What makes something good? (music)

[Maximo]

Seriously. Answer however you think this relates to your sense.


Personally anytime I listen to something new its run through a series of tests, subconsciously I think. Most of the bands I love took weeks of listening to for it to finally click. The first time I listened to Interpol was in the Girl - Yeah Right! Skate video and it got old quickly, I brushed off the whole band without listening to anything else-- what a mistake. Pavement met a similar fate. I heard some of the rough, more raw tracks and didnt get a good listen to SM. I think that we can get used to everything if we listen to it enough, I wonder what makes each person enjoy something more then another. Why is it some people's favorite choice is rap vs. metal, jazz vs. country... It boggles me! How can the music that sounds like a wall of noise to me sound beautiful to someone else. I know it happens, I see it all the time-- not arguing against that. Its crazy!

[Miss Tasty Princess]

What makes it good to me is if I like it. Perhaps more specifically, if it causes a positive emotional reaction (or makes me want to move my body, be it dancing or head banging). Because of this, I've been told my taste makes no sense, is random, is questionable, etc. I even saw someone post elsewhere recently that I make too much money and therefore buy too much and have lost my sense of taste and cannot be trusted (I'm totally paraphrasing).

[Maximo]

Originally posted by Mr.HCI
I even saw someone post elsewhere recently that I make too much money and therefore buy too much and have lost my sense of taste and cannot be trusted (I'm totally paraphrasing).

Haha that's interesting. I'd be interested in seeing more of what your full span of taste is.

[Miss Tasty Princess]

Originally posted by Maximo
Haha that's interesting. I'd be interested in seeing more of what your full span of taste is. Pretty darn broad. I probably have at least something in most genres you could throw at me. No showtunes, though.





OK, I have the soundtrack to Oliver! and I love it and that's it.













Alright, I also have three collections of songs from the early movie musicals with Busby Berkeley production numbers, especially with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler singing. The first I bought was an LP with way cool pop-up packaging but the vinyl was in crap condition so I bought a dbl-CD set but it didn't have "Pettin' in the Park" from Gold Diggers of 1933 so I had to buy another trpl-disc set to get it (luckily, each CD collection had great stuff the other was missing).

I do not own any Judy Garland. I don't care how stinking stereotypical it is.

[johansen smith]

how could anyone hate showtunes, they're infectous.

[Miss Tasty Princess]

Originally posted by johansen smith
how could anyone hate showtunes, they're infectous. Like Ebola.

[earl grey]

Originally posted by johansen smith
how could anyone hate showtunes, they're infectous.

i'm with HCI on this one. i like all sorts of random stuff, but showtunes are the rare genre that i just can't stand. in the context of a musical, fine - but at home, no way.

[9000]

Originally posted by earl grey
i'm with HCI on this one. i like all sorts of random stuff, but showtunes are the rare genre that i just can't stand. in the context of a musical, fine - but at home, no way.

guess you're not hanging at marie's crisis then.

[earl grey]

Originally posted by 9000
guess you're not hanging at marie's crisis then.

don't know it - showtunes bar? no thanks, i'll stick with hi-fi.

[tinobeat]

Originally posted by Maximo
How can the music that sounds like a wall of noise to me sound beautiful to someone else. I know it happens, I see it all the time-- not arguing against that. Its crazy!

There's different levels at which you listen to different kinds of music. I love the noise stuff for tootally different reasons than I love the rock music, which in turn is totally different from the joy I get from, say, free jazz.

Its finding out the right way (for you) to listen to these things. When I was just getting into all these things, I'd wonder how anyone could listen to stuff in which there was no discernible melody and/or rhythm. Or how people could take such joy in seemingly primitive garage rock music that didn't have the emotional depth of the stuff I liked and (at that time I thought) all sounded the same.

Its about finding qualities within the actual piece itself, rather than compared to other things, especially other things completely unlike it. Judge something based on what it is, not what it isn't. That's sort of how I began to expand my appreciation a lot.

[japanese_moon]

What makes it good to me is if I like it.

[bitterfruit]

I care about the imagery created by the lyrics and instrumentation.

[Maximo]

I think that "(Dont feed the) oyster" (from Pig Lib) is a perfect example of the combination of vocals and instrumentals my heart melts for.

[bitterfruit]

The emotional part of music can't be ignored. That's why I've been raving over "Transistor Radio" so damn much. I'm a sap for heart felt intelligent lyrics, and some of those songs are tear jerkers.

[earl grey]

Originally posted by bitterfruit
The emotional part of music can't be ignored. That's why I've been raving over "Transistor Radio" so damn much. I'm a sap for heart felt intelligent lyrics, and some of those songs are tear jerkers.

i'm probably the reverse - i don't really notice lyrics much initially, except for extreme cases of good (i.e. magnetic fields, pulp, pavement) or bad (i.e. the new U2). i'll pick up on them on repeated listens, but rarely do they tip the scales one way or another for me.

[tinobeat]

Originally posted by earl grey
i'm probably the reverse - i don't really notice lyrics much initially, except for extreme cases of good (i.e. magnetic fields, pulp, pavement) or bad (i.e. the new U2). i'll pick up on them on repeated listens, but rarely do they tip the scales one way or another for me.

