One of the cleverest men I ever spoke to told me once that "music is a lot like color in that there is no definite good or bad. There is no right or wrong. There is only what you enjoy and what you don't."
Well said, isn't it? And it's true. This is what makes the music critic's job quite difficult: he has to sell an opinion that is 95 percent completely subjective, but the only way to do it is to focus on the five percent that's objective. Whether the songs and the concept are well-structured, whether the whole package is original and/or innovative, to what extent the artist accomplishes their objective. All of the things that really have very little to do with whether, and why, a person actually LIKES the music they're hearing.
Frank Zappa told a story that illustrates what I'm getting at here. In high school he took a doo-wop single to his music teacher and said, "Listen to this and tell me why I like it so much."
The reason he liked it so much, according to the teacher? "Parallel fourths."
This is all a roundabout way of pointing out that because music is so intensely subjective, because attempts to pinpoint rationally why somebody likes a piece of music are so reductive that they become absurd, it is absolutely impossible to say that any music--any song, any artist, any genre--has "universal appeal." There is no such thing as universal appeal, because there is always a group of people who dislikes some type of music for some subjective reason.
I, for example, am not much of a fan of Mozart. And nobody has ever had the term "universal appeal" applied to them than Mozart has. Why do I feel this way? I dunno. In objective terms I can say that there's a certain...precision to his compositions that rubs me the wrong way. It's too precise, almost mathematical (even in the "Development" sections of his pieces). But really, overall I can't say for sure why I'm not a big Mozart guy. I'm just not. (I adore Beethoven though.)
Most people also love Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World." I abhor that song. I absolutely, unconditionally love almost everything else he's ever done, from the King Oliver Creole Jazz Band to "Hello Dolly." But when 'What A Wonderful World" comes on the radio, I change the station.
There are even some people out there who hate the Beatles. I don't agree with them, but I unders--okay, I don't understand them either. But I accept that they hate the Beatles.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Murphy
interesting post
One thing about music is that it is essentially temporal. It exists in time, only in time, only in the moment.
Moments are so very transitory. A heartbeat, a breath, a silence, all these are part of music. It is incredibly subjective, as you say, to assign values to musical moments.
2 - Guppusmaximus
I can agree to a point because everyone has a different ear for sound but I disagree because your article totally undermines the years of hard work and talent it takes for musicians to compose great music(art??). If you don't take that into account than you are doing a disservice to the people who don't necessarily understand the education behind playing an instrument or actually listening to music.
Music is not just an art it's also a form of communication and can define a moment by how you translate an emotion that the artist portrays by the years of experience you have with listening to music or playing it. That's why Bon Jovi may have sounded sweet in the 80's but now you like Mozart. Sure, you can't force someone to like a certain kind of music especially if they have been brainwashed by MTV to believe that Tha Bling-Bling is all that matters but you can show them that there is more to the communication than just the words they are using.
You can't deny that gaining more education and experience with an instrument would allow you to create better music!! Just because you can't put your finger on the reason why music makes a connection doesn't mean their isn't a reason!!
3 - J. P. Spencer
Well thought-out post.
I know that you've probably had this experience, but I can't tell you the number of times that I have come across a great album or piece of music by someone, attempted to introduce it to someone in my intimate circle, and received in return a look of utter confusion, or what I like to call "The Rumsfeld Squinty-Eyed 'Huh?' Face".
It's when you give up trying to introduce something you think is great to people you know who you think are unappreciative that you finally become a music critic.
"Maybe, just maybe, SOMEONE out there will believe me!"
4 - Michael J. West
I disagree because your article totally undermines the years of hard work and talent it takes for musicians to compose great music(art??).
It doesn't undermine it. Respectfully, Guppusmaximus, I think you're reaching a bit. I can see how my article might say that the musician's hard work and talent don't determine whether I like the music or not, and to some extent I stand by that.
You can't deny that gaining more education and experience with an instrument would allow you to create better music!!
Yes, I can. Because "education and experience" are not the same thing as "talent and imagination." There are any number of musicians who have tremendous experience and might even be considered "virtuosos," but come off sounding robotic and soulless. Bruce Hornsby, for example. Meantime somebody who's been playing for three weeks can come up with something completely original and exciting. Harpo Marx, for example.
