top 10 bands of all time, lyrics-wise
 

your favorite bands with your favorite lyrics (singer songwriters not allowed)

birthday party
flipper
the fall
velvet underground
the promise ring
slint
teenage jesus and the jerks
bardo pond
swans
half japanese
pil

this was verrrrrry off the top of my head, but i like all these bands' lyrics a lot

funny, i was listening to PiL's Metal Box today while reading over their lyrics...some really cool stuff in there.

I'm sure no one will agree with me.

Cat Power
the Smiths
Xiu Xiu
Radiohead
Joy Division
Arab on Radar(sickeningly great)
Elliott Smith
Rufus Wainright
Antony and the Johnsons
Bright Eyes

Granted, they're only great because of the fantastic delivery.

Sonic Youth
Misfits
R.E.M.
Bob Dylan
Minor Threat
Leonard Cohen
Subhumans
PJ Harvey
Modern Lovers
The Doors


Quickly off the top of my head.....lyrics aren't really that important to me.

The Smiths
The Verlaines
Television

Can't think of anymore right now.

what's your favorite promise ring record?


mine:
black flag
minor threat
fugazi
rites of spring
crass
bob dylan
discount
early against me!
the minutemen
bikini kill

Huh, this is actually harder than just your average top ten list, and I'll probably forget somebody I totally like. It's not that I don't think about words, but many of my faves (Sun City Girls, Eno) are more straight musical. Even Sonic Youth become less important when I look at the lyrics first. I like their lyrics, but they are not among my favorite groups in that department. So with words first (though NOT in order)...

Sun Ra Arkestra
Velvet Underground
Elliott Smith
David Bowie
The Fall
Jandek
Palace/Will Oldham
Dead Kennedys
Sex Pistols
John Lennon

hayden, xiu xiu and arab on radar both have awesome lyrics.

and i feel like an asshole because i meant the shadow ring, not the promise ring, sorry dude, i havnt slept much lately.

and i said non singer songwriters yall...

same here.

this is not in any significant order and also i couldnt think of 10

bob dylan
bowie
patti smith
talking heads
pink floyd
my bloody valentine

there not that important to me either, but i like when theyre good.

Lyrics are very important to me. Bad lyrics can ruin even the greatest of music.

Nick Cave and any outfit he's in or been in.
Bob Dylan (the greatest lyricist).
Jamie Hutchings from Bluebottle Kiss.
Bright Eyes.
Nation of Ulysses/ Make-Up.
These Arms are Snakes.

...

Good pick with MBV cantank.

10 or so:
ATD-I (just for sheer out-there lyrics that make zero sense sometimes)
Blonde Redhead
Television
Sonic Youth (early to DDN era with Rain on Tin and few others being the exceptions)
The Misfits (50s B movie goodness)
Pixies (incest and the Bible, gotta love early Pixies)
Hum (space, astronauts, eskimos)
Radiohead
Wilco (mostly from YHF)
Joy Division

plus other's that I don't feel like rementioning.

Off the top of my head...

The Replacements
Whitehouse
Royal Trux (mostly later stuff like Thank You eg: "I knew right then that I would always love her, even when her breasts were rotted with cancer")
Big Star
Descendents
Andrew WK
Turbonegro

and early 90's RAP.

rem, early at least...i have no idea what he's saying but it intrigues me.
'cowered in a still, monkey mouth in question'

shit, i can't think of any bands with exceptional lyrics...cuz i usually don't pay much attention.

Xiu Xiu
Morrissey/The Smiths
Leonard Cohen
Hot Snakes
Sun City Girls
Joy Division
Thinking Fellers Union Local # 282
Beefheart
Slint
Polvo


I don't really listen to lyrics but the above stand out to me.

The Smiths
Joy Division
The Cure (really depends on the records though, the best lyrics are on Pornography and Disintegration IMO)
Television
Radiohead
Sonic Youth (especially on Sister and Daydream nation, then quality varies)
The Notwist
Tindersticks

John Lennon/Yoko Ono
The Beatles
The Kinks
Bob Dylan
Talking Heads
The Smiths
The Velvet Underground
The Rolling Stones
The Grateful Dead
R.E.M.



