I've Finally Given Up On Objective Music Ratings
I've Finally Given Up On Objective Music Ratings
Plus: Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Primal Scream, Tom Waits, Loretta Lynn, Elvis Costello
Over the course of this project, I’ve gone through a potentially naive attempt to find a way to rate music that goes beyond “I like it” or not. At first I imagined myself as the paragon of musical objectivity, the utterly impartial judge who could look past my personal preferences and find the holy grail of ratings, based on factors I had no clue how to define. Some may recall that even then I knew it to be a fool’s quest, but I tried anyway because of the lessons I thought I’d learn along the way.
And I certainly have learned some things. Objectivity, applied to art, isn’t an easy thing to achieve. Some might say it defeats the purpose of art, which should naturally appeal to different people in different ways. But the back of my brain kept telling me that I needed some other way to rate music, if not objectively, then at least based on factors that are slightly more objective or universal than my personal taste.
So with that in mind, I believe I’ve come to the final iteration of my system. I’ve replaced the “rating formerly known as objective” with what I call my Brain Rating, and I think I’ve finally found a definition of that rating that works for me. It’s very simple, but took a while to get to.
Basically, my Brain rating answers the question: “does it make my brain happy.” For me, that’s often a different question and answer than “do I like it, and want to listen to it again”, which is the basis of my Taste rating. I’ve had albums scratch a head itch that didn’t scratch a heart itch, if you’ll pardon the uncomfortable metaphor. So I want to have these 2 dimensions to describe music.
And if it’s not clear, I believe the objective rating of art and music to be a fool’s quest. I started out in search of that kind of rating knowing it was likely impossible, and I learned a lot in the pursuit of the impossible. Now I’ve learned what I really needed, and I think I’ve got the system that will help me accomplish my goal - finding more music I (and hopefully others) will love. In other words, codifying my musical taste.
Rather that getting into boring definitions, I’ll just give some examples to illustrate my new Brain rating. It could evolve a little going forward, but it’s loose for a reason. People should grow and change. So should our tastes. So I’m leaving room for that and that’s how it’s gonna be.
These are some of the reasons I’ve raised my Brain ratings
Make Dave brain happy
Music I would recommend to someone who likes that genre or artist, regardless of if I like it
Trailblazing music
Great stories behind the music or artist
It’s inspired other great artists
Positive social meaning
Definitive or formative example of a genre
Sick album art
Clever lyrics
And similarly, some reasons I’ve lowered Brain ratings:
Make Dave brain hurt
Problematic artists that make my skin crawl to support with my listening, especially those whose music might get a high Taste Rating that need to be taken down a notch
Repetitiveness (I absolutely hate repetitiveness in music. Why do artists love it so much? Within songs, between songs, in guitar solos… blegh)
Lyrics that make me cringe, e.g. sexist or racially insensitive stuff that might have been “accepted” at the time but isn’t today
Repetitiveness
Uninspiring songwriting, even if it sounds cool
Artists I suspect have inflated ratings due to weird undercurrents and trends in the music critic world
Dumb kids from my high school liked it and now I can’t hear the music the same anymore (sorry, Radiohead)
Repetitiveness
So maybe this kind of rating system is useful for you, and maybe it’s not, but I can tell you it has certainly helped me in my quest. I’m not trying to “improve” my taste, I’m trying to pin it down and learn how to use it. That comes with the risk of over-simplifying things, but I’m hardly the first to get hooked on the idea of boiling down something as complicated as music taste to a single number. If you’re inspired to try something similar for yourself, I don’t think you’ll have a bad time.
Project B.A.E. - Best Albums Ever
In the Wee Small Hours Of The Morning - Frank Sinatra
This is generally agreed to be one of the first concept albums, and the concept is… sad. Frank’s wandering the streets of New York with a broken heart, lamenting a lost love with every breath. That’s the concept, and the concept will not be ignored no matter how you might try. It’s probably more fair to say I appreciated this album rather than enjoyed it - it felt more like a movie than many albums, which is a pretty cool effect to pull off. Even cooler when you consider that such an achievement was pretty unheard of at the time of release.
Brain Rating: 9
Taste Rating: 4
Jams:
White Album - The Beatles
Brain Rating: 8
Taste Rating: 6
Jams:
“Back In The U.S.S.R.”
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
“Piggies”
Screamadellica - Primal scream
This album was a great time, and I think it was cool that although I went in with no idea what to expect, the first song was a relatively approachable “on-ramp” of a song that got me into the music before the real stuff began. I found myself thinking that this entryway for laypeople probably made me like the rest of the music ten times more, and that’s a cool strategy more bands might consider. Had a great time listening.
Brain Rating 8
Taste Rating 8
Jams
“Movin’ On Up”
“Slip Inside This House”
Rain Dogs - Tom Waits
Another artist you have to “be introduced to the right way” and another album that leaves me questioning why an album requiring several other albums to appreciate can stand in its own on this list. However, given how much Tom Waits’ style apparently changed in his career, perhaps I should give his overall work a listen as I think without that, this album will make little sense to me. I’d love to hear from more knowledgeable folks about how I should handle Tom Waits and his odd ways. But for now, I’m going to lick my wounds from this album and move on to something I can understand.
Brain Rating: 7
Taste Rating: 0
Jams
“Gun Street Girl”
Mezzanine - Massive Attack
I’ve been looking forward to this one. I have an all or nothing relationship with electronic music and its multitudes of genres and sub genres. But Massive Attack has been on my radar before in an awesome way.
For the other 2000’s kids out there - “ohhh it’s the House theme song” and it’s even better than the snippet you get in the show’s intro.
I was all in on this. Will be playing this album many, many more times.
Brain rating: 8
Taste rating: 9
Jams
“Angel”
“Teardrop”
“Inertia Creeps”
This Year’s Model - Elvis Costello
This is an artist I feel like it’s preposterous to know nothing about, but I know nothing about Elvis Costello. He could have been a 2010’s artist for all I knew. Even the sound is more modern than I thought. It’s not my cup of tea, but I think it might get attention if it was released for the first time today, which is hard for me to back up with facts but was a pervasive thought I had while listening to the album. The biggest bugaboo for me was the fact that Elvis seems to consider pronouncing words correctly - or at all - purely optional. (E.g. the song “Big Tears” with the memorable chorus I could only understand as “big cheese, big muffin” - a message I think we can all get behind)
Brain Rating 8
Taste Rating 4
Jams
“(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea”
“Living In Paradise”
Coal Miner’s Daughter - Loretta Lynn
Sometimes you need some OG country. This was both a fun listen and a historical one. Also winner of the award for most country-artist-sounding name.
Brain Rating: 9
Taste Rating: 5
Jams
“Too Far”
“Coal Miner’s Daughter”