Good Music?

Bad Music?

I don't believe in "good" or "bad" music anymore. Or at least I don't think of music in those terms anymore. There are musicians right here in Ashland where I live, who I find boring, mediocre, un-talented in every way except self-promotion and star-fucking, and yet they have large fan bases; and others who I think have real genius, talent, soul and originality and yet have hardly any following at all. Some music just works for some people and not for others.

Here are some musicians that I like in no particular order:

Male:

Bob Dylan

James Taylor

Greg Brown

Richard Thompson

Steely Dan

Donald Fagen

Frank Sinatra

John Martyn

Joe Jackson

The Beatles

The Rolling Stones

Loudon Wainwright lll

Leonard Cohen

Elvis Presley

Hank Williams

Hank Williams lll

Wayne Hancock

Jimi Hendrix

Pink Floyd

Stevie Wonder

Bill Withers

Bootsie Collins

George Clinton’s various bands

Miles Davis

John Coltrane

Thelonius Monk

The Who

Pete Townsend

The Police

Sting

Tom Petty

Pre “Graceland” Paul Simon

Earth, Wind and Fire

James Brown

Bruce Cockburn

Brian Eno

Neil Young

Peter Gabriel

Todd Rundgren

Marvin Gaye

Al Green

Talking Heads

David Bryne

Female:

Adele

Sade

Dusty Springfield

Marianne Faithful

Joni Mitchell

Blossom Dearie

Annie Lennox

Gillian Welch

Billie Holiday

Bonnie Raitt

Ella Fitzgerald

Linda Thompson

Eva Cassidy

Phoebe Snow

The Dixie Chicks

Aretha Franklin

Chaka Khan

Cyndi Lauper

Sheryl Crow

Here are some that I don’t like at all:

Male:

Phil Collins

Air Supply

Peter Cetera

Chicago

Post “Off The Wall” Michael Jackson

Bono

Post 70’s Rod Stewart

Virtually all modern pop country singers

Virtually all rap and hip-hop artists

Backstreet Boys

Kenny G

Oasis

R.E.M.

David Gray

Dave Mathews

Justin Bieber

Anything music with “autotune” in it.

Billy Ray Cyrus

Female:

Madonna

Indigo Girls

Cher

Bjork

Judy Collins

Celine Dion

Tori Amos

Tracy Chapman

Yoko Ono

Jewel

Christina Aguilera

Britney Spears

Sarah McLaughlin

Mariah Carey

Whitney Houston

Barbara Streisand

Miley Cyrus

Taylor Swift

Katy Perry

Natalie Merchant

Norah Jones

Joan Baez

Enya

Here are some that I have mixed feelings about:

Lynyrd Skynyrd—I like "Freebird" and "Sweet Home Alabama" and that's it.

The Doors—I like a few of their songs, mostly for the ambient vibe,, but Jim Morrison always struck me as kind of a big drunk jock asshole, with a real gift for throwing himself into the party, which I did like about him, even if his lyrics and poetry seemed kind of dumb...

I love Ani DeFranco's guitar work and exactly two songs: "Untouchable Face" and "Dilate", but the rest of it sounds like gimmicky squealing and hyperventilating.

Alanis Morissette’s first album and not much since.

Love Elton John’s early albums and not much since.

I like a few Led Zeppelin songs but not much more.

And there are many other artists with a song or two that I like but not much more.

I’m sure that very few people will have the exact same likes and dislikes as I do. Many millions of people would disagree strongly with just about everyone on these lists. So I can’t really think in terms of “good” or “bad” music anymore. It's just music. Some works for me and some doesn’t. How could I call something that moves millions of people “bad”? All I can truthfully say is: I just don’t like it.

Some things can be measured objectively, like whether a musician is in pitch or not, on beat or not, able to sing with volume or not, able to read music or not, able to play technically well or not. But what can’t be determined with any certainty is whether someone who sings off pitch, off the beat, with no ability to project volume and who can’t read music or play an instrument is making “good” music or “bad” music. I’m sure to some ears Billie Holiday is all of the above.

I think that when music “works” for me, it releases a charge, it releases some feeling in me that I didn’t even know was there. When it happens there is an undeniable “Yes” feeling. Even if the song is sad, I feel better for having heard it. If it’s something I write myself, I feel better for having written and sung it.

I do my best to keep framing my likes and dislikes in this way because I find it much more enjoyable, accurate and fruitful to do so. I used to consider what I liked to be “good” and what I didn’t like to be “bad”. I’d have endless and pointless arguments with people over what we considered “good” music. Now that I do my best to frame it as what works for me and what doesn’t, I find I am kinder and more charitable to the artists I don’t like, and I’m more appreciative of the artists that I do like. I’m also able to have real differences of opinion with people but rather than talk about what’s good or bad, an argument that can’t be won or lost, we talk about what we like and don’t like. The subject of the conversation is us and our relationship with the music, not so much the music itself. I get to know them and their taste and they get to know mine. Much more interesting than arguing who’s “better”, The Stones or The Beatles.