What makes music good in your eyes?

Post Reply New Topic

^ define good/poor musicianship?...

I think it comes down to skill and connection with the instrument, and the ability to play with cohesion with the other musicians involved, if any. Being technically proficient can be interesting to listen to, but if there's no emotion vocalized by the instrument, it can be cold. Musicians who can make an instrument sing with emotion while making use of it's capabilties technically get a lot of respect from me.

Lyrics that aren't too 'wordy' or stupid, an awesome melody and cool sound effects.

The best songs are the ones that move you emotionally, though dance songs are good too.

The most songs I love are songs with heartful or critical lyrics, original melodies (but I don't hate sampling) and never too much autotune, because that would just destroy the great voices of great singers. I like also music who gives us emotion in our hearts.

I wonder WHY most people here don't like wordy or poetic lyrics?... And also what you consider examples of which.

Depends,

I like it if the musician has put his/her soul into it and still fits my taste
I like lyrics that express emotions: primarily anger or madness, sometimes I even enjoy love
I like music that ranges from Muse to Cannibal Corpse.

But I can't stand commercial pop music hence I can't feel the musicians emotions in them and I don't enjoy that since I can only feel emotions from anime, games and music >.>

i personally am driven by melodies, even though lyrics are what drive my talent as i'm a budding songwriter, but when i hear a hook that's strongly passionate even in being passionately quiet, ultra loud (screaming is just pushing it. it's just listless noise that speaks for a painful, emotionally drunk existence. sorry, no offense to grindcore people but it alarms me, which is strange because one of my new faves Nine Inch Nails just touches upon it enough to having a well drawn out argument. Hey, it's 'in my eyes' right? ANYWAY), hippy hoppy with tons of turntable scratches, a blend of classical instrumentals with a fresh broad singer-songwriter approach. anything like that is awesome. Even stuff that makes some people sad and perplexed....more than often...makes me sit on the train to school and relax.

As far as a favorite general song that drives me, A Perfect Circle popped up on my internet radio and had me hooked. It's beautifully laced together, slick though it is for prog-rock, and btw i will admit that a lot of people have told me they like what i've put on while in art sessions while one guy asked to have my mix taken out and right out told me he hated my taste in music.
as far as taste in music, i think, it's all in good preference as long as you don't force your opinion on the other person but kindly ask them if they'd like to take their mix cd out during gym class or whatev...i mean music in all our own eyes is gonna vary widely enough that compromise is really the greatest virtue in tie with patience.

so anyhow, here's "Pet" by APC, for all you alt rock eye openers, or just about anyone.





[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrEP3RPgEao[/youtube]

Same.

Anything that gives me mad chills or brings tears to my eyes is an epic success in my books.

You must be one of those fake Autistics. Everybody knows we don't have emotions.

As for e-guitar, I like The Edge and Jimmy Page a lot, even though they are very different. Jimmy is very proficient in a classical sense. The Edge is very minimalist. But I like both.

I sometimes have that feeling that you also talked about... that David Gilmour's more progressive style does not really touch me. I like him a lot, actually, but some of the 80s stuff just... It's just not my thing.


I don't like most poetry in general because it doesn't make me feel anything. It's the same with many lyrics for me.

I LIKE poetry though. Just not... a lot of poetry. Specific types of poetry. Sometimes it's a nice rhythm. Sometimes I like the words. And sometimes what the song is about... But it's very rare.

Songs that have a message to them, guitars and a base, a good beat, rythem and a melody here and there.

That's ideal.

But I also love drony shoegaze stuff. So I can listen to My Bloody Valentine and not pay attention to the lyrics - um or rather not understand them even though I know what the songs are about - and just enjoy the sound of the music. It's very... circular.

I think there's a difference between poetry, and talking about 'poetic lyrics' though. Most lyricists wouldn't be able to write poetry, in my opinion. A poetic lyric to me is when you don't understand what the lyrics mean, because the words aren't straightforward and literal. Basically, like poetry but more lax, because it could very well be that the writer didn't think of a meaning behind the metaphor. For example, I wouldn't say Creep by Radiohead is a very poetic lyric, because everyone understands this song pretty much the same IMO, but I'd say Champagne Supernova by Oasis is. Heck, it even hit some controversy because people don't understand what the lyrics mean, I know some people who are genuinely enraged by it because they don't understand what 'Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannon ball' means. That line is one of the reasons *I* liked it.

I mostly listen to hard rock, though I have a little bit of everything in my catalogue. The things I look for in music usually include the following:

- Predominantly clean vocals. Some vocalists, like James Hetfield, Chris Cornell and Maynard James Keenan, can pull off the screaming without irritating me. However, I usually stay away from the really unintelligible barking, growling, grunting, Cookie Monster impressions, and extended periods of post-hardcore scream vocals. As testament to that, Steven Wilson has quickly become one of the vocalists I respect the most, precisely because his vocal style is so unapologetically conservative and straightforward.

- Intelligent, emotional or meaningful lyrics. I realize this is sort of a subjective judgment. A song can be about virtually anything, and I don't really have any predispositions for or against it. But I suppose, being an Aspie, it's probably pretty understandable that I have the most personal difficulty relating to songs about social interactions, like love songs and party songs. You know, the stuff that tends to dominate pop radio.