50 or so lyricists

John Lennon
Ray Davies
Bob Dylan
David Byrne
Morrissey
Robert Hunter
Brian Wilson
Lou Reed
Syd Barrett
Mick Jagger
Smokey Robinson
Brian & Eddie Holland with Lamont Dozier
David Bowie
John Lydon
Michael Stipe
Thurston Moore
Joe Strummer
David Lowery
John Fogerty
Neil Young
Roy Orbison
George Harrison
Paul McCartney
Gordon Sumner
Al Green
Leonard Cohen
Roger Waters
Peter Sinfield
Marc Bolan
Jim Morrison
Tom Waits (& Kathleen Brennan)
Robert Johnson
Ron Mael
Kate Bush
Kim Gordon
Lee Ranaldo
Beck Hansen
Nick Drake
David J & Daniel Ash
Prince Rogers Nelson
Sam Cooke
Ric Ocasek
Paul Westerberg
Don Van Vliet
Barrett Strong & Marvin Gaye
Buddy Holly
Chuck Berry
Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller
Bruce Springsteen
Elvis Costello
Stephen Malkmus
Andy Partridge
Pete Townshend
Stevie Wonder

__________________







"We're Coming Up on Alderaan"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbRvY...eature=related

well if i was allowing singer songwriters, which was supposed to be against the point, leanord cohen would be ny number one pic by far.

beefheart would be second

I used to not care that much about the Lyrics, SY and other bands like VU, .. have made me more aware of lyrics. Still Music >>> Lyrics

some bands whose lyrics I like:
My Bloody Valentine
The Birthday Party
T. Rex
Joy Division
The Lyrics on The Stooges' debut (Simple but Great)

Generally speaking, I'm not that much of a "words guy" with music, but there are some who blow me away.


Legendary Pink Dots
Current 93
Bevis Frond
Stone Breath et al
In Gowan Ring
Echo and the Bunnymen
Joy Division
The Church
Death In June
PiL

Swans
Minor Threat
Birthday Party
Pixies
Big Black
the U-men
Sonic Youth
Radiohead
Fela Kuti
the Pop Group

Joy Division
Radiohead
Nick Cave
Lou Reed
Xiu Xiu
Interpol
The Smiths
Swans
Cat Power
Siouxsie & The Banshees

Pretty unoriginal list but it's the truth!

You included Interpol for comic relief purposes, surely.

I knew putting them in my list would backfire.
I like their lyrics.

I was genuinely surprised.
I know people who like their music (hell, I even saw them on one of their early tours and enjoyed the show), but you are honestly the first person I have encountered (fans included) who doesn't think their lyrics are not only unexceptional, but hilariously godawful.

I agree with many as you with Joy Division.

Rob Instigator's list of bad-as faves in lyrical stylings. Just based on LYRICS, and it has to be bands, not hip hope acts, or else I woul include public enemy and Rakim and slick rick)

Codeine
Pavement
REM (pre-1990)
Black Sabbath
Jane's Addiction
The Smiths/Morrissey
Morphine
Butthole Surfers
PJ Harvey

I know I will get some slack for this, but Wilco has some good lyrics.

interpol is what ian curtis shat out one week after a binge of curry chicken

Mark E Smith (I am always trying to figure out what goes on inside this guy's head)
Burt Bacharach
Mr Lif
Nico
Diamanda (Yes, she doesn't need a surname anymore)
Coil/ Current 93/Death In June/Throbbing Gristle (Cheating)
Belle and Sebastian


Let me think of some more.

I thought Bacharach worked with a lyricist.

Sorry, I have just realized that I meant Hal David. Kill me.

Youtube doesn't have the dinner Philosophy scene from Monty Python's Meaning of Life

[insert scene here]

Mrs. Hendy: Do all philosophers have an S in them?
Mr. Hendy: Yeah I think most of them do.
Mrs. Hendy: Oh... Does that mean Selina Jones is a philosopher?
Mr. Hendy: Yeah... Right, she could be... she sings about the Meaning of Life.
Mrs. Hendy: Yeah, that's right, but I don't think she writes her own material.
Mr. Hendy: No. Maybe Schopenhauer writes her material?
Mrs. Hendy: No... Burt Bacharach writes it.
Mr. Hendy: There's no 'S' in Burt Bacharach...
Mrs. Hendy: ...Or in Hal David...
Mr. Hendy: Who's Hal David?
Mrs. Hendy: He writes the lyrics, Burt just writes the tunes... only now he's married to Carole Bayer Sager...
Mr. Hendy: Oh... Waiter... this conversation isn't very good.
Waiter: Oh, I'm sorry, sir... We *do* have one today that's not on the menu. It's a sort of... er... speciality of the house: Live Organ Transplants.

Those are, to my mind, equally as asinine and irritating as Steve 'genuinely shit lyricist' Milk-mouse's interminably 'zany' rhyming couplets of shitness. See also Brian Molko. Bob Dylan can eat a massive tub of 'shut the fuck up you over-rated wank residue' as well.

Good lyricists make sure that the book references are as subtle as that Sonic Youth37 poster's sense of humour. If they are outstanding lyricists they don't need any at all.

Wow, no one has mentioned the Silver Jews yet? Lyrically, American Water might be my favorite album.

Because they suck.