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How would define "bad music"?
- Thread starter bassliner50
- Start date
Hellhammer, the precursor to the equally influential Celtic Frost?Years ago, my friend and I got this album by a band called Hellhammer and it was bad. I mean terrible, lousy stuff. But after a while, we started to dig it, for novelty's sake. It started having a coherent pattern and made sense. So, what happened? Did we just start liking crappy music or was it never crappy and we just didn't like it at first? Lots of music is like that. Who really knows.
Yeah, I can understand that, as from today's perspective it can be percieved as a silly noise made by kids...
...but then again, it did inspire thousands of tape trading kids taken by its weird appeal, and it seems like you weren't immune to, either.
And the same happened to me after the head scratching period ended
I always took Duke’s statement to mean well executed or badly executed. What other criterion can there be when criticism of style cannot be validated. All kinds of people make all kinds of music for all kinds of reasons. There is no Grand Wazoo who will pronounce for all time, the stuff you don’t like as bad music. Unless of course, it’s badly written or played. There are styles I don’t care for but that doesn’t cancel their validity as art or entertainment and let’s not kid ourselves that all music is art. Music designed purely as entertainment is a valid form.
I regard all musical performance as theatre.
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”.Years ago, my friend and I got this album by a band called Hellhammer and it was bad. I mean terrible, lousy stuff. But after a while, we started to dig it, for novelty's sake. It started having a coherent pattern and made sense. So, what happened? Did we just start liking crappy music or was it never crappy and we just didn't like it at first? Lots of music is like that. Who really knows.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act II, Scene 2.
Salud!
Any music that makes someone move inside is good music, however simple it is.
Any music that makes someone move inside is good music, however simple it is.
According to Victor Wooten, music is a universal language. It is meant to convoke emotions.
Therefore, I'd say anything that fails to evoke a response in a normal, healthy individual is bad.
To me the best music is classical and music explicitly composed to score films. I'd compare those to paintings like the Mona Lisa.
Most popular radio friendly music is like art that has been whittled down to little more than a hallmark greeting card.
(It still evokes emotions, but the expression is more about the sentiment and the words inside rather than the art on the cover)
It's more about the poetry at that point, because the music itself is pretty basic tried and true 3 and 4 chord stuff.
I think the worst is usually stuff that is written by musicians who see music as some form of competition.
When the fans of that music talk about how fast something is played or how difficult it is to stretch fingers that many frets.
That stuff is often... just not music. It evokes awe, but more from the athleticism required to play it than the music itself.
The band Dirty Loops comes to mind. Amazing skills. Mind blowing talent, but I enjoy watching them play and
hearing how amazingly tight they are rather than actually enjoying the music itself.
That's not to say that all stuff arranged by virtuosos is bad, because I think Charles Berthoud really "gets" music.
I think he's probably the best bassist in the world right now as far as technical mastery goes, but he can also move me with
what he plays.
Of course, it's all subjective though and this is just the view from my window to the world. YMMV
Therefore, I'd say anything that fails to evoke a response in a normal, healthy individual is bad.
To me the best music is classical and music explicitly composed to score films. I'd compare those to paintings like the Mona Lisa.
Most popular radio friendly music is like art that has been whittled down to little more than a hallmark greeting card.
(It still evokes emotions, but the expression is more about the sentiment and the words inside rather than the art on the cover)
It's more about the poetry at that point, because the music itself is pretty basic tried and true 3 and 4 chord stuff.
I think the worst is usually stuff that is written by musicians who see music as some form of competition.
When the fans of that music talk about how fast something is played or how difficult it is to stretch fingers that many frets.
That stuff is often... just not music. It evokes awe, but more from the athleticism required to play it than the music itself.
The band Dirty Loops comes to mind. Amazing skills. Mind blowing talent, but I enjoy watching them play and
hearing how amazingly tight they are rather than actually enjoying the music itself.
That's not to say that all stuff arranged by virtuosos is bad, because I think Charles Berthoud really "gets" music.
I think he's probably the best bassist in the world right now as far as technical mastery goes, but he can also move me with
what he plays.
Of course, it's all subjective though and this is just the view from my window to the world. YMMV
Well, uh… that’s literally what it means and how the word is properly used. Everyone else is free to disagree. It’s a subjective term.
There *is* bad music. Objectively bad? Well no, because that’s not how the word “bad” is designed to be used. You’re allowed to not like stuff.
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any music:
if i like it = it's good, maybe even great!
if you like it = i don't even have to hear it to know it's bad.
if we both like it = you're just saying that you do...'cause you obviously don't understand it.
if we both think it's "bad" = i'm just saying that to spare your feelings...'cause you obviously don't understand it.
If I like it, it's probably the right kind of bad music, or maybe really exceptionally cool good music.
Half the stuff I see & hear on "Austin City Limits". PBS redeems itself by showing "Antiques Road Show" immediately afterwards unless it's pledge month in which case all bets are off.
Riis
Riis
For me, it's anything where the majority of the fan base is musicians. And modern country.
There’s plenty of music that isn’t to my taste, but the only music I feel is actually “bad” is that which is low effort (slapdash, rushed, etc.) or made in bad faith (cynical, clout-chasing, and so on).
Remember in the old days when you would buy a CD without being able to hear it first? And upon listening you would skip over every song after about 15 seconds? That would probably be bad music.
Although, as an older and wiser person I find that there are some albums that I once detested but now simply enjoy. Leonard Cohen's "Various Positions" is an example. I hated that album so much I returned it...which was not always an easy feat in the 90s. And now, it is one of my favorite records.
Although, as an older and wiser person I find that there are some albums that I once detested but now simply enjoy. Leonard Cohen's "Various Positions" is an example. I hated that album so much I returned it...which was not always an easy feat in the 90s. And now, it is one of my favorite records.
I'd say that you answered your own question. Whether someone says "this music is good and this music is bad" is a matter of opinion and everyone's opinion needs to be respected. Who is to say what is good or bad music?
