What Constitutes Good Music?

[MAC]

Every one of us has bitched about what sucks at one time or another, but what really makes one band or one song so fucking good while a carbon copy stinks so bad?

In my opinion it breaks down into three catagorys.
1) Quality
A crappy sounding song is a crappy song.
A well produced song about something stupid is just stupid.
But quality alone does not do it.
2) Communication
If I have no clue what's I'm being told I don't care much what your saying.
If it rambles or if I can'r relate I'm going to dislike the song.
Some seemingly rambling songs communicate very clearly.
And on the topic of the sound itself it must communicate on a strictly emotional level.
Some bands/dj's are very good at this.
Some bands/dj's tell the same shit over and over and over....
which is were #3 comes in
3) Integrity
If you buy your song from someone talented
then hire 15 back up singers
then buy 15,000 punds of fireworks and then fly in on a helicopter
and let someone else choreograph you
and let someone else play all the music
Fuck you.
There are too many talented musicians that write, play, and produce their own music to waste 1 minute of my life trying to justify some built for TV band.

But what have I forgotten?

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Don't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

<IMG SRC="http://www.tyler.net/roguewarrior/images/macsnake.jpg" border=0>

[Time Slipping]

Whatever sounds good.

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"Those who seek my life will be destroyed
They will go down to the depths of the earth
They will be given over to the sword
and become the food of the jackals"

[King Bastard]

<FONT COLOR="Red">I agree with Mac, and I quote Beck, "If you cant write, then you cant relate."
I need to have a story told to me that I can feel like I'm a part of. Hell it isnt the best song out there, but "Teenage Dirtbag" byu Wheatus makes me think of my Junior High days.... Crazy Town's "Butterfly" is a nice tune for no other fact that I've felt like that for a woman in the past, and it's a nice sentiment to put into a song....

THis is gonna become a fave songs thread, I can smell it. Oh well, "falling to pieces" by Faith No More, and I am really digging "Finland Red, Egypt White" By The Sisters of Mercy... it's basically the lead singer Ian somethingorother speaking of the milspecs of the AK-47 against an idustrial backdrop of song, quite nice. </FONT c>

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Borne of sin, C',mon in... Andre Linoge; Storm of the Century

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

Who can say... I (and others) have a very personal response to music. I can recognise well produced music when I hear it, stuff that is technically good... but sometimes I will hear a quirky piece of crap and absolutely love it...

[Time Slipping]

Orgy is good. So is Grinspoon. And Midnight Oil. 28 Days. My fav. song however, is Sober by Tool

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"Those who seek my life will be destroyed
They will go down to the depths of the earth
They will be given over to the sword
and become the food of the jackals"

[Rabble Rouser]

What constitutes good music? Well, it's up to personal taste, but here's my two cents.

Production, production, production!!! I cannot stress this enough. I can't begin to tell you how many potentially great bands have been ruined by horrid production. It might cost you some money, but please get a good producer. It's more than worth it.

Good songwriting. Nobody wants to hear the word "fuck" screamed unintelligably over and over again. Also make sure that your songwriting fits with your style of music. In other words, don't put Blind Guardian lyrics to Suicido Commando's music...it just doesn't work.

Good instumentalists. It pretty much goes without saying, but be able to play your instrument. Good.

Don't overkill. It's really not necessary to have three guitarists, two bassists and a keyboardists. There's no reason a band should have nine or ten members in it, unless it's an orchestra.

Vocals can make or break a band. Case in point: AC/DC. Their actual music is great, but I just cringe every time Brian Johnson opens his mouth. Bad choice there, guys.

Originality. In the age where everyone and their aunt and uncle has a band, this is tough, I will admit, but try to do something that no one else is doing, no matter how small. Or more accurately, don't blatantly copy someone.

Those are the fundamentals of good music. At least to me.



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"You can't post that on the internet! You don't know if it's true!" - Lisa

[SexKitten]

I agree with originality..but i listen to R&B music..and how original can you be? Only so many things rhyme with love. If i hear the line I love you, please tell me its true one more fucking time, i swear im gonna change my taste in music.

Vocals are important...i hate hearing a beautiful song but hearing a voice that makes me wanna puke.

there arent many things i require though while deciding on whether or not something is good music. something in my brain just clicks and tells me to liek it. thats why my mp3 list contains everything from the grateful dead to pink floyd, to Busta Rhymes, to Leeanne Rimes, to 2gether.



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<FONT COLOR="blue">Meow</FONT c>

[MAC]

Tool definately rocks.

R R you just explained why my band failed.
To the letter.

I am currently reviewing

Buckethead (cool as shit)
Slayer (as always, hard to the fucking core)
Godsmack (fucking rules)
and
Blues Clues My Favorite Treasure.......
(actually some of it is quite catchy)

Who among us didn't learn to sing by watching Sesame Street?



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Don't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

<IMG SRC="http://www.tyler.net/roguewarrior/images/macsnake.jpg" border=0>

[skalie]

There is such a thing as over-production and also bad production.
I guessed I branched into good recorded music.

A good recording captures the essence of the band, with a band that has trod the boards for a long time, quite often their first album is the best, done quickly, low budjet, with all the feeling of the band live portrayed onto the disc.

The second album is maybe a beauty if the band members are truly talented, by the time the third album must, due do contractual obligations, come out, the band have started living the high life, are flirting with changing the direction of their music and end up putting out wishy washy shit. No amount of production will help that.

But then I'm only talking about live bands getting recorded well.

Fucking hell theMAC, broad topic here, like trying to say what is good art.

