BOC; I'd Like To, and other stuff

[John A Swartz]

Jazza asks for a kick:

>4) John Swartz: I'm taking my head in my hands and offering it for you to
kick here, but I don't agree with you on this point: music is good and
bad, it's just that people don't always like the good stuff. I mean, sure,
`good' is relative, i.e. good for what, but you've got to agree that a
piece that took effort and skill to compose and play is better,
intrinsically, than something jammed together in five minutes by a
would-be-but-never-will punk band. You may not like it, but that's not
the same. Otherwise there'd be no point in getting CDs: it sounds
`better', but that just means you can hear the sound more clearly, yes?
I've not met anyone yet who said,"Well I think it sounds better muffled
and scratchy _actually_"... but as usual this is just my opinion, crafted
after years to trying to defend Steely Dan to some very bored friends,
so what do I know? Interested in your comments though.

I don't usually kick people just for disagreeing with me - actually,
I don't think we disagree as much as you might think.  I certainly
agree that different music has qualities that could be "good" or "bad"
(or that might make one "better" than another).  Sure, CD's in general
tend to sound "better" than an album or cassette version (although this
can also be subjecte to opinion, and depends on how well the recording
is made - there are great recordings on vinyl and lousy ones on CD) -
that's because CD's offer a wider dynamic range than the other media,
and digital mastering may be used to remove noise.  So, from a sound
quality standpoint, a song on a CD might be "better".  Also, a piece
that took effort and skill to compose and play may be (not always)
better than some 3 chord jam thrown together.  What we're talking about
here is probably musical complexity, and one could say that the more
complex piece may be "better" than the jam.  These things are concrete
aspects of the SOUND, and yes, one could say they can be "good" or
"bad".

However, when you talk about MUSIC, or at least when I'm talking about
it, I'm going beyond the idea of music as just being "sound".  Music
is grouping of sounds for a purpose - where it becomes art, perhaps
conveys or evokes emotion.  Someone once define music to me as sounds
grouped together in an aesthetically pleasing way - I'm not sure it
necessarily has to be "pleasing" - some music may evoke other emotions
that may not be pleasing.  The point here being that music, and it's
"goodness" or "badness" is a perceptual thing - how the sound touches
someone.  While the sounds of the well-composed piece may be "better"
(in terms of being more complex, perhaps more varied, and some other
number of parameters than can be used to describe it) than a punk rock
jam, if you play it to people who usually listen to punk rock, they may
say, "That sucks!"  To THEIR perception (way of thinking), that well-
composed piece doesn't resonate with them, but the loud, raucous jam
that they can band their heads and mosh to makes them feel good.  So,
to them, the jam is "good" music, while the other is "bad".

So, when I say that music is neither "good" nor "bad", I'm trying to
point out that anything one can define as "music" will be perceived
differently by different people -- some will like it, and some won't.
Sure, there are qualities in the sound that could be considered good
or bad, but that's just the technical details.  Music is about feelings
and emotion, not science - sure "science" can improve sound qualities,
but that may or not make the "music" anymore pleasing to certain
listeners.

This is probably why I've been commenting so much lately on people
telling the list WHY you like something.  Just because YOU like some
piece of music doesn't really tell me anything about it -- I mean,
just because I say I like "Aeroplane" by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers -
if you've never heard the song, does that tell you anything?  Why
should you care that I like it?  And, if you have heard it, maybe you
think, "What?  That song sucks!  What the hell could he possibly like
about that song?"  But perhaps I can make you think a little about the
song if I say "check out that bass line", or even if I say, "It makes
me feel like jumping up and stomping my feet."  Music is about feeling,
and I want to know how a song makes you feel - now I can make a more
informed decision on whether or not I want to check it out for myself.


John