• It's a question that has been running through my mind for about thirty minutes. xD
  What do you guys listen for in music?
  Beats, lyrics, quality, or what?
  I usually listen for lyrics so I can TRY to sing it later but after that it's just the rhythm and beats that I listen for. :3

depends on what language it's in. If it's in a language I speak then I listen for beat and lyrics. If it's in one I don't speak then I listen for beat and the singers voice. If I don't like a singers voice then I refuse to listen to the band.

i don't actually know what i listen for in music

well, it actually depends

i listen for songs with lyrics so i can sing them when i''m bored
i listen for songs with fast beats so you can dance to them
and i listen to other songs cause friends have told me about them or someone wants my opinion on a band

I listen for sense. [:

• Whatever sounds good.

I'm a rock man, myself, so I listen for the intensity of the guitar and drums; see if those are any good.
I like lyrics, too, to be honest, and if they're stupid and/or meaningless, I usually don't like it.
And, of course, I listen to the vocals. Who doesn't? If the singer's no good (or the screamer, in metal's case), then I can't stand it long enough to attempt to enjoy the song.

I'm listening to "Broken" by Seether and Amy Lee right now, if any of you are interested. ^^

I tend to look things like beat, rhythm and dynamics before lyrics and that. I do like lyrics, don't get me wrong, but it's ok if the song is more focused on other things.

I do find it annoying if I don't like the singers voice but it doesn't stop from listening and enjoying the other bits of the song. Take Pearl Jam for example, I love some of their songs and lyrics but Eddie Vedder's voice really annoys me sometimes.

Rhythm and lyrics. That's what I look, or I guess listen for first. :]

I listen for something that's well put together and catchy.
I can like a lot of music from different genres, as long as the songs are well-arranged and has something I can remember it by.

Lyrics aren't all-important to me, but they definitely help. I always have a problem when I'm listening to songs with horrible lyrics :c

I usually like to search for a song that sounds like it has depth and meaning, like it was written because the songwriter was actually -feeling- those exact same feelings. If it sounds like it's simply another song meant for cheap filler on an album, I'll usually skip it.

i mostly looking for : scream,big guitar sound and drums

so im a screamo kid :D

Really, I don't know. It's got to have really good hooks, melody, doesn't necessarily have to have vocals, but if it does, a nice unique voice tickles my fancy. Quirky lyrics are a plus... but the thing is, I love bubblegum pop with high pitched girly vocals and crappy lyrics that is just fun to sing along to, and I love hardcore industrial music with screaming and thrashing guitars, and I love twangy country tunes about being left behind and driving a truck, I love ambient shoegaze with drowned out low-voiced boys singing about the sun falling through the blinds on a sunday afternoon, and I love folk music with jangly acoustic guitar, and I love classical pieces and old fashioned strong-voiced vixens from the 30s.

It's a mixed bag, and I don't think there's really a unifying thread between them all.

I guess it's just a mix of things that combine to touch me in a way I can't explain. *shrug* Mysterious!

Hmm. I`m not sure. I look for lyrics and a drum pattern. I try and listen for the drum pattern to recognize the drumming and lyrics so later I can attempt to sing the song. ^^

• 
  I listen to the Lyrics first.
  I like to get a feel to what the artist is trying to get through and if it worked.
  I also listen to some lyrics for the amount of "skill" "effort" and "time" put into it.
  That's a hard one to explain in words, so.
  Second the quality of the beat. You could have a great song, with the worst beat ever. That just takes away from the song.
  
  Okay, well technically I listen to the beat first, cause of the 15 or somewhat seconds before some one starts talking.
  

I listen to all of those option sand the feeling that the person gives when is singing... Some of the singers suck because they don't sing with feeling.

Like they are some singers when they sing ( specially the sad songs) can make cry for feeling their sadness ToT.

Oh and I love to hear on youtube or in shows where people enter on contest to show that hey can sing. Ad some of them are WOW others just make me put a bag on their had xD

I just love to see the talents of the people. T makes me smile ^-^

If I wasn't t be a belly dancer I would try and be some kind of the persons that can see who has talent and then give them a chance to make them BIG hehe

Good lyrics are the first things I look for. I like a song that has a good meaning, or is something that I can relate to. Even if the singer has a horrible voice, or the beat sucks, I can still like the song for what it says. Of course, something with a good beat that makes me want to get up and dance is a good song in my opinion. However, bad lyrics can kill it.

• Music is a huge part of my life, even though I'm not good enough to be in a band, and live where I don't have any human contact outside of my family anyways.
  I listen to music daily, and when I listen for music I listen for the complexity (And bass, cause that's what I like, treble filled bass...mmm Rickenbacker. <3) that's why I listen to Progressive Rock the most, early 70's prog rock is the most complex and masterful music I know, and will always know.
  