In fact, oftentimes the inexperienced musicians can be MORE relied upon to create something extraordinary and original...because if they don't know the rules, they don't know which rules to follow and which to break.
But none of these things make a difference. Almost any musician, whether s/he's been playing for two months or twenty years, will find someone, somewhere, who is moved by her/his work. And if only one person is moved by it, only that person can even approach explaining why.
Oh, by the way:
That's why Bon Jovi may have sounded sweet in the 80's but now you like Mozart.
I DON'T like Mozart. I DO like Bon Jovi. And I like the Kingsmen (those guys who did "Louie Louie") better than both. See my point?
5 - Michael J. West
Thanks, J.P.! I know the feeling very well, with the Rumsfeld Squint. My fiancee and I frequently exchange it; she sees me make it when she plays Sarah McLachlan in the car, and I see her make it when she comes over to find the Residents in my CD player.
To each his own! (Which is sort of the whole point of this post, really...)
6 - zingzing
Guppusmaximus: "You can't deny that gaining more education and experience with an instrument would allow you to create better music!!'
gaining more education and experience with an instrument COULD allow you to create better music. it could also just allow you to create more professional-sounding music. over intellectualizing music can make it sterile and dull. it's a risk you run. some people can make virtuosity work for them, like frank zappa, prince, etc... and then there's rick wakeman, eric clapton, and anyone who plays viola except john cale...
i think a limited technical understanding of music can work to an artist's advantage in the pop world. look at john lennon... couldn't read music... learned guitar from his mother, who taught him how to play it like a banjo. he slowly progressed as a musician and lost most of his creativity in the process.
look at punk rock. it celebrated primitive instrumental ability, taking rock back to its basic elements to get away from all the crap music that "education and experience" begot. it gave music back to the people. you didn't have to be some sort of god-gifted guitar genius to play, and, after all, if "music is not just an art it's also a form of communication," then who's to say that virtuoso musicians are the only ones that have anything to say? all they do is play music. someone who doesn't spend the entirety of their waking life playing an instrument probably has more to say about the world.
musical proficiency does not equal good music. creativity and originality are far more important, in every form of music. the studio musicians who make backstreet boys albums are really fucking good at their instruments, but who cares? gimme something with more emotion than proficiency.
really, i find that virtuosity is more of a curse than a blessing. in the rare cases that it works, it's wonderful. often though, a true artist will downplay his/her virtuosity in order to more clearly communicate to the rest of us.
7 - Michael J. West
after all, if "music is not just an art it's also a form of communication," then who's to say that virtuoso musicians are the only ones that have anything to say? all they do is play music. someone who doesn't spend the entirety of their waking life playing an instrument probably has more to say about the world.
Beautifully said, sir.
8 - zingzing
oop, well mike got there first.
9 - J. P. Spencer
I'll also add this. My wife and I met because she loved Jeff Buckley, who I don't get, and started exploring the music of Tim Buckley, who I love. Through that, we met online and our first child is due in July.
If one type of music doesn't have universal appeal, music, in and of itself, I would argue does have universal appeal. Can you think of anyone you know who doesn't like some kind of music, even if you think it's the most trite crap ever recorded? I can't imagine meeting someone who didn't listen to anything. To me, even if it's the worst music I can think of, if you listen to it and feel it, ya got a soul!
10 - Connie Phillips
Very interesting article. I enjoyed it Michael.
As far as what Murphy said (in comment 1) while it may be true that most songs will exist for only that brief moment in time. The really good songs, or the ones that touch a person, exist for much longer, or at least in my experience.
11 - Michael J. West
Thank you Connie!
I agree with you...but I think that you and Murphy aren't saying such different things. I, for one, will always remember the song that was playing when I got my first kiss, and for that reason the song will last forever in my mind...but at its heart, the song will always belong to that moment. So it's temporal AND permanent.
