if lyrics aren't important, why bother.
melody doesn't need lyric! you can play a melody on any instrument.
i disagree that kids don't care what lyrics are, as long as the song sounds good. kids care very much about the lyrics. pop-punk bands like the offspring and blink 182 get their fans by a) playing simple music that isn't complicated to listen to and b) projecting an image thru their lyrics. most kids (and a lot of "older kids" and other adults) listen to music for identification. kids need to feel cool & accepted. i've heard kids recite eminem songs and limp bizkit songs... no music, no singing, just the lyric.
to say that lyrics are unimportant is insulting and just bullshit. lyrics aren't important in instrumental music.
lyrics don't need to have any level of profundity in pop music.
but to SONGWRITERS, the lyric is damned important. a song, by definition, is a lyric and a melody... that's how they are legally copyrighted. not a melody with some words, or some words to a melody. 2 equally important things.
i always get annoyed with pop bands, simply because they have a HUGE platform to speak/sing from... but they never say or sing anything that has real meaning or importance, cos there is this f-ing stupid idea that words are unimportant. let's hook in the kids and drain their parents' pockets...................... kids grow up and out of their cool clothes; and writers grow old, and out of their cool clothes.
either way, i'd like to see someone sell a song where the lyrics are meaningless to anyone. people will buy music because the sound catches and holds their ear long enough for the words to catch into their brains... there are two hooks.
