What is Good Music?

What is Good Music?

I know there are a billion different ways to answer this, but I think it's an interesting question whose answer may have interesting reprocussions in other areas of thought.

I won't say any more yet.

Let me know what you think.

 

Well, with the exception of Machaut (sort of), you all seem to talk about what good music is "to you".

So, is music's "goodness" all completely and purely subjective? Can you ever say something is bad music beyond the fact that you don't like it? I mean, pure subjectivity would imply that anything is equally as good as anything else, which seems to leave a bad taste in my mouth if truly considered as the reality.

On the flipside, if there is some objectively "good" music, where does that qualification come from? What would qualify one piece of music as good and another as bad, other than whether you as an individual like it or not?

Really consider it. If you say it's all subjective, then it's ALL good, even those flash-in-the-pan-crapfest pop things, because SOMEONE likes it. Any if you say that there is objectively good music, external to you and I and our personal tastes, what qualifies it as good music,and where does that qualification originate from?

And Machaut, to take up your question, what makes something "musical" and how is that different from "good"?

keep it going. I want answers

 

bump

 

Well, I didn't really want to debate either as I have no good answer due to the reasons I stated in my last post. I really wanted to put this out there and see if anyone HAD figured it out, or COULD.

What I did want is some explanation or justification (if possible) of why people think one way or the other. I don't know that there's a right or wrong answer, but there's certainly some great discussion fuel here.

It's easy to say quality is subjective, cause I like this and you like that. But when you take that thought to its end, you arrive at everything being "good". Would anyone accept that?

And if you take the low road and say that there is an objective standard for good music, well that's a whole nother can o' worms.

Speaking from my own perspective (which I think many of you may share), sometimes I catch myself applauding or dismissing music as if I was some sort of authority on what good music is. I'm not talking about the usual difference of opinion or taste. I'm talking about hearing something that I think has no redemptive qualities whatsoever, the kind of thing that just makes you go "man, this is ****ty".

I also feel like I can listen to a piece of music that might be something I really DON'T like listening to, but I feel like I can still say whether it's good or bad, irrespective of my musical tastes. Surely some of you know what I'm talking about.

Well, think about those times, those occasions when you heard some music that you didn't just "not like", but also thought was actually "bad". If you know what I'm talking about and are brave enough to admit it, How do you account for thinking that the music was bad? Not why did you not like the music, but why do you think that it was an example of "bad music" (beyond your personal likes and dislikes).

I've thought about this and I can't really figure it out. It's usually an intuitive feeling I have about whether something's good or bad, and that is hardly being objective, yet it seems like there is an objective quality (be it good or bad) beyond my own personal subjective experience.

I'm getting long winded so I'll stop and save some for later.