Music vs. Lyrics

[Nelson9792@xxxxxxx]

First of all, no offense to all of you Dylan and Springsteen fans out there,
butb&.

All of this recent discussion (largely negative) regarding bands such as
AC/DC, KISS and Led Zeppelin has got me thinking again about why there is such
hostility among SOME Who fans towards hard rock bands in general.  I know
people
whose favorite bands are AC/DC, KISS, Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath and they
all generally have favorable opinions of The Who as well.  (My number one and
two faves are, in fact, The Who and Led Zeppelin).

Since most of the criticism of these bands seems to be directed primarily to
the lyrics, it raises the question:  What in general (and specifically with
The Who) is more important, the Music or the Lyrics?

That is not to say that you must appreciate one and not the other (I'm sure
most of us here value both), but which is of greater importance?

While I too appreciate both, I would have to say that the music wins out with
me as being of primary importance.  My general rule of thumb is that I am not
interested in listening to any music that I would not also enjoy if it were
being sung in a language I did not understand.  I can still enjoy sonically
appealing music with dumb lyrics, but the best lyrics in the world won't save
a
boring or crappy sounding piece of music.  I would just as soon simply READ
the
lyrics thenb& (which is part of why I don't listen to my Dylan and
Springsteen
albums, which a friend of mine described as "music for tone-deaf people,"
very oftenb&)

As much as I enjoy and relate to the story line and lyrics of Quadrophenia,
it was initially the great bass playing and drumming and recurring melodic
themes that sucked me into that album. Quad is probably my favorite Who album,
but
if all I had were Pete's Quad demos, that would not be the case.  I love
Peteb
s Scoop albums (and demo bootlegs), but I don't think I would be as into them
if it were not in the larger context of being a Who fan.

By contrast, although I do appreciate and own many recordings by the
oft-cited Bob Dylan and John Lennon, their relatively weak vocal abilities and
limitations as guitarists result in them not getting as much stereo time at
home as
bands like Zeppelin, Sabbath, Deep Purple orb&.The Who.  And as far as the
AC/DC
thing goes, I have seen both Dylan and AC/DC live several times each and
would go see either again.  If they were playing on the same night and I had
to
pick one however, I would pick AC/DCb&without hesitation.

--Michael

>>but some of the most recognizeable and unique guitar riffs in rock history
were created by Angus and Malcolm Young.  ACDC knows how to put a song
together to flat rock better than almost any band in history.  Lyrics pretty
mindless, or at least lacking in great depth, but everyone can't be Pete
Townshend,
Bob Dillon, or John Lennon.<<