The Good, The Bad & The Ticky

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Plenty of you out there in poptimistsland like writing about music, and even perhaps earn some money for doing so.

Do you find it easier to write about

1) songs you love
2) songs you hate
3) songs you find mediocre?

I can usually find plenty of scathing words about dull music that just isn’t any cop, sometimes even suggesting improvements! However I am loathe to say I 'hate' something as if it has sparked such a reaction in me then I will probably end up loving it eventually. Case in point: when the Spice Girls first arrived I loathed them with such intense obsession that I made sure I paid attention to every song, television appearance and promotional tie-in they did in order to make sure my hatred was well-informed. Now they are one of my favourite pop bands ever, possibly because of my negative reaction: they signified my attraction to pop music was inevitable even though I was an utter indie snob at the time. Well done girls!

As for songs I love, when writing reviews I find it far more difficult to get across *just how much* I love them and why. Of course I can say 'omg this bassline is GREAT' or 'her voice is amazing', but the one thing I can never describe properly is the ZING factor that some songs have, and some songs just don't, even if they sound very similar. Usually the ZING factor ensures that the song remains enjoyable despite repeated plays. For example, Justin Timberlake's Sexyback was interesting and enjoyable but I grew tired of it after a while. My Love on the other hand had the ZING that went straight to a certain bit of my brain, meaning I will happily listen to it forever more. I found the former much easier to write a end-of-year blurb for than the latter.

What do you think, poptimists? If you don't really write about songs then do you find it easier to tick a good song or to 'not tick' a bad song? Is a bad song merely mediocre or does mediocre fall under 'any good at all'?

Comments

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

Personally, I find it vastly easier to write about music I like than music I don't like. Mediocre music, by definition, doesn't really have much going on, so it's often pretty difficult to find something to say about it. Anyways, I'm awful, always have been, at describing why I *don't* like things, and find it much easier to describe why I do like something. And I don't have a scathing wit at all, so humorously skewering the bad songs is out as well.

Hate to love is a much more uncommon thing for me. Hmm, Olivia Newton-John I guess, but in that case I hated her because of Grease and "Physical", but when I heard her other music I started to love her, even though I still hate Grease and "Physical" (apart from "Hopelessly Devoted to You"). Mariah Carey is actually a good example of somebody I went from hate to love on.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

But in Mariah's case, it was like I hated her because I was supposed to as an "intelligent" music fan hate her music and her melisma and her out of control vocals. But I got better.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

i'm not sure if this is a distinction for me -- almost by definition "i am interested" = "i have lots to say", but weakness are as likely as strengths to give me stuff to talk abt (that said i pretty much like almost everything)

my usual problem with writing abt music now is that i want to write too much abt too little, if i do it at all

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Snap! Though I never hated Mariah to such extremes as I did with the Spicers. Accordingly I don't love her quite so much as the girls today.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The hardest for me is music that I quite like - solid 6/10 tracks in a genre I generally enjoy, but not really a standout. There's only so much I can say about those.

Doing Popular I'm forcing myself to write about music over a whole spectrum. Writing about the ones I really like is 'hard' in that I put myself under pressure to 'nail it' beyond going OMG THIS IS TEH AWESUM. It's great when I feel I've got it right, though. But writing about the ones I really hate can be easier at the time but harder in the long run as I am VERY EASILY LED and if I've given something a 3 or 4 and someone says "Ah but yes..." and comes up with a grebt argument as to its genius then I will usually think, oh good point.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I feel what you're saying about putting that ZING into words.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

haha i just realised what i like so much abt this avatar btw -- the hobbsian martian is clearly SWAYING ALONG to a song it loves!!

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

For me, years of music reviewing for various publications and websites has taught me that if we're talking recorded music, it's easier to write about music you hate. Live music is easier to write about if you've enjoyed it.

My favourite review I ever wrote was my scathing attack on Ian Van Dahl's album in the Cherwell. The bizarre part was that I loved (and still do love) 'Castles In The Sky', but listening to an hour of that same beat with slightly altered lyrics on each song was torture.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

The Lex, to give him his due, is quite good at this.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Yes, Lex is quite good at saying what's good and TEH RUB (usually) at saying why something is bad. (But I think that's because he rarely "thinks" something is bad, he just feels it instinctively. I look forward to the day he makes a Kat-like transformation and comes to love, um, Pulp and The Decembrists.)