- Copious amounts of electric guitars are optional, but preferred. Doesn't mean I won't listen to something like Beastie Boys or Bjork. I love a good instrumental loop or electronic hook too. But I'm a sucker for guitars.

- Extended jam sessions. I know a lot of people find them sort of boring, but as an artist, I sort of like longer tracks from a utilitarian standpoint. When I start painting, I like to have something playing in the background during which I don't have to worry for awhile about if I want to skip the next track. 10 to 20 minute songs where the musicians lose themselves totally into the music are ideal for passing time with a brush in hand and not worrying about having to put it down to adjust what I'm listening to.

- There's such a thing as overdoing it-- but for me, experimentation is one of the most important elements in anything I listen to. It's a difficult thing to describe how it comes through in the music. It's just a quality that I seem to know when I hear it. Sometimes it means odd time signatures, or bringing in an unusual instrument like a koto or a tabla, or adding some strange ambient noise. A lot of pop music rehashes the same old tired, 4/4-time, easy-listening gimmicks over and over and over, to the point where they become about as bland as bread and water. I much prefer to be challenged. On an intellectual level, I want my music to push me, and occupy me, and sometimes even threaten me. I have often found that the music I like the most later on is music that I dislike upon the first listen.

Haha. XD Champagne Supernova. Yeah, the lyric is... interesting.

I don't really like most lyrics by Oasis. Only... a couple. Maybe 10. Maybe 20.

Oasis fans complain about "Little James" very often, but I have always liked the song. The lyrics are silly, but that's not why I like the song. I sometimes even go as far as saying that people who focus on lyrics so much entirely miss the point. Lyrics are not everything that songs are about. I just don't get it. And yeah, well, those people who hate the song, also do not like the music. I always liked the "simple" music of the song.

And then there's something like... the song that must not be named. And people accept it and even like it. It's almost like a general rule. "People who like 'Stairway To Heaven' will very likely hate 'Little James'." Of course, that's only me exaggerating. But my point is, that "objectively" "Stairway To Heaven" is a "good" song. And I do not enjoy it. It gives me a lot of pain.

In the same way as poetry, most of the time I do not see a reason why a lyric is the way it is. It would be unfair to think that the lyricist had to write something and that a particular lyric is the best they come up with.

I always think there must be a point to a certain lyric, but most of the time I don't see it. Most of the time it just sounds nice. And a lot of poetry works like that for me. It does not even sound good to me. I try to find a reason for myself to like it, but I just cringe and I hate even having to think about it.

Very often, someone will say, "Oh, I like those lyrics" and usually those who say it say that about a lot of lyrics. It makes me feel really dumb. Because I don't see the point of most lyrics and if I see a point in a lyric, I think it is unjustified. Because I do not understand the general concept of lyrics.

And writers write lyrics for various purposes. So finding a concept of lyrics is practically impossible, but I still try to find one.

Many lyrics seem coherent to me, but I don't get their message. And if the message is straight-forward I still do not understand why the lyrics are more important than the music. I am much happier to like a song for the music than the lyric because most lyrics seem... out of place to me. For me they have nothing to do with the song whatsoever. On rare occasions, I'll like a lyric and it enhances the song, but that is a 1/200 chance. Out of a great amount of lyrics, I'll only like one.

I am very happy when lyrics are incoherent. Because then their point is not to convey a certain message.

I HATE most self-reflective self-pitying lyrics. I loathe them. Because I hate the style that most of them are written in. Those stereotypical singer-songwriter lyrics that all work the same way. It's always the same pattern. It is not imaginative at all. They could write different stuff, but they choose to use an old pattern.

The kind of lyrics that I like either are obscure, dreamy, fairy tale-like lyrics. Or lyrics that have interesting rhythmic qualities. Or almost political lyrics that do not use dogmatic messages. The lyrics I like will most likely be lyrics that other people think are "cliché" or... almost ridiculous. I like the lyrics of "This Is Music". And yes, they are intended to sound good and they are over the top. Maybe I just like lyrics that are just not "serious".

I hate conservative notions of everything. Lyrics fit nicely into this. Lyrics are almost "holy", but most of them do not touch me.

Why are some lyrics more "relevant" than others? Why can lyrics from an artist like... Katy Perry piss me off so much? And why can I accept others so easily?

It is not just my personal taste. I find lyrics and poetry very alien. Even if I understand the symbolic meaning of a song, I feel... nothing. I am left with a big hole inside of me and "everyone else" just... does not? How do other people perceive lyrics? "Aw, well, this is a lyric about failed love." Is this why someone would like a lyric? Those kind of... thoughts just depress me because it is not a very... interesting topic. Well, the topic IS interesting, but most lyrics about it do not seem interesting to me.

I also hate books who consist of a lot of... empty symbolic plot. Where an event takes ten pages because everything means something. OK, well, I liked Sartre's "Nauseau" a lot, even though I know "objectively" that it is a lot of self pity without much reflection.

I do not understand why many people won't like one thing that is so similar to another. In the same way I do not understand why I like certain lyrics but not all the other ten million lyrics.

Most lyrics leave me no other option than making me feel indifference. That is why, to me, I equal them to poetry.

Even if convention says lyrics are less obscure, I don't see the point of most of them just the same way I see no point in most poetry.

I think the lyrics and poetry I like are very similar to prose. That doesn't seem to make sense, but I don't know what else makes so few lyrics and poems stick out for me.