reason, I really cant listen to a lot of the classic stuff from the 60's, some of which sounds slightly out of tune to me ie Led Zeppelin, Neil Yong, Bob dylan. And yet, I enjoy a lot of The Who/Stones/beatles/Fleetwood Mac (rumours era at least).

Same reason although I like metal, I never cared for punk... too raw, careless sounding. its a fine line I guess between trying to sound raw and actually being it.
heres an example of trying to sound raw, but you know it was very conscious and deliberate and highly produced:

I cant understand a damn word hes saying, so I hope it isn't racist or something lol...but it sounds good to me!

 

[Diablo]

Way back in the day, I stayed up late to watch a movie on my 13" black and and white TV. I'm not going to name it.

But I sat there terrified during a scene where a blinking light on a monitor approached a stationary light on the monitor, and the actors were all screaming: "Get out of there! Get out of there."

On a thirteen-inch black and white.

Decades later a friend treated me to a viewing of his highdef TV with elaborate sound system. I was really impressed at first. Then I thought that the movie was kinda dumb. I lost all interest in twenty minutes.

For me, here is an important message about the relationship between music and gear. What is the music about? How is it expressed? Does it sound good? In that order, I think, for me.

What do you think? Everybody has a different take on the importance of lyrics, arrangement, performance, sound quality.

some movies, comedy etc just doesn't stand the test of time.

the problem (and benefit) with high def is it shows every wart and all...so easier to see when things look fake, for example. low def covers up the imperfections, and maybe draws you into the really important stuff the director wanted you to see. Sometimes technology detracts from that original vision, like when Lucas bought a computer with some CGI software on it, and redid a scene just to show it off, even though it added nothing to the movie and was completely gratuitous and distracting.

OTOH, a guitar equivalent is distortion and delay. with those 2, I can sound pretty good doing my EVH wanking..they cover my sloppiness A LOT .without distortion and delay, not so much.

 

[bolero]

ALIEN


Sound quality is good, but IMO really the idea is what counts. Some great music has been made on less than optimum equipment/circumstance

 

[KapnKrunch]

ALIEN

Ha! Guessed it.