Music is worse if you can't understand the lyrics on the first or second listen. I'm talking about the words themselves

Music is worse if you can't understand the lyrics on the first or second listen. I'm talking about the words themselves.
Discuss.

>[insert Sup Forums core instrumental album here]

That still counts as understanding the lyrics, they just aren't there. I'm talking fucking Death Grips shit where you have to do a reading assignment every time you hear a new song.

>lyrics
>important

Can't music with unintelligible lyrics just be considered instrumental music? Sometimes the voice is just another instrument.

I feel like that's how vocals work in black metal and shoegazing mostly

>he doesn't listen to lyrics, the main focus of many songs
If the artist didn't think they were important they would not have bothered with them.

the critic is more important than the artist

no matter what you try out there is no rule or metric to go by when trying to assess the quality of music

Lyrics are important in terms of presenting a theme but the main point of interest should always be the music itself.

>not liking death metal

But the artist's intention is important, and a happy song with sad but unintelligible lyrics will be misinterpreted, and the message will be lost: This is bad.

MC Ride is easy as fuck to understand, it's black metal and stuff like that where I tend to have trouble. Course, half of that isn't in English anyway.

What about foreign music?
it's my favorite kind of music and I can't understand the lyrics.
>he dosen't listen to the music, the main foucs of many songs
If the artist didn't think it was important, he would have made poetry.

>he would have made poetry
Fair point, actually. But the entire rap genre is essentially poetry to a beat: that's not a bad thing, unless the lyrics can't be understood due to poor enunciation.

The critic is a self-absorbed narcissistic fuckwit and a worthless cretin. Without the music to claim as a social accessory he would be nothing. Only the art matters.

Maybe I was a bit rude. but my point is that for a song, both lyrics and music are important, to a certain extent.
Music can emphasize lyrics just like lyrics can convey certain feelings or narrate stories that develop alongside the music; but in the end, it's the music itself that matters the most.

I can agree in many cases, but there are also many cases I don't: Take Woody Guthrie. Most of his songs are just a couple chords over vocals, but the lyrics are what set him apart, and are where the attention is drawn throughout the songs. The music, in this case, is almost a backdrop to the lyrics.
Of course there are many counter examples. Dream House would not be made better by lyrics that could be easily heard.

not if it's the artist's intent to make a song that will be misinterpreted. see: born in the usa or swimming pools
and no, not if it's not important to the critic (me)
anything is only as important as (You) allow it to be

I think you're misunderstanding: By misinterpreted, I mean misheard lyrics. Born in the USA has lyrics anyone could write down on paper, and could repeat with confidence that they were singing the actual lyrics. I don't mean to suggest that songs should be self-explaining.

The theoretical song I was referring to would be "misinterpreted" because it would be written off as a happy song with no attention payed to the lyrics; Born in the USA had lyrics that intentionally subverted the music, and if we had both just listened to the drum beat, and ignored the lyrics as "unimportant" it would be a worse song.

That's sort of on the listener, isn't it? A lot of genres have feature vocal styles that newcomers would say make the lyrics unintelligible but those who are used to it can understand fine. Hell, people had a hard time understanding Smells Like Teen Spirit when it first hit the radio but I don't find it unintelligible at all. The artist doesn't have to make concessions just because some people might have a hard time understanding their lyrics.

Does Nicky Jam count

Look, Anthony it's okay to feel sad sometimes, but