  But I'm not limited to just prog rock, I listen to a few bands outside of that genre, like April Wine, they're just hard rock.
  
  And though Frank Zappa has some Progressive songs and albums, he was never one genre, he had do-wop and what not as well, haha.

I tend to be very picky about lyrics, either when I'm just encountering a group or determining if I really like a song. I mean, when I'm listening to a song, it is really impossible for me to not hear the lyrics. That said, though, if the song is in a language I do not speak, then the lyrics can be pretty much anything, and I won't mind, since I will not understand them.

The other thing I get really fussy about is the tune. I do not like rap and related genres (which I had better not speak about since I know so little about them) because they are mostly, if not entirely, rhythmically based. It is very important to me that a song have a melody of some sort.

Given the above, though, if either the words or the music really appeals to me, I can be kind of indifferent to the other and still really like the song.

Basically what I listen
for is soothing singing,
but full of energy; metal
guitar riffs and other
musicalities, BASS. Lots
of bass guitar. Energetic,
yet calming drums.

When listening closely to
lyrics, I try to listen
for mentions of mythology.
Like "Shiva", "Virgin Mary*", etc.


The Virgin Mary has never actually been scientifically proven. To those outside of Christianity, and/or to people outside of the US and in like, an Arab country would call the Virgin Mary a myth, as Christians also do to other religions

• When I listen to music, I really look for all the things that will quench my hopes in what I want hear.
  
  I really want to hear the beat- the complexity or the simplicity of the song can get me. I mean, I love the erratic noises of Progressive/experimental rock/hardcore, and I like simple stuff like an acoustic guitar being strummed. It can be a catchy repetitive little diddy like a ska chorus. I don't know, music just differs for me.
  
  I really love great lyrics. Especially the ones that have a deeper meaning. I can't really stand much for songs that degrade people, and/or is sexist. Like seriously, I don't care if someone else thinks it's a hit, it's a horrible thing. It's practically brainwashing people to think like that.
  
  Quality? I don't know what you mean by that. I don't listen to music that has loosely has their career based by status. You can have the best studio around, it wouldn't change my mind about it. Music is about getting into your soul, and other people as well. I mean, ugh... I didn't explain it well.. I don't mean it by a Satan perspective mind you.

I listen to the intelligence of how the put together a song. I am sick of hearing beats that sound the same or guatar riffs that are just lame. I want to hear intelligence in design and structure of a song. Take bands like Dream Theater or Symphony X which both take the effort into making interesting and intelligent songs.

I also listen to lyrics. I need lyrics that stand alone as being original but still manage to capture what they want to say (whether original or not). Paradise Lost album by Symphony X is amazing. It is about Paradise Lost by Milton and is amazing on how the portray it in music.

I also like the atmosphere of certain genres of music such as post punk rock, goth, pop rock and so on. Ambient is a great genre for atmosphere as well.

Artist that are amazing

Peter Murphy (Bauhaus)
David Bowie
Lou Reed (Velvet Underground)
Nico (Velvet Underground)
Siouxisie (The Banshees)
Robert Smith (The Cure)
Nick Cave (The Bad Seeds)
Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac)

And so on.

I listen to...everything? I like the person to have a nice voice, so I listen to girl singers mostly. Not saying guys don't have nice voices, some do -smile- I like it better if its in a different language, because then I can go look up what it means. If it's in a language I understand, I like that too. Also, they can't just be rapping about thier latest screw, or something O_o...I like the lyrics to have some meaning, and to be something sweet, sad, or cheery. They have to have some sort of meaning.

Also, the actual music. I like it if there's something different at points, and it isn't just repeating this, or repeating that, and there's a little something different at some point. Though, if there isn't, I'll probably still listen to it -nervous laugh-

I think I'd actually listen to anything shoved in my face, but be "This is...okay..." if it's something I don't like, or "Give me an MP3...now." if it's something I do like -laugh-

There's a lot of factors to what I listen for, beats and lyrics for English speaking songs. However it also goes same for German just due to I have a bit of grasp in the language. But if its not the language that draws me it's normally beats. However it has to be a beat that I would know I would find myself just bob along with.

I think that i also look on whatever sounds good and try to listen to those songs, that I actually understand, in case to avoid the situations, when the beat and singesr voise is good, but the whole meaning of the song actually sucks.
Crapp English... I hope you understood, what I said xD

Lyrics so I can play it over and over again in my mind but I never sing it aloud

:oops: