What is your music philosophy?

[Esper]

Today you get to talk about what music you like. But wait! This isn't a thread to simply list artists. No, this thread wants you to talk about what your music philosophy is: what you think makes for good music, what you think the reason someone should make music is, what you think music should make you feel, why you give some music more focus and not others, and anything else you can think of.

Even if you're someone who gives anything and everything a chance you'll still have certain things you'll look for, tastes that go beyond genres and individual artists. If you don't have a philosophy then now's a great time to come up with one!

 

[Rogue planet]

I think for most people the media they enjoy the most is whatever draws out the strongest emotions from them; so I'd say the best music, on an individual basis, is whatever manages to evoke a strong emotion from you as a listener. I think that's why music taste is so variable, it's about whether your personality can make a connection with that kind of music or not.

I think the right reason to make music is because you love it and you want other people to enjoy what you make. The wrong reasons are making it just to rake in a load of cash. I think most people would agree on that one...?

I try listening to as much music as I can, anything which particularly strikes me I will revisit it again when I'm in the mood for that sort of music. Anything that doesn't really interest me, no big deal, I just won't listen to it again. I focus on my favourite bands simply because that's how I feel most of the time; so I listen to Nick Cave a lot because I like murder.

 

[Haguri]

I enjoy the music I listen to because it consists of a lot of my beliefs.

I believe that one should create music out of passion not for money or any other material.

I like to hear lyrics that have true meaning behind them, I really enjoy music inspired by family, or politics.

With music I would think the feelings it is meant to convey should be any feeling you like. There's a song for almost anything, and it's easy to change the song and it have a new aura about it.

 

[Briar]

i personally think that a particular piece of music is good if it is able to properly articulate the emotions it wishes to convey. of course, i'm talking about what i think about music, in general, so classical music and pop songs are included. however, when you narrow it down to songs (as in, music with lyrics and all that), i'm quite biased towards the technical aspects. like, i would understand if the message of the song itself was moving and all that, but if the singer's voice was completely auto-tuned, or if s/he couldn't hold a note at all, then i do not consider that as a good song.

 

[Nerdy Mojo]

Fmusic should be able to communicate an ideal,emotion,lifestyle,mood,etc.music is as much a language as english or japanese with the crucial difference being its EVERYONES native tounge.
I listen to about anything except gospel(I'm a pagan so its contrary to my lifestyle) which is funny because I'm from "the ghetto" and all my friends and family listen to gangsta rap,r&b,andblues only. I'm considered an oddball nerd because I listen to trance,psytrance,grunge,metal,country,classical,etc lol(plus I. Play pokemon lulz)

 

[IcyToucan]

For me to like a song, it has to sound good to me, and it can't be morally corrupt. It's hard to explain, since I probably hold a double standard when it comes to my favorite genres, but when a song has a message I don't agree with (or is downright stupid) I won't want to listen to it, even if I like the melody.

I find myself listening to punk, new wave, metal and grunge the most (well, some forms of each - I'm very picky) but I don't automatically hate hip hop or country music. As much as I don't want to listen to "SHAKE DAT THANG" or "RED NECK YACHT CLUB" I don't want to hear "CRAWLING IN MY SKIN" either.

EDIT: As I go back and re-read my post, I feel stupid since it seems to imply lyrics make a song. Melody/the way it sounds of course is the most important factor to me but if the lyrics are so stupid it distracts me from the melody, I'll dislike it. Besides, from what I can see, songs with bad lyrics are usually bad altogether... just Saiyan.

 

[Archenoth]

I have never cared for lyrics personally... I think that what makes a song good, is how it sounds. I personally like most music from the Metal to Techno range, as well as Orchestral.

I often find myself listening to music for their melodies, so I have always liked darker music with upbeat melodies... So I listen to dark electro a fair amount. Also hardtrance and other forms of melodic Techno.

I tend to go for Orchestral that invokes stronger emotions, so I like epic and progressive upbeat Orchastral... Things that can make me shudder when it get's to it's peak in frisson.

 

[Oryx]

Fmusic should be able to communicate an ideal,emotion,lifestyle,mood,etc.music is as much a language as english or japanese with the crucial difference being its EVERYONES native tounge.
I listen to about anything except gospel(I'm a pagan so its contrary to my lifestyle) which is funny because I'm from "the ghetto" and all my friends and family listen to gangsta rap,r&b,andblues only. I'm considered an oddball nerd because I listen to trance,psytrance,grunge,metal,country,classical,etc lol(plus I. Play pokemon lulz)

Out of curiosity, do you listen to individual songs that go against beliefs you have? Or is it different because religion is different than just an individual belief?

As for me, I tend to listen to music that's...different from what I've heard before. If it uses an interesting instrument or has a different kind of beat from normal, I'll usually be all over it and therefore not a lot of people like the same music I do because most people would prefer to just listen to a style they like instead of the idea of 'different'.

One thing that's a big part of my music philosophy that my boyfriend disagrees with me on is lyrics. To me, the words that are being said are incredibly important to the song, because the voice is an instrument just like anything else but with the unique ability to form words and should use that to its full extent. But to my boyfriend, the notes matter in a vocal track but the words don't matter at all because he focuses more on the technical music instead of the meaning.

 

[Esper]

Time to answer my question.

For my philosophy I use that kind of system where you start out at 100 and take points off for every mistake. (I can't remember what that's called.) So I'll take any song and give it a shot. I'm not looking for good things, but bad things. The more things about a piece of music that get to me in a bad way (weird instrumentation, bad lyrics, bad singing, just plain boring, etc.) the more likely I am to drop that music and go find something else.

I can be pretty inconsistent, with something bothering me more when it appears in one song than it does in another, but that's just how it goes.

 

[Tachikaze]

Just because you don't like the sound of it, that in now way means that it isn't music.

 

[Alec Empire]

1) If the song or producer is challenging the boundaries of exactly what music is.
2) A song where you can feel actual musicianship, regardless of its form.
3) A song that I can listen to over and over again at least 10 times and not be tired of it.

 

[DarkIceForever]

My philosophy is "Instrumentals". If the music has a certain tune to it I find myself listening to it a lot. Vocals is secondary, they only break the song for me completely or back it up. Message is third (If it has one.) What was the point of the song in the first place? Emotion? Partying? Poltical? But in the end of the day all I care about is how it sounds and how well it does creating a rection within me. Wither it be get up and dance or lay back and gaze at the sky.

Fact is most of the songs I pefer have little to no vocals.

 

[EGKangaroo]

I simply like music that has a nice vibe to it. A sort of tune which I can get into. It's pretty much as far basic as you can go when it comes to which kind of music a person likes, and far too many times do I hear of people who say "I liked it before it was cool." or "I like them better before, but now they're popular and they suck." That is something I try to avoid at all costs. What the song is about is an absolute non-issue to me, since I tend to mishear the lyrics half of the time anyway without the actual text available and right in front of me.