Entertainment For Lively Minds
I like this song because ...
I reckon each and every one of us from the Word Irregulars have put in well over 10,000 hours of practice listening to music, so by that definition (Malcolm Gladwell's) we are experts at our own tastes. By now, we should have a fair idea of what we listen for in a song. I appreciate this is the World's Most Inexact Science, but there must be patterns you've spotted in your listening habits.
So, rank the following in order of importance to you:
- lyrics
- melody
- groove
- singer's voice
- mood
- genre
Anything I've missed? Anyone listen to songs predominently for the bassline? The guitar solo? The singer's personality? Can a good cowbell turn your head? Have you a weakness for a Zither? Do you come over all peculiar for a Harpsichord?
And the flip-side - what would put you off a song?
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If it
doesn't have a decent melody nothing else matters, does it?
Tell that to...
Sonic Youth!
Interesting, never thought about it before
In order
Groove
Melody
Mood
Lyrics
Singers voice
Genre
I'll be surprised if Genre was not dead last on everyone's list.
Any of the first four on their own are enough for me to want to listen to a song if I find them pleasing. When they all come together you've got a classic.
I've been listening to Neil Young and Bobby Dylan since I was a little boy (older brothers) so the singers voice isn't something I worry much about.
What turns me off a song? Bad dynamics, when a song begins and ends the same way with no changes throughout. They just plod and there's nothing to look forward to.
Bad dynamics...
Normally I'd agree with you, but I do occasionally have a soft spot for a song that just relentlessly bombards you with the same thing over and over. Like Dylan's Positively 4th Street, or Radiohead's The National Anthem.
Structure
I find myself having less and less patience with trad-folky-type songs that are just a series of verses that go on and on until they stop. This means, for example, that early Dylan and most Leonard Cohen doesn't get much play around here these days. I want a chorus. I want a middle eight.
I mean, come on, people; make an effort. Even minimal techno invariably has some sort of a breakdown to break the monotony.
Make it a good one
As ever Mr. V. is right on the money here. And if there is going to be a solo of any kind make it a good one. I recall a radio interview with the Bee Gees (of all people) one of whom, probably Barry, said something along the lines of - whenever the vocals stop whatever comes next should be equally interesting.
The genre is immaterial
I certainly couldn't rank the other five as a general rule, as any of them could be the clincher. With Stayin' Alive it's undoubtedly the groove. With Here There And Everywhere it's the melody above all else. With Into My Arms it's the lyric. With Just about anything Christine Collister sings it's her voice. With something like Warszawa (from Bowie's Low) it's the mood. Other songs have ingredient x. I'd be surprised if a lot of people always prized one component above any others.
1. melody 2. singer's
1. melody
2. singer's voice
3. mood
4. lyrics
5. groove
6. genre
I also like a bit of energy, riffs and I prefer a slight edge or twist to my music - Pixies for example were one of my perfect bands they had the melody and tunes but could throw in a weird bit of guitar or time change that could throw you. Wilco, Sparks, Julian Cope all have that melodic knack but are not particularly conventional.
Ian Macdonald
Made the point that there are three criteria - how the music sounds, what it's about, and what the artist looks like. I think the list is mostly about how it sounds which is dead right, but looking around the other two clearly have an influence too. Me, I like melody and decent lyrics, followed by the voice and the groove.
Consensus building here
Melody
Groove
without these nothing is going on, in fact all of the below may be rubbish but a song can still sound just great
singers voice
mood (hello Doves, surely a band who put it at the top)
lyrics
genre (I think a different demographic would put this nearer the top, hello all you emo kids)