What makes music good?
 

I'm just looking for some good, honest opinions on what people think makes a song, a band or a brand of music "good". Personally, the vocals can't be whiny or annoyingly high pitched and there has to be a decent bass line in there somewhere.

Yes, I used quotation marks only because my current mental vocabulary is really craptistic.

Things i consider "good" characteristics:

Experimentation
Atmosphere
Progression
Passion
Originality
Musicianship - not in a technical sense, more a 'good at what they do' sense.

some are more vital than others IMO. its unlikely id call a band 'good' for progression alone, or a band with passion and not musicianship, whereas experimentation or originality alone may be enough in some circumstances. My favourite bands obviously have all/most of the qualities.

Yea, Sound did a good job, i pretty much agree. :)

Honesty and sincerity. Any fan worth their salt can hear it in a bands/artists music.

Buzz Osbourne makes music good, thats what.

If it sounds good to me, and I find myself constantly playing it in my head
or singing/humming/using lyrics from it in conversation on a daily basis.

those are my only requirements.

When I am looking for music I like the last thing I seem to notice are the lyrics for some reason. What gets me hooked is the sound. I can listen to a band with a killer sound no matter how bad there lyrics are. Well to a certain extent lol.

Originality
Technicality

These make good music.

Add this:

Soul

And you get great music.

Very artistic/experimental representation of honest emotions, put to appropriate and memorable music is what makes it good for me.

Oh I wish that was me... All too often, songs I DON'T like get stuck in my head only because I hear a song too much on the radio, in the mall, in restaurants, etc.!! Even if I did like it before, any song can get horribly annoying if it's played EVERYWHERE...

I kind of expect different things from different genres of metal (I'm narrow minded and often only listen to metal, but am open to other music).

For nu-metal, It's really hard to sound good because most of it's the same boring crap. Some of it's more catchy, some of it's actually pretty good and the musicians have some potential at being better. It's a simple genre that doesn't rely at all on technicality. I don't expect much from it.

For metalcore, I expect fast music with a fair amount of technicality. I don't want a band to overcompensate for lack of creativity with a 6 minute breakdown, but I don't want them to negate the breakdown. Breakdowns, I think, can be just as effective as any interlude, if done in moderation.

For grindcore, I just want craziness. No musicianship, no thought. Just noise. LOUD, distorted, dissonant noise. That's what grindcore is to me.

For the rest of metal, I'm looking for a different sound in each band. In nu-metal or metalcore, you could have, like, a hundred "System of a Down" ripoffs or a hundred Atreyu wannabes (whoever would wanna be them must really like balls). I expect them to draw influence from other bands and creating a sound of their own, not rip off other people's riffs.

For black metal, I expect more atmospheric guitar and bass playing and technical keyboard and drum playing.

For thrash, I don't want to hear something tight and together. I wanna hear a race; 4 guys trying to beat each other to the end of a song and yet still hear order and structure (Listen to Kreator's "Endless Pain.").

For death metal, I want to hear a wide range of death grunts and screams; Technical guitar and bass and drum playing for the sake of playing tech; these show me the players, although may lack good music writing, have the endurance and strength to play extreme music and are willing to push themselves.

For melodic and progressive death, I expect more melodic and harmonic progressions and not so much tech-for-the-sake-of-tech music. This is one of my favorite styles of death metal.

My favorite bands, however, are the ones who evolve, trying stuff different and changing into something better and more productive instead of sticking to the same area of thought, instead of either making the same stuff over and over again or changing their sound to get more record sales. At the moment, only one band comes to mind; Death. I won't deny there are other bands, but I think Death is a prime example of musical evolution; evolving from their death metal sound such as from Scream Bloody Gore and Human to a more progressive and innovative sound such as from Individual Thought Patterns and Sound of Perseverance.

Now, I may be a little buzzed at the moment from taking my antibiotics, 4 or 5 aspirin, Zyrtec, and just smoked 2 cigarettes, but this is roughly what I think makes a good band good; evolution. I just tend to ramble often. I get it from my dad. Pickled sperm, you understand, eh?

If I hear it, and I just enjoy everything about it, it's obviously good to me. Originality always makes me a happy boy, and just the overall feel of the music at hand.

I'm a person who is big into lyrics, as well, so that is always a plus for me....but that's a different story. ;]

Individuality , thats all I ask.

In the words of John Peel ..

"I just want to hear something I haven't heard before"

Which is asking a lot.
There's only a handful of bands since Joy Division that have met that requirement, for me at least.
Every now and then one comes along, but less so recently...unless I'm missing something.

It's got to the point that I'm searching for bands tucked away in obscure corners of the music world. Usually from the post punk years. It's getting desperate. :(

I think it depends how you look at it.

I can see where your coming from , but I also think that people can do something that's already there and put their own unique slant on things.

I mean take the White Stripes for example. They make basic garage rock that's been around for decades , practically everything on their first few albums was ripped off from stuff people like Billy Childish & Holly Golightly did over a decade ago , and yet despite all this they still manage to have their own identity & sound. Once you hear a White Stripes song you know who it is instantly.

That's the kind of thing I look for.

Anything capable of making me think or feel that isn't annoying.

Funnily enough the White Stripes are one of those bands that are on my list.
I don't have a problem with bands that make a particular sound their own. It's a long trodden path, to take what's gone before and add a slant to it.

I guess I'm always waiting for a new Joy Division, a new Bauhaus, or a new Talking Heads, but maybe that's just me wishing those bands mentioned could happen all over again. To grab my initial attention, then watch them develop and unfold over the following years.

Maybe that's where my problem lies. Always looking for the old in the new, without it ever being able to deliver.

If there's two members on these boards that'll introduce me to something I've not heard before, it's probably going to be you and Urban.

I get the impression Urban listens to anything that moves and your taste for the unusual matches something not dissimilar to mine.

I definitely agree with you and Urban. Anytime I hear anything that sounds unlike anything I've heard before or has a particularly strong identity and individuality I can't help but be blown away. If it's generic, it had better be really good to command any of my attention.

if it aint got soul then it aint got shit

What Make's Music Good.
 

The best Artist,Vocalist, Guitarist, Drummer, Band, Solo artist, etc. That are each individual's favorite music, that feel's, is their own personal style of music they like, And prefer to listen to. Within the different styles, Decade, Era., etc. / Which each individual person, doesnt always have to like the same style, Artist, Decade, etc. To what, any one other person's, personal opinion's are, That is, 'What make's Good Music'.

There are several distinctions between a good band and a legendary band.
Mainly originality and charisma.
They don't even need to be that good.
He he... Sex Pistols...
To make a truly good band you need all the attributes Sound Devastation said.

Hearing a band and deciding they are shit at least a year before anybody else has heard of them.

:yeah:

3 Things:
Musicianship
Originality
Passion

fixed

In my opinion, I think what makes music good is how it makes you feel. Does this music make you feel good? Does it make you feel bad?

Now here is the caveat, neither of the above is wrong, both have their place, you wanna feel good, listen to music that makes you fell good, you're feeling bad, listen to music that makes you feel that.

Some of the most depressing songs make me smile, because, that is how I was feeling at the time.

I dunno, my outlook on music is weird, but that is some thoughts...

You guys are too nice. A lot of people listen to genuinely bad music. Trying to explain what good music is to anyone is impossible. You know or don't.