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What is bad music?
Durin:
--- Quote from: DynamiteKid on 18 Mar 2010, 05:48 ---Bad music to me constitutes a lack of passion.
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I don't know I think Ke$ha is really passionate about what she does but Tik Tok is still a crappy song.
rynne:
--- Quote from: DynamiteKid on 18 Mar 2010, 05:48 ---Bad music to me constitutes a lack of passion.
If you don't believe in what you're doing or don't want to do it, or if you're just a shameless product of committee thinking then I'll likely have no interest. Manufactured pop music is not necessarily an example of this because a lot of people who end up in manufactured groups have a real passion for what they're doing and some of them even evolve into legitimate artists in their own right - Take That, for example.
The other example is when someone has such talent that they can just fart out amazing music. Like Tupac Shakur, who essentially tossed off arguably rap's greatest album in 1996.
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I have to disagree here, because I hear tons of crap music that I think is sincerely made by passionate people. People can be incredibly passionate and still come up with generic, rote garbage. (Think of how many shit, third-rate punk bands you've heard genuinely screaming their little hearts out, for example.)
If I had to come up with what makes bad music, I think I'd have to put it on a two-axis rating of Originality and Craftsmanship. Originality is the novelty of the music: how much the music presents sounds, concepts, production, etc. in manners that we haven't heard before. Craftsmanship more represents the technical skill of putting a track together: the appropriateness of the chord changes, the inherent poetry of the lyrics, and so on. Great music has high levels of both Originality and Craftsmanship. Bad music has neither.
That being said, I think the relative importance of Originality vs. Craftsmanship will vary wildly from person to person. For me the Originality axis is the more important of the two, which is to say I'd rather listen to a poorly-produced piece of music that has a unique vision than an exquisitely crafted piece of music that offers nothing new to the listener.
Thrillho:
I wasn't saying that lack of passion is the ONLY component of bad music. I just mean that is the key component to a lot of music that sucks as far as I'm concerned.
Sox:
Define 'bad'.
Frankly, most music sucks, doesn't it? The important thing is the reason why it sucks. It doesn't matter how much something sucks if it's sucking for the right reasons. I've spent some time trying to work out what those reasons aren't, but everytime I think I've found some 'rule', I've also found too many exceptions to make it plausible.
Something that holds true for my own music library and tastes, but almost certainly not everybody elses, is the intent. Why the music came into existence. Who is the target audience, why was it written and who made it. Again, there are exceptions, some fantastic pop songs came into existence due to the wants of some very unscrupulous people. For the overwhelming majority though, what I think 'sucks' is largely inspired by who's selling and profitting from it. Not because of the artist. I believe that in most circumstances, musicians are actually working againsts their labels to make a good album. You find, with major record companies especially, that there's a lot compromise involved. The artists can write an absolutely fantastic album, only to have it handed back to them and be told to restructure it, re-record the drums, remove some tracks, and add a few marketable singles.
I didn't want to believe any of this was true, but I began working with people who'd actually found themselves in those exact circumstances, and not just with major record companies.
A lot of music sucks because it's the music that a record company wants it's musicians to manufacture. Not because it's what the musicians want to create.
Of course, musicians are perfectly capable of making shitty records on their own, but it's much easier to do so when they have a ridiculous budget and a manifesto handed down to them by people who want to force the band onto a particular target market. I don't think it's too unlikely that a lot of musicians who suck have the same mentality and approach as the major record companies anyway.
Remember that popular music now is made to be disposable. It's not about creating a lasting work of art. It's all about the immediate profit. Anybody with even a cursory knowledge of how major record companies operate will have a hard time denying this. Even the best pop songs these days are ruined by the practice of manifacturing immediate pop hits. Entire albums can be ruined by shameless production techniques and cheap sales tactics.
De_El:
--- Quote from: Sox on 22 Mar 2010, 10:54 ---Remember that popular music now is made to be disposable.
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I take issue with your use of the word "now."
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