I'm in that camp too. Though some of my favorite bands (pave, joos, destroyer) are fave's because of the lyrics.

but "meh" lyrics won't ruin a song for me. only out-and-out bad ones. its more about the music.

[bitterfruit]

Some of the lyrics on Morrissey's last record are just so corny that I can't imagine actually singing along live.

But them some of them are so poignant that I would belt out the lyrics in my sleep possibly.

I'm just a hooker in a pimp's world.

[japanese_moon]

Its all situational...

Cat Power, Bob Dylan, and Elliott Smith for example are musicians who I concentrate more on their lyrics than their music. they are known more for their poetry than their three chord songs.

But also, there is stereolab, sigur ros, where music is more important, probably beacause I dont understand what they are saying. feeling is a language though...

[vesper]

like everybody else, lyrics only mean anything to me from certain artists. i'm actually more interested in the rhythmic, i guess *poetic*, sound of lyrics -- the sonics, i guess? this explains my love for dancehall, dizzee, m.i.a., and stuff that can be off-putting to someone who is looking for meaningful lyrics. i guess i could figure out what they're saying if i really want to, and sometimes i do, but mostly i just want to hear the quality of their voice.

and it took me a while to figure out, but i looove repetition. like the really primal shit from faust's "it's a rainy day, sunshine girl" and lightning bolt's "2 towers" to the slinkier patterns of electro-house and micro-house (why i've been listening to luomo for the past couple days).

i'm also really interested in the concept of space in music (and this is where, i think, music has a lot to do with architecture). ie -- my bloody valentine's loveless makes me feel like i was dropped into a very tight room, where i have to put my arms over my head to fit; on the other hand spiritualized's ladies and gentleman... makes me feel like i'm in a really big room, with lots of freedom, but the music is really fucking loud wherever i go.

and i just like to be wowed by songwriting (XTC, duh), just like everybody else.

[vesper]

and i love to dance.

added question -- how many people dance? and i mean unironically and in public.

[the Pawnbroker]

Originally posted by vesper
and i love to dance.

added question -- how many people dance? and i mean unironically and in public.

I've never danced sober, except at my wedding.

Wait, I said sober. . . nevermind.

[tinobeat]

Originally posted by vesper
added question -- how many people dance? and i mean unironically and in public.

depends on the situation. I don't like dance nights, really, but if there's a hot dance party goin on, I'll shake it with no tongue in cheek..

[bitterfruit]

Originally posted by vesper
and i love to dance.

added question -- how many people dance? and i mean unironically and in public.

Only when I gots my drink on.

[earl grey]

Originally posted by vesper
and i love to dance.

added question -- how many people dance? and i mean unironically and in public.

if the music is right, i definitely will - but it usually takes a couple drinks to get things going.

[the Pawnbroker]

I'm detecting a pattern, and it involves alcohol.

[Miss Tasty Princess]

Originally posted by vesper
and i love to dance.

added question -- how many people dance? and i mean unironically and in public. I often feel like I'm the only one (or one of the few) dancing at shows. Well, violently wiggling is probably a better description. I caught the eye of Sharon Jones (http://www.daptonerecords.com/pages/stable_sharon.html) the other night, in fact, and was pulled on stage to dance with her and her band The Dap-Kings the other night during their song "Your Thing Is a Drag". For the record, I was not drunk.

[TheSadDebaser]

Cat Power, Bob Dylan, and Elliott Smith for example are musicians who I concentrate more on their lyrics than their music. they are known more for their poetry than their three chord songs.

wait, what, Elliott Smith was an unbelieveably talented guitarist/arranger/composer/multi-instrumentalist.

maybe Cat Power, and definately Bob Dylan.

But Elliott Smith was so much more than a good lyricist, that's totally selling him short.


As for my opinions on good, I'm particular about some things, mostly superficial. Lyrics can be awful and a song can still be good, as long as the music doesn't sound like shit. I don't like bands that sound like the Hives because they sound really flat to me on record. I hate cheesy guitar tones like you would find in most metal songs, Steve Vai/Joe Satriani, and most KROQ "post-grunge" snot rock such as Puddle of Mudd, Staind, etc.

For instance, I was repulsed by the guitars on "99 Problems" and that totally turned me off of Jay-Z who I had been enthusiastic about from the alternate versions of his songs.

[3dsound]

Originally posted by tinobeat
I'm in that camp too. Though some of my favorite bands (pave, joos, destroyer) are fave's because of the lyrics.

but "meh" lyrics won't ruin a song for me. only out-and-out bad ones. its more about the music.

ditto..

But also as someone said on this thread, if I listen to Dylan it's all about the lyrics. If I listen to Bowie/Low I don't care as much because it is all about sounds.

[Maximo]

Originally posted by 3dsound
ditto..

But also as someone said on this thread, if I listen to Dylan it's all about the lyrics. If I listen to Bowie/Low I don't care as much because it is all about sounds.


Definitely agreed. Mad props to Bowie :p