How do you decide whether you like a certain song, band, genre.....?

[Bilbo]

For me, it is not as much a question of what I like as much as it is what I prefer. I have 'enjoyed' all sorts of weird and disparate stuff over the 5 decades I have been listening to music but, when I have a choice, I gravitate towards the stuff I like the most. Listening time is a precious resource which I try to maximise the benefits of. I am not completely unapproachable on rap but am unlikely to prefer it Jazz, Latin, Prog, classical etc. So I don't go looking for it. 

Edited October 31, 2020 by Bilbo

[Richard R]

1 hour ago, BassTractor said:

Do you recognise the OH, NO! DON'T GO THERE mode?

Absolutely!

Not so much with music but 100% with lyrics:

"A predictable rhyme is a waste of my time

Can't you write any better, you peasant?

You treat us like sheep with your lyrics so cheap.

Obnoxious,  naff, and repellant"

4/10, Must try harder

[Barking Spiders]

If I hear a song on the radio containing lines like -  'rock  ('n roll) all night long', 'I wanna rock',   'fantasy .... reality' , 'cuts like a knife' , 'down on my knees... beggin' you please', 'learning to fly' , 'can't you see..' , 'gonna rock you baby' , ' mama I'm comin' home' , 'fire in your eyes' ,  ' could be right, could be wrong' , 'doesn't matter if you're black or if you're white'  '... workin man ' etc etc I take my lump hammer to it.  It's impossible for me to like any song containing these lines and many more.

[dave moffat]

No particular artist/genre, I either like a piece or I don't , I try to give something new about a minute and a half, sometimes more if it sounds like it might develop into something interesting. 

I can usually predict how the music will progress sometimes (not often)  I'll be pleasantly surprised, occasionally it just sounds like the composer is trying to be too clever and it just sounds messy and contrived and deserves smacked round the ear with a blunt instrument.

In terms of bands I prefer a varied back catalogue over the years Lindisfarne, ELO and Eagles stand out, but even then there's quite often maybe only one or two tracks I'd want to listen to repeatedly.

[Skybone]

If it sounds good to you, you like it.

If it doesn't sound good to you, you don't like it.

[Leonard Smalls]

For me I tend to like stuff with an edge, or a really heavy,funky groove.

Or even better stuff with a really heavy funky edge!

I'm usually turned off by folkey strummers and breathey female vocals, though I like the Unthanks and the Roches... And I can usually (but not always) cope with Richard Thompson.

I tend not to like American songbookey type stuff, or any soft rock. Wet, MoR weedy type stuff need not apply either!

And I also don't like growley metal vocals, because thy often sound the same and it's just a bit silly. Saying that,I like Rolo Tomassi.

And I'm usually put off by anything where it's all about the vocals; for me, the music has to be an equal to the singing, not just an added on backing to disguise the tedium and meaninglessness of the lyrics!

[Paul S]

2 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

If I hear a song on the radio containing lines like -  'rock  ('n roll) all night long', 'I wanna rock',   'fantasy .... reality' , 'cuts like a knife' , 'down on my knees... beggin' you please', 'learning to fly' , 'can't you see..' , 'gonna rock you baby' , ' mama I'm comin' home' , 'fire in your eyes' ,  ' could be right, could be wrong' , 'doesn't matter if you're black or if you're white'  '... workin man ' etc etc I take my lump hammer to it.  It's impossible for me to like any song containing these lines and many more.

I'd steer clear of Bon Jovi if I were you 

[Skybone]

45 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

And I'm usually put off by anything where it's all about the vocals; for me, the music has to be an equal to the singing, not just an added on backing to disguise the tedium and meaninglessness of the lyrics!

There's nothing worse than seeing a "critically acclaimed" singer / songwriter / band, where the music plays second fiddle to the vocal performance.

One of the worst offenders of this though was the "Shred" era, where the "song" was "written" around a fiddly, widdly, noodle-fest of a solo, usually following a scale.

[Ricky 4000]

6 hours ago, BassTractor said:

I've never heard someone talking about this type of listening outside the classical music and jazz realms, but by definition, predictive listening exists everywhere and is part of our shared musical experience.