12 - zingzing
thank you, sir. in thinking about it, i'd have to say that my favorite artists all have some serious, serious, nearly deadly flaws.
new order's bernard sumner is a bad singer, he can't play a chord correctly, he's got flawed timing. peter hook is a very limited bass player. listening to the drummer live is akin to nailing one's own head to the floor...
the fall's mark e. smith CANNOT sing. the man can barely speak coherantly. the band just plays the same chugging repetition over and over until mark doesn't want to blather anymore, and they've been doing it for 24 straight albums. wouldn't have it any other way.
the microphones/mt. eerie's phil elverum has a voice that cracks on every song. he flubs guitar notes all the time. it sounds like he records each drum separately. i swear that there's more tape noise than actual instrumentation at times... but he makes it work. puts it all together in such an original and heart-breaking way.
i guess this is getting a bit off topic. but, Guppusmaximus (the biggest guppy?) really ticked me off with that comment. nothing personal. just taste.
13 - zingzing
what song was playing the first time you got a kiss? hmm? living la vida loca? toxic? hey ya? please let it have been a hit...
14 - Guppusmaximus
To posts #6 & #4,
I can understand your points of view but I still disagree... (It's hard for me to make my point on a computer)
Talent can only bring you so far and then you must progress. I have played drums for 20 years without any lessons and I now feel an inability to communicate because I have missed quite a bit by just playing out. Anyways, to Like or Dislike a style of music is one thing but to be able to fully appreciate any style of music an education is a must. Yes, Punk is a great raw style and yes you can appeal to the masses easier but considering music is an awesome tool of communication, I would also love to be able to communicate with the masters. I never said that I look down on people with the talent but I do feel a balance is what truly makes a style of music live on & on.....
Oh well, I could go on and on but I won't....
15 - zingzing
i was really pissed off one evening recently and i put on eugene chadbourne's "lsd c&w pt 2." my roomate declared it "the worst album i have ever heard," and "music that sounds like your untalented friends made it as a bad joke." my ex-girlfriend (who may be my girlfriend again after last night, nudge, nudge) also thought it was "horrible, fucking horrible."
of course, that just made me love it more. it's eugene chadbourne for god's sake! the man's a freak!
16 - zingzing
the big guppy (sorry... had to): "to be able to fully appreciate any style of music an education is a must."
i would consider just listening to music to be "education" enough. you can read and read and read about music, but that wouldn't get you anywhere without listening to the stuff. the opposite is not true at all.
17 - Michael J. West
ONce again, I agree with Zingzing. And I understand your opinion, Guppusmaximus; I just don't share it.
18 - Michael J. West
new order's bernard sumner is a bad singer
the fall's mark e. smith CANNOT sing. the man can barely speak coherantly.
And we won't even MENTION Ian Curtis!
Remember the irrepressible Mr. Zappa, whom I mentioned earlier. Here was a man who knew his music - not only did he know the 20th Century avant-garde canon as well as anyone, but he was one of the world's foremost authorities on doo-wop. And yet his favorite recording, he said, was the Shaggs' Philosophy of the World. The Shaggs, FWIW, were a group of New Hampshire sisters in the '60s, whose lack of musical training was matched only by their lack of musical talent.
Being educated makes you more educated; it doesn't necessarily give you elevated taste.
19 - Mat Brewster
Excellent article! This discussion reminds me that last night, at work, I put on a Wilco disk followed by Lucinda Williams and was nearly thrown out of the place.
Hippie crap they called it.
I have such a difficult time understanding how some people don't like music I love. I get that some people just aren't down with, say John Coltrane, or a 20 minute Dark Star Jam by the Grateful Dead. But how can you not just f'ing adore the B-side to Abby Road? Yet some people don't.
20 - Triniman
Interesting discussion.
I also don't get Jeff Buckley, although I have listended to Grace many times. The people I have shared it with also don't get it, despite all the praise written so eloquently about it in Amazon.com and other places.
Taste in music is very subjective. You're right, there is no universal appeal. I actually had a friend tell me once that he hated the Beatles but loved Rick Astley. Mind you, I'm not sure that he really thought that comment through, or would feel the same way today, but there are some people who are familiar with the Beatles, who do not like them.
I would say music is like food. All food has its merits, but we have our preferences. And, we can only like that which we are exposed to.
21 - Christopher Rose
I love the voices of Sumner, Smith and Curtis personally, maybe it's that English thing some dislike?
Frank Zappa had a wide taste. In addition to his taste for The Shaggs and doo-wop (I once spent a Summer in love with Cruising with Ruben & The Jets), he also made a lot of either serious or funny smutty albums himself.
In the end though, I turned out to be a Captain Beefheart fan. I don't know how he's seen in the USA, but for my money Don Van Vliet is one of the greatest American artists ever!