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Thought-provoking question. Part of being a poptimist, for me, is (unconsciously) dividing music into three categories - a big one of stuff that I like, a big one of stuff I don't really care about, and a tiny (font size 3) group of stuff I think is bad.

By definition, I don't have much to say about the group I don't care about, and so it's probably easier for me to talk about the stuff I like, although I wouldn't swear that I ever do it particularly well.

It would probably be quite easy to slag off things from that small group of YUK, but why would I want to spend time on that?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

The universe will explode!!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Yes. I posted the above becaues of my GnR dribblings earlier today. I felt the need to question why everyone liked them so much and I didn't. I'm still not sure if I can rate them as 'bad' or just 'dull/mediocre'. If they were the latter then would I have bothered writing about them? I don't know! But if they really are 'bad' then they must at least be 'interesting', and therefore 'any good at all'. I'm in a bit of a quandary as I like being consistent!

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

dude, they RAWKED! what more is there to say?

(i am not reading the poll threads at the mo, as i'm off polls)

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

b-but polls rock d00d

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

i am bored of them now (sorry)

"you had to be there"

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I don't know if that's *really* the case, but I remember when A4D came out, it really was a kind of breath of fresh air - I had three roommates at the time, and although we had some overlap in our tastes, you could caricature us pretty easily as four diverse people. And we all liked GnR. One of the reasons was the fact that Axel could pull off so many different voices. Also, if you remember your guitar-playing days, I would think you would relish "Welcome to the Jungle," which has like four different riffs, each of which would be enough to build a quite good song on.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

do you like h!tler/fate phun/enjoy yr A!Ds ect

Re: "you had to be there"

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

As said elsewhere, I quite like WTTJ.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

That's cos mostly when I'm slagging stuff off I'm doing so here or ILM and my critical faculties have usually been completely fused by the realisation that anyone likes eg Guns'n'Roses more than TLC. I like doing hatchet jobs in print a la Klaxons (every word of which I am happy with).

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I used to enjoy writing about things I hated but definitely prefer writing about stuff I love now - having to slag off an endless stream of UK indie in the Stylus singles jukebox was really tedious after a while, there are only so many times you can write the same thing. And I usually only have to write about good music now, due to what I write being mostly what I pitch, and why bother pitching something you hate? (Klaxons and Lady Sov I was commissioned, and I enjoyed slagging both of those partly because I get to do it so rarely now - I've given my third negative review in a row though this week and would like to say nice things about music again.)

There's no hard and fast rule to what I think I write WELL about. Part of the problem with writing about music I love is that, initially (ie when the review has to be written), I don't exactly know why I love it. I would be able to write much better about B'Day now, for instance, than if I'd had to review it in the week it came out with only a few listens, when I was still trying to get a hold on it. Stuff like Junior Boys I don't think I'd particularly write well about even now. 'Gold Digger' is amazing but I'd have NO idea how to say why. I could write really good essays on virtually each individual song on the new Ciara album. Etc.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

For me there are two...axes, I guess.

i) whether I like something or not, inc the grey area of botherd in between
ii) whether I approve of something or not, which usually but does not always coincide with i). I approve of stuff like drone-folk, I'm happy it exists and it doesn't offend my ears and it makes me happy that various people love it, but I don't particularly like it myself and would never choose to listen to it. I like 'SOS' by Rihanna and will dance to it &c, but disapprove of it because it signifies a pretty unwelcome direction for r&b to go in, and a sense that Rihanna isn't doing herself justice with it.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

A question: dragging up the old 'guilty pleasures' idea, would you therefore count SOS as a guilty pleasure? When you dance to it but you think you shouldn't be?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Nope, I don't feel guilty about liking it, it's a decent song! But if I had to talk or write about it I would not say so without the gigantic caveat of my disapproval.

Re: "you had to be there"

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I thought I remembered that. Just me more explaining why *I* like them, although to be honest the only track of theirs I've probably wanted to hear in the last, say, five years is "November Rain."

