«Today’s Lyrics Are Pathetically Bad» Rick Beato

I [...] mostly treat the vocals as another instrument.

I also like music that have vocals in languages I don’t understand

@oberoniaomnia is making an excellent point about the relative importance of lyrics.

I grew up listening to music in a language I did not understand, so I too treated the voice as an instrument. Those voices conveyed feeling and emotion, but about what? I did not know, and that was okay.

Later, I discovered that songs I really liked actually had embarrassing lyrics and I had to stop liking them, and the other way around.

To this day, I enjoy listening to music in languages in which I am not fluent or that I don’t understand at all.

I like darkwave too, and I don’t know why darkwave artists insist on singing. A good example is Hante., her lyrics are terrible (she writes in English, a language she obviously does not know well) and her voice is awful, but she’s a fabulous DJ. If only she kept her music instrumental.

@immatthewj - My parents didn't like long hair, especially when I let my hair grow, but they were pretty tolerant of new music. You mention Dylan and the Beatles and they are a great contrast with most of the popular music of today. The lyrics from the early Beatles were simple, clever, love songs and the tunes were catchy. Dylan put out some amazing poetry that was hard to dismiss by the older generation at the time.

Much of the stuff coming out now is either cliche ridden drivel or profane and abusive. There are good lyrics in some of the alternative artists but it takes a lot of work to seek them out.

Speaking of lyrics in a language that I, personally, cannot understand, I really like the cover, that Gal Costa did, in Brazilian, of It's All Over Now, Baby Blue.  

No problem Matt, the only reason I looked it up is cause I’m getting older and I thought my mind might have been playing tricks on me! Cause I sure did remember hearing

Just like a black girl should.

right at the end of the recording, not only when I was a kid but later in life when I was still doing a lot rockin out!

@mahgister, of course we’re good big brother! I looked up Beato and it seems he’s had a recording studio in Stone Mountain, Georgia since 1995? Funny thing is, I’ve been in the Metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia since 1979 and I’ve never even heard of the guy?

And I’ve seen just about every major recording artist in and from the Atlanta, Georgia area and among a host of other shows of touring artists and been to every music venue in the area also.

Heck, I’ve even been a ’Roadie’ in my very young life just to get into concerts for free! And I still listen to rock & roll, public college, r&b, funk, and a little rap radio stations.

The only place I’ve seen or heard of this guy is from a youtube algorithm. Expert in music? I don’t know?

@8th-note , I recall my two older sisters listening to them (The Beatles and Dylan) when I was growing up. There was a pretty good age gap between them and me, and back then I didn’t have a real appreciation for music, however I did find a lot of what they listened to interesting, and I now credit their (my sisters) influence to be why I became a fan of Dylan as I grew older.

Speaking of offensive lyrics, I remember them playing a protest song quite loudly (my oldest sister’s bedroom had the "stereo" and it was down in the basement) and what I remember was "GIMME AN F!! [. . .] WHAT’S That SPELL!!" I remember that rather clearly. I think my oldest sister did that to piss my folks off. I also remember some interesting songs off of the Hair (was it a sound track?) album. The one I am thinking of at the moment was titled Sodomy. The line that got my attention back then was, ". . . masturbation can be fun . . .". I wouldn’t be surprised if the reason she played that was also to get on my folks ’nerves.