What Makes Music Bad?

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

Overproduction.

Bingo!

[mgoblue]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

Overproduction.

I tend to agree...over time the music industry feels the need to overproduce in their attempts to make tons of money. Most bands/artists don't intentionally "sell out", but over time the unknowingly tailor their music towards what's hot at the time, usually losing a bit of the creativity and individuality that people liked in the first place.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

Lack of instrumentation, including a number of different unique instruments, I think will generally be poorly received by the public.

There was music in the 1900's that people found very popular at the time. That music, for the most part, did not include a lot of the musical arrangements you here today in music. And my opinion is that jazz became so widely popular around this time period because it was the first, at the time, to include a large variation of instruments in the track's arrangement.

This, of course, is mostly a result of new music and the new generation. I don't say this to be hard on the younger audience. It's really not their fault. They've grown up to a different style of music and their ears are more accustomed to that art. Yet, that same audience does not find enjoyment from listening to Earth Angel or Frankie Lyon.

Is it that their music became bad over the years? I say no. It's just that their music is not as involved as the music of today. Much like attention spans have shortened, music today needs livelier arrangements to grasp the attention of its audience. A guitar riff playing along a set of drums and two trumpets just doesn't cut it anymore.

We have to really look into this as an older generation. Did our music become bad or is it just that music is changing?

Wow. I couldn't disagree with this more. The number and variance of instruments is completely irrelevant. Throughout history and in the modern era, often the simplest of tunes are what people gravitate towards the most, because there is no distraction.

You can go out with a great drummer and great stringed instrument player and really get people's attention. Throw in a singer that knows what they're doing, and you have the core of what most people love about their favorite songs. In fact, many, many people are only in love with ONE instrument, and they take the rest to fill the song out.

A properly played Moonlight Sonata on ONE piano is still enough to make most people sit still and quiet.

In pop music, I can name ten hits off of the top of my head that are essentially minimal drums, a very sparse melody line, and someone talking or singing on top of it.

Most "bad" songs have clumsy dynamics and a lack of call and response, either melodically, rhythmically, or both.

[CMH]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

Wow. I couldn't disagree with this more. The number and variance of instruments is completely irrelevant. Throughout history and in the modern era, often the simplest of tunes are what people gravitate towards the most, because there is no distraction.

You can go out with a great drummer and great stringed instrument player and really get people's attention. Throw in a singer that knows what they're doing, and you have the core of what most people love about their favorite songs. In fact, many, many people are only in love with ONE instrument, and they take the rest to fill the song out.

A properly played Moonlight Sonata on ONE piano is still enough to make most people sit still and quiet.

In pop music, I can name ten hits off of the top of my head that are essentially minimal drums, a very sparse melody line, and someone talking or singing on top of it.

Most "bad" songs have clumsy dynamics and a lack of call and response, either melodically, rhythmically, or both.

As simple as pop music is today, it is not arranged in the same way pop music was in the past. There is a definite change in arrangement and the use of instruments.

And I agree that bad music has clumsy dynamics, but I'm only speaking about music that is approved by the mass market. I assumed that the discussion was about music that is played on the radio that is essentially accepted by the masses, but rejected by the minority.

The mainstream market is not likely to favor music from 50+ years ago. Why is that when the music was considered good then. How is it considered bad by the newer generation today? Obviously, this doesn't apply to all because I'm 27 and I love music from the 40's and on. But, the gap is wider and less people are enjoying that music.

So is it that the music has gotten worse or is it that music has changed?

[garnettrules21]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

When it includes lyrics such as "Do the Hellen Kellar and talk with your hips". So much music sucks today, there are still some good bands/artists out there though.

[TheLetterZ]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

Overproduction.

This, along with a lack of creativity and awful lyrics.

[youvalss]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

To each his own. Bad music for someone is good for another. Some people would say that nobody's buying an album because it's bad. But then again, There are wonderful albums that harldy sold.

I think that what ruins music for some people is when a singer or a band they've been listening to for years, change their style - which makes those old fans be skeptic about that new album.

[youvalss]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

If it's made before 1985 and not by The Beatles, it probably sucks, in my opinion.

