A Musical Discussion Thread.

[WinstonSmith357]

Just to throw this out to the other guy (though it has no relevance here at all) I never owned an iPod/mp3 player or even a cell phone in my life.

 

My point is all aspects of music in the current culture milieu are extremely subjective (not a personal knock). These days most folks can't agree on much when it comes to music, especially one musician (like Matt Good, for instance).

[trufflepig]

i agree that bringing in someone else (like a dave genn, mentioned earlier) might help matt bring the goods in future albums. not that i think his music is not great now, just to keep pushing him.

Edited August 16, 2006 by trufflepig

[cringleman]

Exactly.

 

Makes me wonder if that wasn't why Neil Young kept going back to CSN (to add the Y), even though it was never an amiable situation. Maybe it just pushed him, when he went back to do his own stuff.

[heyrabbit]

You need to understand, very clearly, that almost all music is entirely subjective, unless you subscribe to Pirsig's metaphysics of Quality.

 

I can make arguments about why Matt Good's music is vastly superior to 98 Degrees' catalogue, but I cannot prove that I am conclusively right. I believe that his lyrics and his music are better to a degree that makes comparison an insult to his craft, but I can't write a logical proof of it.

I've been meaning to get this book for a while: "This is your brain on music" by Daniel Levitin. The author's a rock musician turned cognitive neuroscientist. He studies how the brain processes music and explains the involvement of frequencies, rhythm, timbre, tempo, and so on, in the involvment of eliciting an emotional response from the listener.

Music may be subjective but that doesn't mean that the response it evokes is completely arbitrary. It can't be otherwise our taste in music would be randomly changing every day, all the time with no rhyme or reason. And it does, but people always have their favorite musicians. matt good, for example.

There's a reason why everyone interprets music differently. What makes a song "good" or "bad" to each individual depends upon how a persons brain has evolved aswell as the factors listed above. This could be affected by cultural differences and individual experiences. You could go so far as to say that it's partially Freudian. Perhaps you were assaulted by a guy who listened to classical music.You might grow up hating that entire genre.

I'll agree that music is subjective but I don't accept that there can't be a conclusive argument made to suggest that Matt good's is better than 98 Degrees'. I'm sure a consensus can be made on what is more pleasing to more people and why. you just need to know the science behind it, that's all

Edited September 15, 2006 by heyrabbit