Rypro 525

My brother just now asked me if I knew what "battery" from metallica was about, and I told him "how the hell should I know" I don't really care what they sing about, I just care about how it sounds.

Snowmaker

Hell, I'm not even sure if I know. Does it have anything to do with being abusive and violent?

Rypro 525

If anyone can translate these lyrics, they will be my hero
Lashing out through the boundaries
Weak are ripped and torn awayHypnotizing power, crushing all that cower
Battery is here to stay

Smashing through the boundaries
Lunacy has found me
Cannot stop the battery
Pounding out aggressionTurns into obsession
Cannot kill the battery

Cannot kill the family
Battery is found in me

Battery

Crushing all deceivers, mashing non-believers
Never ending potency
Hungry violent seeker, feeding of the weaker
Breeding on insanity

Smashing through the boundaries
Lunacy has found me
Cannot stop the battery
Pounding out aggressionTurns into obsession
Cannot kill the battery

Cannot kill the family
Battery is found in me

Battery

Circle of destruction, hammer comes crushingPowerhouse of energy
Whipping up a fury, dominating flurryWe create the battery

Smashing through the boundaries
Lunacy has found me
Cannot stop the battery
Pounding out aggressionTurns into obsession
Cannot kill the battery

Cannot kill the family
Battery is found in me

Battery

atlantamoi

Bad lyrics can hurt a song, but I almost always choose my music by sound over lyrics. I like a good lyric, but crappy music and great lyrics don't mix in my mind.

inVectiVe

I kinda stopped caring about lyrical insight when I started listening to more heavy, angry, aggressive stuff. When you have a song that's 3 minutes of shredding guitars and blasting drums, it's not realistic to expect the "singer" (who's technically more of a "growler") to be outlining a bold vision for World Peace.

Oh, and then there's the fact that I also began listening to bands whose first language ISN'T English (*cough* Sepultura *sneeze*), which makes me even more forgiving of juvenile or simplistic lyrics. Just recycle some cliches about how "Jesus = Bad" and / or "Satan = Good"; as long as the music's intense, I'm happy.

DVDHO

Bad lyrics can hurt a song, but I almost always choose my music by sound over lyrics. I like a good lyric, but crappy music and great lyrics don't mix in my mind.


My thoughts exactly

evenflow

I won't like a song that has crappy lyrics no matter how good the sound and melody are. (except for instrumentals, of course)

jarsim

There are many songs I like that I really don't "listen" to the lyrics until many times after hearing them. And then there are songs that I've listened to for years and upon listening to the lyrics I realize of the 100 times I listened to it, I really never "listened" to the lyrics. And a lot of these songs I know by heart but the lyrics don't register, if that makes any sense, until I really think about them.

RJainMJ

Like most of you so far, sound and beat are more important than lyrics. Some artists with great lyrics really can get to me though. However, if a song has absolutely horrid lyrics, I cannot stand it. Once in awhile, I hear a song and I like the sound but then I think about the lyrics and I grow to hate the song (ie Avril Lavigne - Skater Boy).

Joel

Good lyrics make a better sound of the music.

Huge Bean

Good lyrics can push a good song into greatness, while weak lyrics will almost ensure that the song will eventually fade away (even though it may get a lot of popularity for it's music/beat/etc).

the aftermath

Crappy lyrics will always ruin a well produced song. However, if my ears cant comprehend what the artist is saying then it won't make a difference.

benedict

<small></small>I don't know the song but think that must be it.

I would say that there is a kind of "play" on the word battery meaning violence, assault & battery etc and the alternative meaning i.e. the cell that powers electrical activity: what powers the character's violence is internal and family-related. He thinks he is akin to a wind-up robot that cannot do anything else.

Just my two pennies.

Sessa17

Being mostly a jazz & jam band fan. I actually kind of HATE lyrics & singing in music. And I'm pretty much the only person I know like this. What moves me in a song & what I find powerful in music are the instrumentals. Unless it's opera or the occasional mainstream artist that actually can sing, there are a million people out there that can scream into a microphone & right crappy poems & turn them into songs.

Hondo

For the most part, I don't care about the lyrics. This is probably why I tend to be drawn to music without much lyrical content (House/Techno, Jam, Jazz, Surf/intrumental rock). I may like the way a singer sings a song or uses their voice like an instrument, a la Ella Fitzgerald, but I don't really much care what the actual words are.

Having said that, there are several artists whose lyrics I like a lot. In that case, I may not even particularly like them musically. The ones that come most easily to mind are Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello and Ben Folds.

slymer

Sometimes lyrics aren't neccesarily that important. I listen to alot of Christian Punk/hardcore, and I'm not even religous. I just like the sound of alot of those bands.

nodeerforamonth

nope. Lyrics are an added bonus. If I agree with them, it makes the song that much better, if not, it doesn't really take too much away (except recently when bands get too political).

KnightLerxst

I guess with me it is the hook that grabs me, but bad lyrics can take away from the song.

For example, Van Halen "Why Can't This Be Love?"

"Only time will tell if we stand the test of time"

Yikes

I think lyrics have to fit the mood of the music, but usually it is the hook that grabs me. Bad Religion's Sorrow is a track where the lyrics fit the music well...that is the sign of a good song...when the music and the lyrics create the same emotional response.

Norm de Plume

That's exactly how I feel about it. Good songwriting is wonderful, but if the musician can't compose a nice tune to complement the lyrics, I'm better off picking up a book of poetry.