Fixed.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

As simple as pop music is today, it is not arranged in the same way pop music was in the past. There is a definite change in arrangement and the use of instruments.

And I agree that bad music has clumsy dynamics, but I'm only speaking about music that is approved by the mass market. I assumed that the discussion was about music that is played on the radio that is essentially accepted by the masses, but rejected by the minority.

The mainstream market is not likely to favor music from 50+ years ago. Why is that when the music was considered good then. How is it considered bad by the newer generation today? Obviously, this doesn't apply to all because I'm 27 and I love music from the 40's and on. But, the gap is wider and less people are enjoying that music.

So is it that the music has gotten worse or is it that music has changed?

I think you're confusing the radio industry with the overall popularity of bands. There are plenty of bands that are much more like older music that do very, very well. Record labels have an agenda as far as radio and pop culture goes, but if you look at what bands are touring and selling out arenas, you'd be shocked by what you found. The bands that make the most money off of touring do not match up with your top ten singles of the week.

Because of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, the current generation has been able to find older music on their own. As a result, there is a real resurgence in pre-1990 musical approaches. Yours is a straw man argument, because the masses don't uniformly approve of newer music, nor do they have a disdain for older music. If you cast your blanket over everyone, outside of the relatively narrow scope of modern radio pop, you'll see that there is a very large and varied group that challenges your ideas.

So even looking at pop(ular) music, the amount of instruments has no bearing on whether or not people will like something. The core of the music is in the dominant rhythm and the melodic theme. Everything else is polish. Most producers know they have a it before they have more than four instruments on a track. Sometimes it's just a beat and melody that lets them know when they have a hit.

[SPTO]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

Overproduction.

Not overproduction alone though. Overproduction and lack of real instruments and favoring electronic based music.

The reason I say that is because I can think of 2 instances of overproduction in the past which was wildly popular and/or now viewed as revolutionary. The first would be Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" which so emphasized cacaphony (sp) of sound to the point that at times you couldn't hear the singers clearly!

The second example would be my favorite singer Marvin Gaye. He was one of the first to not only do but EMBRACE multi-track overdubbing. He did it in such a way that you would hear him harmonizing with himself on some songs and it allowed him to have every single one of his vocal ranges featured in a song if he wanted to. Also by the time of his death he was starting to embrace the electro-soul movement but stayed true to himself by also employing a rhythm section and real drums/guitars for the most part. I don't think he'd actually throw himself wholeheartedly into the kind of sound that we have today.

Also he produced himself to the point that he'd do 50+ takes until he found just the right sample of his voice to throw into the recording. Ray Charles started doing that in some of his later recordings as well.

Today's overproduction sees these guys throwing gimmicks and trying to polish a turd (let's face it some of the acts today can't actually SING worth a damn) whereas others who were deep on the production end did it to attain perfection. Heck, Marvin once sweetened the pot on his Live at the London Paladium concert LP because he thought his voice and some of the musical accompaniment didn't sound right.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

I think a bad melody makes music bad. I dont care how good the lyrics are, if the melody is bad then the song is bad.

This. Summer Girls by LFO was a hit song when clearly it was written just for the sake of rhyming things. It just sounded catchy.

[daflyboys]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

I think a bad melody makes music bad. I dont care how good the lyrics are, if the melody is bad then the song is bad.

You stole that from 101 Dalmatians!! And I mean the cartoon version!

(This is why the Cruela De-ville song rocked!!)

[rockchisler]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

Rap makes Music suck.

No commercial rap music sucks.

[SqueakyD]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

I'm on the side of Husker_OS on this one... I like rap as well, especially if the artist is conveying a message of some sort... I'm not a fan of stuff that have lyrics like this... like this.... like this... like this... like this... like this... like this... like this...

So it pretty much has to do with effort of putting in some good lyrics, and a melody that isn't one dimensional or in some cases, copies off of others. I'm not sure it's right to have artists nowadays that can get away with sampling old stuff and making it into the top of the charts so easily.

[daflyboys]

Re: What Makes Music Bad?

I'm clueless.

Fixed.