What I always wonder about, though, is how things relate to or are received in the particular times. e.g., R.E.M. are cool, R.E.M. are brilliant, this R.E.M. isn't as good as the last, oi this isn't so good either, OH WOW this is amazing, oh it was a fluke this sucks, OH PLEASE GOD I DON'T EVER WANT TO HEAR STIPE'S VOICE AGAIN. And then at some point in the future, even the bad later stuff might sound okay. U2 strung out their timeline a bit longer, but I physically shudder when I hear them come on now. U2 are about as uncool as they come. But I don't think that's entirely their fault, or an accurate reflection of their music.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Just for interest's sake, are there any examples you *would* feel guilty about? Something only just crossing the 'botherd' borderline into 'good' on your first axis but that you disapprove of on your second, perhaps?

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

I find it hard to say why I love a song. I mean I know why, it's coz:

a) It's got a great guitar solo OR
b) I like the chorus/it's hum-able OR
c) I enjoyed the video OR
d) I feel that I could listen to it whilst lying down OR
e) I get a sense of kindred spirits
f) Silliness

These aren't very intellectual reasons, but then liking music shouldn't be an intellectual pursuit, I don't think. And some bands I love tick all the boxes.

Music I hate, hmmm, I like to make through away/contrary comments sometimes. I don't really spend much time hating though. I know I'll never like Basement Jaxx/LCD Soundsystem/The Smiths/Killer by Adamski/Buffalo Stance...Just music I personally find overly serious/aware of it's own importance, that I feel lacks a sense of fun - IS WORTHY. It's totally okay, if you find this music interesting and fun and find it worthy!

Overall, I would only write about something I liked, in the hope that someone would say they liked it to, or thanks for pointing that out or whatever.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds it easier to write about things I don't like. Even in things which are promising but flawed, I can normally anatomise the problem pretty well. With stuff I love, I often end up incoherently jabbering "It's just....ace! In a sort of brilliant wonderful wow sort of way!"

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

There's plenty of music I would feel guilty about liking! The clever thing is, it tends to be the music I actually dislike and find abhorrent in every way, and this is precisely why I would feel guilty if I liked it.

Hot Like That

[koganbot]

I find it easiest to write about songs I'm conflicted about and/or songs where the performers are conflicted and/or songs where the audience is conflicted and/or songs that cause conflicts. Three pieces on Sophie B. Hawkins made it into my book and I still don't know what I think of her. Nothing in the book about Boney M and Midi Maxi & Efti.

Traveled from hate to love on The Beatles, The Supremes, The 4 Tops, "96 Tears," "Yummy Yummy Yummy." But those journeys took place long ago. Usually my dislike-like turnarounds go from "I don't really like this" to "it's not so bad."

My best writing in the last 48 hours has been about Ashley Tisdale's "Not Like That": "All the girls in the club got their eyes on me/I can tell by their look that they want to be/be HOT HOT HOT like that/But it's NOT NOT no it's NOT like that/All the girls in the club got their eyes on me/They put me down 'cause of jealousy/But I'm NOT NOT I'm NOT that girl/And it's NOT NOT no it's NOT my world." And of course Ashley's hot and the track's hot and those capitalized big gorgeous beats are warmly totally scrumptious and the girls in the club can't take their eyes off her (no matter what you surround that thought with, you're bragging). Way to have your glamour and shun it too, and the song really does right by both sides of the conflict, the hot side and the girl-next-door side. Reminds me of Ginger Rogers.

Re: Hot Like That

[koganbot]

"Not Like That" streamed here (I don't know for how long or if everyone can play it).

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I think I'm bad at writing "reviews" in general and I'm frequently unhappy with my writing about songs/albums I love or hate or find mediocre (about equally, really), because the writing is mediocre. If I were to point out pieces I'm happy with, I'd probably pick some of all three categories, possibly set against each other. Or, if they're song-by-song, usually because I found an interesting kernel and followed it through, and it didn't require several thousand words (like with "Not This Year" or "Robot Song" to name recent ones -- one creates "real" conflict, one creates a fantasy conflict, though I think when you hear the conflict you can make a case for it. Mordy just made a case for conflict -- that I'm not hearing -- in Avril's new single, but then I have major conflicts with Avril, so maybe someday I'll write something worth reading about it). I'm better at taking a song as a starting point (more comfortable as "music writer" than a "song reviewer"). But it's hard for me to let my mind wander when I feel like I'm supposed to be keeping my ears/mind "on the song" and need to keep it snappy.