re: How much do you pay attention to the lyrics in music and how important are they to you?

I guess I'm in the middle.

They're important. I appreciate good songwriting. Stupid/lazy/try hard/cheesy song writing annoys me, even for artists I like. For example, Jason Isbell ("Maybe it's the fire in my little girl's eyes").

But lyrics don't have to be obscure or deep or beyond the grasp of the average listener. Certainly, I don't like artists where the depth of songwriting is supposed to carry the the entire package.