Are Lyrics Important?

Well, my favorite band (Animals as Leaders) plays instrumental-only music, so I'd say no. With that being said, poorly-written lyrics do tarnish a song, and I personally appreciate lyrics that are cryptic and open to interpretation, but that style of writing isn't strictly the only thing I can appreciate. I also like Mike Patton's approach: write something that flows with the music well, with meaning often being an afterthought. 
 
Depends on what kind of song it is.  If it's one to raise awareness about an issue, and to gather people, then lyrics are vital.  Otherwise, go nuts.  My favourite band (Radiohead) literally did mock Dadaist lyrics for their fourth album.  The lead singer claims that he drew words out of a hat and used them.  Most of their songs have non-sensical lyrics.  Daft Punk is a great artist with catchy tunes that make you want to dance but they're certainly not the best in the lyrical department.
 
turdl3 said:
Depends on what kind of song it is.  If it's one to raise awareness about an issue, and to gather people, then lyrics are vital.  Otherwise, go nuts.  My favourite band (Radiohead) literally did mock Dadaist lyrics for their fourth album.  The lead singer claims that he drew words out of a hat and used them.  Most of their songs have non-sensical lyrics.  Daft Punk is a great artist with catchy tunes that make you want to dance but they're certainly not the best in the lyrical department.
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I need to look up that radiohead song, I hadn't heard of that. I know that Tool did a song called Die Eire Von Satan (not sure about spelling there) which was entirely in German, and most people thought it was a satanic song, but it was really just the recipe to hash cookies in German (The song name translating to something more like "devil's cake")

I think lyrics are important (except in instrumentals) because they contribute to the song, even if your lyrics are to intentionally be a smartass about lyrics. There's a rap song I was listening to on myspace years ago (yeah, THAT many years ago, it was myspace) where the guy rapping compared himself to horse shit...and he was serious. Every time I think about it I'm like "bro, that's not something you want to say when you're trying to say you're awesome and badass...why did you think that would be a good idea to write?" Completely takes you out of the serious out of the song and just makes you laugh hysterically at him for his failure. That guy never made it big, as you can guess.
 
GracefulAssassin said:
Lyrics are probably the most important part of a song to me, especially in Rap.
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Only in Rap music, i won't need it for Pop music. :p
 
Lyrics can definitely add a lot of spice to songs, but what it really comes down is what type of song it is.
Many songs could probably pass off as a song on just their instrumentals, but there are some that would be just downright bare.
Not only can lyrics add some depth to the feeling or moment of the music, but the vocals that come with it compliment each other awesomely.
For me, lyrics are usually a benefit for many of the songs I've listened to, even though I just naturally prefer no lyrics.
Instrumental or not, if the song sounds pleasing, I'll be pleased.
 
To me, they are not really that important as the only kind of music I listen to is mainly dubstep and instrumentals (Such as Armin Van Buuren and Tiesto) but I do acknowledge the fact that there are some songs with very meaningful lyrics such as "Imagine" by John Lennon! 
 
It depends on the genre.  For hip hop, lyrics are of the utmost importance, otherwise you just have a bunch of crap over a beat.   I wouldn't say they're of the utmost importance in certain segments of rock music.  It's more about the instrumentals and such.  You can still have hip hop without the beat, but that doesn't work too well for rock music.
 
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