If you haven't seen it already -- You might enjoy Rick Beato's 'What makes this song great' series, BT. 🙂

Example: https://youtu.be/xKIC9zbSJoE

 

[Richard R]

2 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

If you haven't seen it already -- You might enjoy Rick Beato's 'What makes this song great' series, BT. 🙂

Example: https://youtu.be/xKIC9zbSJoE

 

Great resource, thank you. More hours of my life I'm not going to spend actually practicing!  

[Ricky 4000]

2 hours ago, Richard R said:

Great resource, thank you. More hours of my life I'm not going to spend actually practicing!  

Glad you like it. 👍

[Nail Soup]

On 31/10/2020 at 12:33, Leonard Smalls said:

And I'm usually put off by anything where it's all about the vocals; for me, the music has to be an equal to the singing, not just an added on backing to disguise the tedium and meaninglessness of the lyrics!

I'd agree with that one (exceptions apply!)

One thing that I struggle with is music which lacks repetition. 

(I said.......... 😉)

[dmccombe7]

Never really analysed it.

Falls into 3 bands for me

1. I like it

2. I don't like it

3. Its ok but wouldn't buy it.

Some songs i like from a band but the albums have been rubbish or mediocre and if i had the choice again i wouldn't have bought it in first place.

Sometimes its down to mood i'm in. 

I like quite a varied musical selection depending on how i feel at the time from classical to swing classics to pop, Jazz, Blues, most form of rock with my main preference being Prog.

I'm not a fan of the boy or girl band machine that keeps churning out dross music unless an artist or band can prove they can actually sing live i have no time for them or the mass produced drivel straight from an autotuned studio done with artificial instruments straight from a digital desk.

Not a fan of Thrash or death metal. I just don't get it i'm afraid so i generally won't listen to it now.

If there's nothing catchy (a hook) in a song for me then that's a closed door for me.

Simple really 

Dave

[4000]

29 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

 

I'm not a fan of the boy or girl band machine that keeps churning out dross music unless an artist or band can prove they can actually sing live i have no time for them or the mass produced drivel straight from an autotuned studio done with artificial instruments straight from a digital desk.

I actually don’t give a damn how music is made. It’s all about the end result for me. A creative person (in any area, not just in music) uses whatever tools are available to them in order to realise their vision. 

[dmccombe7]

5 hours ago, 4000 said:

I actually don’t give a damn how music is made. It’s all about the end result for me. A creative person (in any area, not just in music) uses whatever tools are available to them in order to realise their vision. 

I don't want to listen to acts that have been created more for their looks than talent and in many cases it has been shown they can't actually sing without autotune.

Musicians for me need to have some level of talent otherwise why have them at all. There are so many other deserving talents out there so why create fake ones.

Dave

Edited November 2, 2020 by dmccombe7

[4000]

8 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I don't want to listen to acts that have been created more for their looks than talent and in many cases it has been shown they can't actually sing without autotune.

Musicians for me need to have some level of talent otherwise why have them at all. There are so many other deserving talents out there so why create fake ones.

Dave

If I’m making a record I’d sooner everything be how I want to hear it. Also, what happens if you haven’t got access to technically amazing musicians and singers but you have the ideas for great records? Do you just not bother making the records? What about the sequencing in a band like Tangerine Dream? 

I’d also say a great many “musicians” that I’ve known haven’t got anything much in the way of talent. I grew up around (much older) jazz musicians. Most of them could read flysh*t, but most of them also couldn’t write a piece of music to save their life. So, talented in one way maybe, but not in another. 
 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by 4000

[dmccombe7]

4 hours ago, 4000 said:

If I’m making a record I’d sooner everything be how I want to hear it. Also, what happens if you haven’t got access to technically amazing musicians and singers but you have the ideas for great records? Do you just not bother making the records? What about the sequencing in a band like Tangerine Dream? 

I’d also say a great many “musicians” that I’ve known haven’t got anything much in the way of talent. I grew up around (much older) jazz musicians. Most of them could read flysh*t, but most of them also couldn’t write a piece of music to save their life. So, talented in one way maybe, but not in another. 
 

 

Its just my own personal view of what i like or don't like and nothing personal. We all have different views on what or how we enjoy or like a song or band.

Its generally the boy or girl bands that obviously have no talent if they can't sing without autotune and many don't even write their own songs. The music being provided by whatever digital process isn't so important. It just makes the full project pointless for me. If the front people in the band don't have the talent to start with its all a bit pointless.

I take your point with Tangerine Dream but i think Kraftwerk might have been a better example but the talent is in the band members themselves.