By the way has anyone else heard of 'albums'?

[MAC]

There was a joke amonst the musicians I knew:

You have your entire life to write your first album.
You have the rest of your life to try to write another.

I have an extrensive album collection including all the "Herb Alpert and the Tiajuana Brass" albums.
(not a joke)


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Don't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

<IMG SRC="http://www.tyler.net/roguewarrior/images/macsnake.jpg" border=0>

[skalie]

In my earlier years when anyone asked me what sort of music I listened I always replied ' All good music '.

Nowadays I say country and western, that keeps 'em guessing. When my house fills up with drunk punks drinking my beer I make 'em listen to Hank Snow or Gene Autry when they're starting to piss me off.

Otis fucking Redding, now there was a singer, saw an interview with the ivory twinkler from Brooker T, he said that Otis came up to him with a chord sheet in his hands and said that he liked to sing some. He then broke in to 'These arms of mine'. It's maybe a long shot, but I don't think sesame street came into the equation there.

Musician wise, half the trick is knowing when to shut the fuck up.

[Deadpool]

Last time i got wasted and high, a bunch of us sat down and turned the radio to a country station....it was cool....hee hee hee

[Minimaul]

I remember when I never listend to music. 5th grade and before then. Then Kris Kross , came out. I was on that like white on rice. Then Vanila Ice . At first I hated him , then I became an Ice Ice baby. Then I kinda stoped listening to music , till about 8th grade. Then it was Metallica , Green Day and Nirvana. That was it for awhile. Then highschool came along , made some new friends , and I was a big pimpin' thug. So , I started listing to rap. And that was it. At that point I "hated" punk, and alternative (and everything else). Then I got a job at a skateboard shop. I couldn't play the rap in the shop because it isn't "mother friendly" , that's when I started getting into (back into) other stuff.

Blink182 , Lagwagon , NOFX , Pennywise ect..ect.

Now it's all I listen to. But , I stil like some rap , mostly the old stuff that I listend to back in the day. I only listen to the radio when I'm in my truck. I never watch MTV , specially to watch these so called "music video's" that they "play" . I don't like being told what to listen to . Suggesting is fine , force fed music into my brain is another thing.

I've been listening to two Hum songs a lot latly.

'Stars' and , ahhh , shit I forgot the name. I'll get back to that later.

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[Buddha's Penis!]

i agree with wario here:
<BLOCKQUOTE><HR>I will allow myself to think of music as "good" for a number of reasons, but they mostly involve the message, the presentation, or the musical content, preferrably all three. I will give respect to anyone who can reproduce faithfully live what they laid down in the studio, whether I like them or not. And I can say that certain artists are "good", even though I hate them.[/quote] except for the message part, because i give no shits about the message. in fact, when it's obvious (see "punk") it puts me off entirely. i have yet to get to the bottom of why that is.
and i agree with skalie here:
<BLOCKQUOTE><HR>There is such a thing as over-production and also bad production.[/quote]
for example, nevermind; my least favorite nirvana album. ruined by over-production.

sincerity and "niceness" (such as her majesty by the beatles) are other things i like. contrived=bad. of course, these things are all completely subjective as i really have no idea who's sincere and who's a soul-less whore.



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you don't know anything until you know everything.

[skalie]

Good man deadpool, country is where it's at. I can put on Country FM and sing along to songs I've never heard before and get most of the words right.

I've got this CD, the 'Million Dollar Quartet', it's Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

They're wailing away on gospel tunes and hoeing down on country numbers, and it sounds like they're sitting in your lounge.

1956, a little country, a heap 'o' gospel, and there you have it the birth of rock'n'roll.

For those of you fervently counting on their fingers, the other member of the quartet was Johhny Cash, but he doesn't feature on the CD.

My bestest ever album of all time is 'Beggars Banquet' by the Rolling Stones. It's country as fuck, it's Keef's personal favorite as well. Shit, I don't even like the Stones, but that one is a goody.

Edit:Spelt keith wrong



[This message has been edited by skalie (edited 04-09-2001).]

[skalie]

Fuck rogue I thought I had edited it out in time, you're on the ball, or did you check my edits?

It was a total assinine statement, I apologise, my fingers can be disobedient sometimes.

Would like to hear you slag off country music though.

[Buddha's Penis!]

small talk:
skalie, what about exile on main street. it's also country as fuck, and in my humble opinion is even better than beggar's banquet, which is also very good. the only stones albums i like at all, actually. anyway, if you haven't already, check it out. like i'm filling you in on little-known stones albums.

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you don't know anything until you know everything.

[MAC]

I'm glad that minimaul mentioned rap.

Rap follows the rules as the other genres.

However they basiclly took the part that sucked and called it hip-hop. about 1 in 100 hip hop songs has any appeal at all and its ussually sophmoric.

For instance Sisquos(sp?) "Thong Song"
was a maggot ridden piece of tripe.
But I love almost everything I-T has ever done. He's a poet. He has a message and he is a master at conveying that message.

Ice-Cube rocks. He has intensity.
Dr. Dre is a wizard of production. he can take a crappy song and make you wanna move to it.
KC & JOJO can blow me. No one show make a living in music through 100% love songs.
Ballad Bitches, that's what they are.
I like DMX.
But I've only heard one song by OutKast
(Sorry Miss Jackson) so we'll see if they pan out or if they're the new Naugthy By Nature and Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony.

Rush definately rocks.


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Don't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

<IMG SRC="http://www.tyler.net/roguewarrior/images/macsnake.jpg" border=0>