22 - Bliffle
OK, I confess to a little exaggeration, but i was sticking my elbows out because the discourse was so smugly centered on pop/rock music. The other critics quickly and remorselessy battered the thread back onto the pop track, so I abandoned.
But I do think that if one misses the opportunity to immerse in Great Music, usually guided by familiarity with at least one instrument, one is in danger of having a superficial acquaintance with music generally, and thus be subject to ennui.
Sorry I didn't mention some pop I've enjoyed, like Tim Buckleys "Surrender", Sandy Dennis' "Who knows where the time goes", "Matty Groves", and various other eclectic songs, but they're all sorta one-offs.
FWIW, here's what I have on my Palm MP3 library for occasions when I'm abroad and need touchstones: several Bach Cantatas, Brubeck/Desmond, Miles, Herbie Hancock, Ahmad Jamal, Kerouac, Josh White, Pulcinella, Fazil Say playing "Sacre du Printemp" (this is a real treat if you haven't heard it), Chet Baker (guaranteed to win respect with Europeans: americans don't realize that Euros consider jazz to be modern classical, and they mix jazz with trad classical on the radio playlist).
I confess that Mozart was also a problem for me, tho I liked the piano and violin concertos immensely from the start. Now I am starting to like other Mozart works, especially the operas. Part of the problem, I suspect, is that Mozart was cutoff in full stride by his early death. Imagine what he would have written had he lived a full life!
I like raga and European Renaissance/Elizabethan/Jacobean etc., immensely: hard to beat John Dowland for that wan melancholia. Handel, Purcell, Praetorius, Susato, Vivaldi, Rameau: there are so many!
I think one of the reasons classical music is so persistently satisfying is because it's roots are in popular troubador songs and popular dances, filled out and magnified and extrapolated into something more profound and deeper than the roots.
23 - SFC SKI
I don't know which subject attracts more comments, Music or Politics. I do know that I get a lot more vehement in my love for music and my castigation of any music that I dislike than I ever have about politics.
Ultimately, music enjoyment of a type of music is tied to the value it holds for each of us individually, and its in the ear of the listener.
Now, if you are in my car, you listen to what I listen to, like it or not.
24 - Shark
I love these "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" threads!
Misc Comments:
Some music, like some foods, coffee, beer, or Adam Sandler -- is an aquired taste.
Which means that EXPOSURE and EDUCATION (not necessarily in the 'formal' sense of the word) CAN CONTRIBUTE to one's enjoyment.
While music is 'experiential', cerebral, physical, and "subjective" -- some historical, cultural, technical, (etc) CONTEXT can vastly improve one's reaction, absorbtion, and appreciation.
ie. (for instance) learning about the history of "*classical" music, studying the forms, the evolution, etc -- and then upping one's exposure -- can rewire one's brain for that sort of music; what was noise a year ago is now the voice of angels.
*insert genre, style, "nationality", etc here
--------
If you're having trouble parsing the above, I'm INSULTING the motards who refuse to learn/study/listen to anything new because, "I like what I like, dude."
Oh... and if you don't like Mozart, there's something wrong with you. Seriously, I can prove it with a pencil and paper.
25 - Michael J. West
Oh... and if you don't like Mozart, there's something wrong with you. Seriously, I can prove it with a pencil and paper.
Shark, I'm half convinced that you're serious here and half convinced that you see my point about Mozart entirely...and I'm ALL laughing at that comment.
To clarify: I don't endorse anyone refusing to learn about new music because "I like what I like, dude." Because, as many have pointed out here, you don't KNOW what you like until you hear it.
But I hate the notion that "if you don't like (insert genre/artist/album/song here), it's because you're unenlightened, unsophisticated, and/or uneducated." And Sharky, dear, I 'spect you hate that idea too. If you really HAVE heard something (and maybe even studied it) but you don't like it, maybe you just don't.
I should actually confess that I like a few - a very few - Mozart pieces, mainly two symphonies, a concerto, and parts of "La Nozze di Figaro." But I'm still of the opinion that he's too mathematical. One might argue that Beethoven put an end to that kind of overachieving precision with one simple horn phrase in the "Eroica" Symphony - and those who are exposed to and educated about it will know exactly the phrase I'm talking about. :-)