Tangerine Dream i get your point but altho they generally play keyboards they also add guitar, drums, bass and i believe many other instruments over the years. Heres a list of members over the years.

 

Current members

• Thorsten Quaeschning – bandleader, music director, synthesizer, sequencer, drums, guitar (2005–present)
• Hoshiko Yamane – acoustic violin, electric viola, electric violin, cello, Ableton Push controller, looper, synthesizer (2011–present)
• Ulrich Schnauss – synthesizer, piano, sequencer, Ableton (2014–present)
• Paul Frick – synthesizer, piano (2020–present, guest:2018-2020)

Bianca Froese-Acquaye, Edgar Froese's widow, has taken up the mantle of continuing the legacy of the group and works closely in a non-musical capacity with the remaining members.

Former members

Edgar Froese – leader and founder, keyboards, guitars (1967–2015; his death) Lanse Hapshash – drums (1967–1969) Kurt Herkenberg – bass (1968–1969; died 1983) Volker Hombach – saxophone, violin, flute (1967–1969) Charlie Prince – vocals (1967–1968) Steve Jolliffe – saxophone, keyboards, flute (1969, 1978) Al Akhbar – drums and percussion (1969) Happy Dieter – bass (1969; died 1974) Klaus Schulze – drums, percussion (1969–1970) Conrad Schnitzler – cello, violin, fx (1969–1970; died 2011) Christopher Franke – keyboards, drums (1970–1987) Steve Schroyder – keyboards, vocals (1970–1971)

Peter Baumann – keyboards (1971–1973, 1973–1975, 1975–1977) Michael Hoenig – keyboards (1975) Klaus Krüger – drums, percussion (1978–1979) Johannes Schmoelling – keyboards (1979–1985) Paul Haslinger – keyboards, guitars (1986–1990) Ralf Wadephul – keyboards (1988) Jerome Froese – keyboards, guitars (1990–2006) Linda Spa – saxophone, flute, keyboards (1990–1996, 2005–2014) Zlatko Perica – guitars (1992–1997) Iris Camaa – percussion, Roland V-Drums (2001–2014) Bernhard Beibl – guitars, violin (2006–2014)

 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by dmccombe7

[Stub Mandrel]

It's worth considering how the brain rewards problem-solving with a little burst of endorphins.

So you get a little boost from things like:

Recognising a song.

Recognising an artist performing something you haven't heard before.

Guessing what a song will do next.

Spotting an unexpected pattern (e.g. anticipating a repeated change).

Recognising a familiar element in a new piece.

 

And so on. It's why these endless 'Taco Belle' sorry, pachabele medleys are so popular...

Quite a lot of such things (but not all) involve recognition, so we tend to prefer new things that have an element of familiarity.

[4000]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Its just my own personal view of what i like or don't like and nothing personal. We all have different views on what or how we enjoy or like a song or band.

Its generally the boy or girl bands that obviously have no talent if they can't sing without autotune and many don't even write their own songs. The music being provided by whatever digital process isn't so important. It just makes the full project pointless for me. If the front people in the band don't have the talent to start with its all a bit pointless.

I take your point with Tangerine Dream but i think Kraftwerk might have been a better example but the talent is in the band members themselves.

Tangerine Dream i get your point but altho they generally play keyboards they also add guitar, drums, bass and i believe many other instruments over the years. Heres a list of members over the years.

 

Current members

• Thorsten Quaeschning – bandleader, music director, synthesizer, sequencer, drums, guitar (2005–present)
• Hoshiko Yamane – acoustic violin, electric viola, electric violin, cello, Ableton Push controller, looper, synthesizer (2011–present)
• Ulrich Schnauss – synthesizer, piano, sequencer, Ableton (2014–present)
• Paul Frick – synthesizer, piano (2020–present, guest:2018-2020)

Bianca Froese-Acquaye, Edgar Froese's widow, has taken up the mantle of continuing the legacy of the group and works closely in a non-musical capacity with the remaining members.

