OT - What Makes Music Great

Submitted by CarlosSpicyweiner21 on
I am piggybacking on the Hot Takes thread. Obviously with music you get many different opinions. I was just wondering what makes music or a song great. Is it the lyrics, they actual instrument playing or maybe it is the fact that it just makes you want to get up and dance. I find myself enjoying songs or bands for their style of play. Sure a few songs pull me in with well written lyrics, but overall a killer guitar just makes my day.

ST3

June 2nd, 2017 at 2:06 PM ^

How does it make you feel? It's like eating a great meal. While one person may enjoy a slice of New York style pepperoni pizza, another might choose a Chicago deep dish or a Detroit pan. It's up to the individual. Where we get in trouble is listening to critics tell us that Radiohead is the greatest band of all time or the Clash is the greatest band of all time or, because I mentioned him in the other thread, Eric Clapton is the greatest guitarist of all-time. Hogwash. Listen to what you like. What makes music great is what it makes YOU feel. If enough people share your tastes, we can say that the music is popular, but greatness cannot be quantified.

bacon

June 2nd, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^

Is this a sign that we have really just run out things to post about? Next week we'll be discussing why bad things happens to good people and why hot chicks prefer douchebags. Sometimes it just is.

WholeMilk

June 2nd, 2017 at 3:06 PM ^

The song, the performance, the recording process, the mixing process, and the mastering process.

There are other factors within these main categories, as well. It is all subjective, of course, but it's the combination of all these factors that allow you to connect with the finished product.

kehnonymous

June 2nd, 2017 at 3:07 PM ^

My music teacher in 12th grade humanities once mentioned that she got something different out of Beethoven's 5th symphony every time she listened to it - I think that's a pretty good measure.  

ST3

June 2nd, 2017 at 4:56 PM ^

I noticed that my badminton club's newsletter facebook account* posted something political today. A little light went off causing me to appreciate this blog's "no politics" policy just a little bit more. Badminton and politics don't mix.

*yes, such a thing actually exists

Zoltanrules

June 2nd, 2017 at 4:47 PM ^

Like pornography... can't describe it but you know when you see (hear) it. The Beatles will last another 50 years, most other pop music will be forgotten except this classic...

 

Idzerd

June 2nd, 2017 at 5:09 PM ^

Handel's Messiah -especially the Phillips recording by Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir -not only the best rendition, but the best recording my audiophile ears have ever heard (can't listen to any other recording, now, actually).



While I listen to all kinds of music (mostly rock) except country (with a very few exceptions) and christian contemporary (with absolutely NO exceptions), this recording is my desert island disc.  



I never get sick of listening to it -ever.



It helps that it's more than just music to me.

UM Griff

June 2nd, 2017 at 8:32 PM ^

Almost any song by Earth Wind and Fire is a good example. "Got to Get You Into my Life" .....EWF and the Beatles = uplifting!

Lee Everett

June 2nd, 2017 at 9:46 PM ^

Like any movie or book or piece of art, it remembers if you remember it and how you remember it.  Did it make you feel?  How did it make you feel?  Why did it make you feel that?  Did you talk about any of that, want to share any of that?  

Something is okay, good, if you like it when it's happening.  But it's truly great if you like it the next day, and the week after, and long after that.

fksljj

June 3rd, 2017 at 8:23 PM ^

Good music is subjective. There is no way to measure what is good or bad music. I actually had a thing at work many years ago in a small department where one person didn't like the other's style of music and vice versa. I like all styles of music (although country is pretty low on the ladder for me) so I told them figure it out or we're tossing the radio.

BIGBLUEWORLD

June 3rd, 2017 at 10:43 PM ^

What was the MC5 like?

You’re standing in a Niagara Falls of sonic splendor, as five James Browns pour their hearts out onto the stage. American flags testify to our brothers and sisters dying for no reason in Viet Nam. Revolution is in the air, along with the sweet smoke of freedom. Our spirits rise in a crescendo of Trans-Love Energy, and we come together to Kick Out the Jams in a moment of truth never to be forgotten.

Later, with the echoe reverberating in our souls, a young person says softly, “For the first time in my life, I felt like it was okay to be me.”