The creation of good music. That's really it. There are great bands that are virtuoso musicians and great bands that can barely play their instruments, great bands who are amazing live and great bands who really shine in the studio, great bands who have wonderful internal dynamics and great bands who are completely dysfunctional. None of those things really matter in the final analysis, just the end product.

word up

cleverness of writing and flow of transitions. anything to square just bores me

janszoon, can't even read your post cuz your avatar is to awesome. bizzare

I feel like the biggest thing for me to really enjoy a band is honesty. If they are quiet, calm people and they spend all their time standing or sitting in place on stage, that's great. If they are loud, crazy, wild people and they are the same way on stage, that is also great. If they are calm, quiet people and are faking being "intense" by jumping around and going crazy, then I just won't like it enough.

Anyway, that's my (incredibly tired, confused) two bits.

I also agree with this. Despite how each fragment is, If it's all woven and works together, the end product is what matters overall.

I think it comes down to things like sincerity and passion- if a band is truly sincere about what they are doing, if they have that passion to get their voice heard and really love what they're doing, that comes across and it can transcend any musical ability or any of that stuff. How many garage or punk bands have you heard that couldn't play a lick but bashed their instruments like their lives depended on it - music like that is so alive, it gets you at a primal level and often stands the test of time far better than some soulless bunch of wizard players who form a band just because they want to be famous or get laid or whatever. They may have chops but they often have no heart.

I never really came across a band that were successful because of their cravings for sex, drugs and fame.

...Maybe Mötley Crüe.

The 80's and 90's were FULL of them. Not that they always were successful, but that they wanted to be successful for those stated reasons. Of course, I live in a place where classic rock cover bands, hair metal bands, and 'modern country' bands have always been extremely popular.

It may be that there are fewer bands full of superficial, posturing mega-Aholes than there were back in those days. I hope so. It certainly is much harder to get a recording contract and I don't think that model of manufacturing a band, then giving them a bunch of coke in the hopes that they will destroy themselves is as lucrative as it used to be. Then again, I am an old fart and I'm not as hep to the local music scene as I used to be.

Yea I guess I agree with a lot of 80s music being superficial rubbish. Then again, I avoid listening to 80s music. :p