Former members

Edgar Froese – leader and founder, keyboards, guitars (1967–2015; his death) Lanse Hapshash – drums (1967–1969) Kurt Herkenberg – bass (1968–1969; died 1983) Volker Hombach – saxophone, violin, flute (1967–1969) Charlie Prince – vocals (1967–1968) Steve Jolliffe – saxophone, keyboards, flute (1969, 1978) Al Akhbar – drums and percussion (1969) Happy Dieter – bass (1969; died 1974) Klaus Schulze – drums, percussion (1969–1970) Conrad Schnitzler – cello, violin, fx (1969–1970; died 2011) Christopher Franke – keyboards, drums (1970–1987) Steve Schroyder – keyboards, vocals (1970–1971)

Peter Baumann – keyboards (1971–1973, 1973–1975, 1975–1977) Michael Hoenig – keyboards (1975) Klaus Krüger – drums, percussion (1978–1979) Johannes Schmoelling – keyboards (1979–1985) Paul Haslinger – keyboards, guitars (1986–1990) Ralf Wadephul – keyboards (1988) Jerome Froese – keyboards, guitars (1990–2006) Linda Spa – saxophone, flute, keyboards (1990–1996, 2005–2014) Zlatko Perica – guitars (1992–1997) Iris Camaa – percussion, Roland V-Drums (2001–2014) Bernhard Beibl – guitars, violin (2006–2014)

 

 

I guess the thing is, I’m a songwriter, so for me anything that helps the process along is good. 

Recent TD is a return to form, IMO. worth a listen. 
 

[dmccombe7]

7 minutes ago, 4000 said:

I guess the thing is, I’m a songwriter, so for me anything that helps the process along is good. 

Recent TD is a return to form, IMO. worth a listen. 
 

If you are the songwriter then you would be the talent. Do you write for a band or solo material. 

Not listened to TD since Force Majeure in 1979. Also have Sorceror from 77

Dave

[4000]

9 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

If you are the songwriter then you would be the talent. Do you write for a band or solo material. 

Not listened to TD since Force Majeure in 1979. Also have Sorceror from 77

Dave

Both. However as a solo writer, I’m a mediocre singer and average guitarist, a very poor keys player and don’t really play drums, and I don’t have access to (or can’t afford) musicians of sufficient calibre, so technology is - potentially at least - my friend. And I’d sooner use drum programs than drummers any day of the week. 😉 😂

Seriously though, I think anything that potentially makes your recording sound better is fair game. If I can’t play a keyboard or drum part but I can programme it in (or get someone else to) I have absolutely no problem with that. Of course YMMV. 

I saw TD I think in the 90s and they were very different, much poppier, but the recent stuff I’ve heard sounds great, IMO. 

 

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

I'd forgotten Tangerine Dream. Just looked up Tangram for old times sake. Doesn't half sound like Tonto.

[Barking Spiders]

On 31/10/2020 at 13:24, Skybone said:

There's nothing worse than seeing a "critically acclaimed" singer / songwriter / band, where the music plays second fiddle to the vocal performance.

One of the worst offenders of this though was the "Shred" era, where the "song" was "written" around a fiddly, widdly, noodle-fest of a solo, usually following a scale.

And usually while the shredding was all fancy-schmancy with legato phrasing, sweep picking, double-handing tapping yadda blah, the accompaniment was pretty mundane

[Saul Panzer]

I think I have some kind of synesthesia, when I listen to something my brain does a weird translation into a kind of moving 3d landscape map with it.
I can listen to most things and think they're okay but other things just 'look' more appealing to me even if they're in a genre I'm not big on.

* Such as I'm not a huge fan of crazy jazz music but a lot of the Charles Mingus stuff has a weird angle to me like a slanted bumpy road and I like that.
* Iron Maiden songs are often a deep winding canyon I go through where similar classic metal is more flat.
* Ennio Morricone's The wild horde is a weird all encompassing visual mess that messes with my peripheral eyesight and I love that song even though I don't much like the genre.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

On 03/11/2020 at 20:47, Saul Panzer said:

I think I have some kind of synesthesia, when I listen to something my brain does a weird translation into a kind of moving 3d landscape map with it.
I can listen to most things and think they're okay but other things just 'look' more appealing to me even if they're in a genre I'm not big on.

* Such as I'm not a huge fan of crazy jazz music but a lot of the Charles Mingus stuff has a weird angle to me like a slanted bumpy road and I like that.
* Iron Maiden songs are often a deep winding canyon I go through where similar classic metal is more flat.
* Ennio Morricone's The wild horde is a weird all encompassing visual mess that messes with my peripheral eyesight and I love that song even though I don't much like the genre.

 

I know what you mean.

I've been to Hawkwind gigs 🙂