Zyrada

Theoretically speaking, that's what I'd say and what I'd like to think I believe.
In the interest of honesty, though, in practice, I tend to be more drawn to longer tracks. I'm also kind of a sucker for long-winded prog and jazz noodling, so long as they're done well.

mervi

There's nothing more annoying than a good song that ends too soon... Well, except perhaps a crappy song that never ends. Anyway, I often end up listening to some songs I like on repeat for, let's say, an hour. It's not the same though, for I wouldn't want these songs to last for an hour. But yeah, agreeing with this:

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Key

I listen to a lot of prog and post-rock so 95% of the music I listen to tends to exceed 6 minutes and pass 10 minutes and even reach 15 to 20 minutes. Longer songs are great, especially if an album is full of them.

Mrd00d

With their powers combined, I feel compelled to say "/thread" although I reckon the banterin will a-continue...

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Trollheart

OP, I truly can't understand your idea of "having to work at" a song. Of course it's all personal preferences, but you asked did people agree, so we're answering. Most don't, it would appear. This has to hold true for the reverse. I would never NOT listen to a song because it was too short (what about "Imagine" or even "October" by U2?) --- you have to allow songs their own identity and not try to file them in boxes labelled: short, I like, will listen to. Long, I don't like, won't listen to. You're really shortchanging yourself there and as Zyrada says, cutting yourself off from some potentially enjoyable music just because you've decided that this arbitary (couldn't be more arbitrary, to be honest) barrier exists, one which you've erected yourself.

It's also unfair to say that long songs are just an excuse for what I like to term "technical wankery". Some of it is, of course (Dream Theater, come on down!) but much of it is an artist trying to tell a story. But then you say you don't like them to do that either. You cite Bruce's "Rosalita"? That's a great example of an artiste just enjoying himself too much to bring the song to an end; it's not lengthened for any other reason. It's ... what's the word? Oh yeah: fun!

Honestly, the better songs all tell some sort of a story, and are usually the better for it. It's the more generic, plot-less, empty pop songs that tend to be the shorter and more mainstream, but are ultimately hollow, as they don't bother to go into any detail or take any time over their lyrics. Boy meets girl, they get married, end of song. Or they're in love. Or they want to dance. Or some other generic pap. Is that what you like? I doubt it, but you have to see that for a song to be properly written it does sometimes (not always) have to be longer than the current single length, and really, six minutes is not that long.

Doesn't of course follow that ALL long songs are great, but what about "American pie" by Don McLean, or "Stargazer" by Rainbow? How about one of the later Genesis, "Driving the last spike", or "Belfast child" by Simple Minds? Or how about Iron Maiden's "Hallowed be thy name"? Come to that, how about "The rime of the ancient mariner"? Eagles' "Hotel California"? The Doors' "Riders on the storm"? What about all those blues standards that can go on for ten minutes or more? Gary Moore's "Empty rooms"? I could go on. I will.

Dire Straits' "Telegraph Road". Alan Parsons' "The turn of a friendly card". U2's "Bad". Tom Waits' "Twenty-nine dollars". Def Leppard's "Die hard the hunter". Im deliberately choosing non-prog songs here, for the most part. You may not know all of them, but each has its own little idiosyncrasies that could not just be put down to, ahem, technical wankery. Each tells its own story, and the length of the song is appropriate to that story.

As for "If I want a story I'll read a book" --- what a narrow vision. Would you prefer NO songs told ANY story? Would you have the likes of Rhianna, Beyonce and the X-Factor crowd control the charts... oh, wait. But would you rather their sort of music was the only sort? Music is MEANT to tell a story --- even an instrumental, if done correctly and with the requisite expertise and feeling, and feel for mood and theme, can conjure up its own story, or lead you to assign your own story to the music. There is a place for "yeah-yeah-yeah-keep-rockin-my-girl-loves-me" sort of throwaway songs of course, but I much prefer something that speaks to me, tells me something and makes it obvious the artist took time and thought over the composition, and that it means something to them. Usually, that will then translate to meaning something to me.

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CanwllCorfe

A lot of the electronic I got really into when I was younger was usually around 7-10 minutes in length, so I'm used to longer songs, and have been for quite awhile. There can certainly be long songs that are unbearably boring, but just as others have mentioned, you can have a boring short song just as well.



Here's an interestingly long track, which was produced and based around 9/11.

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sopsych

Of the non-rap pop and rock genres that have gotten much airplay (at least in the USA), the one that often irritates me is prog. Due to song length.

Franco Pepe Kalle

Not me. Since I listen to tons of Congolese music, some great records are records that are over 7 minutes. In fact one of my favorite songs are those that are 16 Minutes.

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daemon

The longer a song is, the more time it has to tell a story. A good story typically can't be condensed into 3-4 minutes; it takes a good 8+ minutes to develop one fully in lyrics and music.

Trollheart

There's a sweeping generalisation if ever I heard one, and I would venture to add, an ill-informed one. What experience have you with prog rock? How well do you know the music? Would you care to cite examples, and why these songs in particular bug you? Would you include "Echoes" by Floyd, or indeed "Creepshow" by Twelfth Night, neither or which could seriously be said to be boring or just extending the play time for the sake of it?

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