On a slightly different note, I've found that Japanese anime theme songs can be quite catchy. Berserk, Full Metal Alchemist, and Neon Genesis Evangelion all have theme songs that sound like something you'd hear on the radio - except half the lyrics are in Japanese (for some reason, the other half are in broken English, which makes the whole experience even more surreal).

Other anime have more sophisticated soundtracks. Cowboy Bebop, aptly named, uses jazz throughout to frame the story line. The soundtrack itself is excellent, and worth purchasing even if you're not crazy about anime. In a similar vein, Samurai Champloo (directed by the same guy that did Bebop) has a hip-hop themed soundtrack, and also makes excellent use of the music (although in my opinion, the story's not quite as good as Bebop, even though the animation itself is much better).

I don't understand most lyrics, since for some reason, they don't mean as much to me as the music.

My theory (which is my own), is that men don't pay as much attention to lyrics as women do. "How can you enjoy this song?", I've had many girlfriends say. "Whaddaya mean?"  "Don't you understand the lyrics?"  "Never really paid attention to them."

But in my later years, I'm a bit more sensitive to this.  My youngest (!2 years old) likes Rammstein, and even though she can't understand German, I don't let her listen to the song "Mein Teil".  I listen to it, though, and understand what the song is about.

My favorite French band right now is the Prototypes --  kind of a mix between Blondie and the Ramones.

My new hero.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

You would think that people had never heard of Plastic Bertrand
Oh well, everything old is new again.

I invite you to discuss your favorite music whose lyrics you don't understand
Well, I happen to like African music very much and most of the lyrics are sung in the native tongue, whatever it happens to be. If you're at all interested in African music, I'd suggest you head over to Benn loxo du taccu (That's Wolof for "one hand can't clap") and check out what's available. He's got all kinds of MP3s from all over Africa and they encompass many, many styles of music. Old stuff, new stuff, and everything in between. Informative and highly recommended.

Somewhere in my soul, there's always Rock -n- Roll... Joe Strummer

I like Paolo Conte, who sings in gravelly Italian, ocassionally with bits of French and English mixed in. He's a talented composer. To me a nice thing about foreign lyrics is, unlike stupid lyrics in English, they don't grate on me when they are inane or ludicrious because I don't really know what's being said.

I really enjoy Os Mutantes, who came up in Brazil back in the late 60s---they kind of pulled a Bob Dylan by appearing at a tropicalia festival playing hated electric instruments, which got them first booed, then loved. Takako Minekawa is a Japanese lady who sings some in English, but her accent is so undecipherable that it might as well be foriegn. Blonde Redhead sings mostly in English, but they put out an EP with Italian and French versions of some of their songs. Very nice work. Shadmehr Aghili: Persian house music. You don't have to be gay to like it, but it may help. And of course, let's try to remember the time when Shakira was good. The album Donde estan los ladrones still gets me going.