Many people seem to lean one way or the other. Will be interesting to see how the split falls here.

For me personally it's the music. Doesn't matter how good the lyrics are, how appealing the voice is, if I don't vibe the music then i'm not gonna love it. This applies to any genre, even stuff that's more vocally focussed like rap.

I won't listen to a song that sucks because I like the voice, and if I find a voice off-putting I will not enjoy the music. I have no answer.

The music, always. And a 'good' voice is one that complements the music.

penningtron wrote: Mon Apr 11, 2022 3:18 pm The music, always. And a 'good' voice is one that complements the music.

Yep. I'll add that most music I like I like the music more than the vocals. It is also really fun/challenging to make music with a great singer and try to orchestrate everything to not take away from the vocals.

I listen to a lot of instrumental music, but nothing hits me better than great lyrics that are well-delivered.

The voice can be an incredible instrument, especially when it is grouped with other voices. I’m a huge fan of polyphony and it’s various forms- Balkan, Dong, Shape-note, etc. The human voice is such a powerful and expressive thing. Gotta go with vox.

Vocals, vocals vocals. 80% of as band's effort should go into having in-tune, intelligible vocals that exist meticulously above the instruments, but never distractingly so. Hone the lyrics into a lovely narrative arc and don't come into a recording session with fucking nonsense and expect shit will just magically write itself.

An ex-bandmate was really into Hum, but I couldn't get past the Jim Varney vocals.

Hmmm...

I do appreciate a conventionally fine singer, e.g. classic era Scott Walker.

But I prefer the "vocals as another instrument" approach. I dunno, like classic 4AD bands or Yes or something? Or Tilt era Scott Walker? (Damn, that guy was something else, no?)

Then you've got the "can't sing but works in context". Mark E. Smith is my pick there.

I guess a wide range of vocals work in the right musical context but if the music is bad nothing can save it. So I vote MUSIC.

As far as lyrics I like the sound, don't care what the words are, as long as they're not embarrassingly bad. Thanks for listening!

Vocals may be the single most important "instrument", but collectively music wins for me. I can get over dull vocals way easier than dull music.

I feel like you can only cleave these two elements apart for something like a Zep song that JP just handed over to Plant, or some metal band where the guitarist and drummer wrote all the music and then some guy added "some vocals". I'm sure there are many other puzzle piece assembly bands, some of which I like but most stuff that is great that doesn't work. It's like wondering if the line or the color is more important in a painting.

When you think of the "songwriter" in the grand tradition the vocalist is the narrator of something that gave music an occasion. Like who could imagine taking the opening track of a Built to Spill record and saying, "Look Doug, your singing is a little iffy but your music is so cool. We've got Chris Cornell here to lay down some great vocals." His weird voice and perspective is what drove the song into being. His crappy, endearing voice is part of what is the character that makes it a song.