My iPod has better songs than yours!

[MysterionMuffles]

Do you guys think that there's an objective criteria as to what makes music good? Is it totally subjective and up to each individual's tastes, the artist's amount of success, or is there really an objective way to quantify what makes a good song?

 

I would argue there are a few basic things that make songs more LIKELY to be good, not neccessarily good entirely:

 

- Use of repeatable themes/melodies (repetition is fundamental in establishing memorability)

 

- Even structure, mainstream usually consists of verse, chorus x 2, bridge and chorus, but I prefer songs with more dynamic song structures in which at least 2nd verse or 2nd chorus offers something different from the first. This could be an extended chorus or a new instrument and melody. Even more so the songs that abandon the use of choruses altogether but that's a different topic I suppose.

 

- Reasonable rests between notes and beats to accomodate other instruments

 

- Even use of dynamics (ie. like a rollercoaster, the climb should always be worth the drop), basically a good use of soft and loud parts put together in a logical order

 

- The right use of instruments and tones to compliment each other. I'm having a tough time mixing instruments together to see if there are odd combinations that just don't work. I have heard songs in which a saxaphone was great with distorted guitars, or distorted guitars to go with tribal drums. So you COULD say at least that some instruments are harder to blend with each other, but it's not entirely impossible.

 

I'm not sure if I have any more critieria or if any of those are valid, but what are your thoughts?

[ribuck]

Lots of good research has been done into music, and quite a lot is known about the combination of culture and physiology that makes people appreciate and/or enjoy music. For example, it's no co-incidence that the range of musical tempos (from say 50 to 220 beats per minute) corresponds to the human heartbeat rate from rest to fully aroused.

 

An easy introduction to this is the BBC's "Science of Music" series, however it may not be available outside the UK since the BBC doesn't recognize the world wide web.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sk5xs/episodes/player

 

I found the following page quite interesting, especially Section 3 which explores the correlation between personality characteristics and musical preferences. Amongst other findings, heavy metal fans tend to have low self-esteem and are creative, whereas fans of mainstream pop tend to have high self-esteem but are not creative. It's possible (but not proven) that there is causation, e.g. that people with low self-esteem are more likely to prefer heavy metal than chart pop.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3022942/work-smart/the-surprising-science-behind-what-music-does-to-our-brains

[Wesley]

I have wondered this before, especially when 90% of the songs that people listen to have the same chord progression.

 

(See Pachelbel Rant or 4 Chord Song)

 

However, I am not sure. There are at least some objective requirements, like it needs to be in the audible range and not be so loud or the wrong tone as to induce pain or cause you to lose all hearing (though there probably are some masochists who would disagree there).

 

There certainly are majority things, like most songs use established chords, beats, tempos, etc and just add one small thing on top of that. I still would have trouble defining these things as objectively better though.

 

Even in math rock (which I know you listen to) with vary highly on the beats per measure within the same section, but most of the other components still follow similarly with other music, or else it would be just random noise that not many would view as musical.

[alexqr1]

Do you guys think that there's an objective criteria as to what makes music good?

Good and bad are only applicable to ethics or subjective valuation (opinion). There is no ethics involved here so saying a song is good or better than is a matter of opinion.Sure some music is more complex and sophisticated that other but you should not say it is better. It is only better for you or for me or a group of people, but not intrinsically better.

[LovePrevails]

I wrote my university dissertation on this topic and I'm still not sure! lol

[MysterionMuffles]

Thanks for the links guys! They sound like just what I need.

I've seen the 4 chord progression for numerous songs, it made me sad lol. Sad that it's that easy to get popular. Guess familiarity is a strong theme in music.

aw none of your links work for me ribuck

care to share some of the important things talked about in that video and article?