Great piece. My first thought about objectivity with music (or any art) was it’s an impossible quest. Descriptions can be objective - say, this is the band’s third album - but whether or not music is ‘good’ is an individual reaction.
Yet. We’re reaching for other criteria. Some people - some critics - are known for having ‘good taste’. And, if they write about a genre of music we can appreciate, they do have good taste. And that suggests there may be objectivity in ‘good’ and ‘bad’ music, defined somewhere in the laws of the universe.
I’m going to write more about this in the coming weeks. I’m looking forward to your further listening and refinement of your system.
And thanks for including ‘Damn the Torpedoes’. Petty was one of the greats. I bought his first single, first album, and everything after those. But I haven’t listened to this album for way too long. Yes, ‘Louisiana Rain’ is (objectively?!) a great song.
Thanks Ian! Maybe another way to put it - I’d like a way to evaluate if I’d recommend an album to someone when I don’t like it. It’s easy to read reviews of an album and say “I don’t like it but this is why other people think it’s cool” but it would be great to form that opinion on my own. That’s not objectivity but it’s a step in that direction.
Maybe it’s more accurate to say I’m trying to separate my “gut” opinion and a more well-informed “brain” opinion. TBD on the terminology as well. I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts!
I grew up on Tom Petty - when I was 8 I remember thinking he was a current artist and wondering why his songs weren’t on TV alongside Britney Spears and Co. Damn The Torpedoes is amazing!
Very interesting approach. And this former philosophy major who specialized in aesthetics can offer at least a suggestion of help as you try to move forward. In any case”objective” approach, we must first define our terms. So when you say, “In conclusion, I’m revamping how I do my “objective” ratings. I’ll try to make them less about how much I like the song and more about how good I think certain aspects of it are.” that points you toward your next step, which is to try defining what “good” means in this context. It won’t be easy, but I think you’ll find it a useful exercise! P.S. Check the credits on Back To Black - about half of it was produced by Salaam Remi, who was much more sympathetic to Winehouse, I believe. He also worked on Frank, her previous album.
Hi Jeremy, thanks so much for the comment! It's exactly this kind of discussion that prompted me to start this project in the first place. I appreciate your fact check - I will update the permanent version of this post accordingly.
I definitely have found a challenge when it comes to objectively rating music, however "objective" might be defined. I find having some measure other than "I like it or don't like it" is useful, as it leads to me listening to a larger variety of music. Having a goal to form an objective rating of the music doesn't allow me to dismiss it as easily as I might when relying only on my subjective feelings. It will be an interesting exercise to define what "good" music is to me!
Great piece. My first thought about objectivity with music (or any art) was it’s an impossible quest. Descriptions can be objective - say, this is the band’s third album - but whether or not music is ‘good’ is an individual reaction.
Yet. We’re reaching for other criteria. Some people - some critics - are known for having ‘good taste’. And, if they write about a genre of music we can appreciate, they do have good taste. And that suggests there may be objectivity in ‘good’ and ‘bad’ music, defined somewhere in the laws of the universe.
I’m going to write more about this in the coming weeks. I’m looking forward to your further listening and refinement of your system.
And thanks for including ‘Damn the Torpedoes’. Petty was one of the greats. I bought his first single, first album, and everything after those. But I haven’t listened to this album for way too long. Yes, ‘Louisiana Rain’ is (objectively?!) a great song.
Thanks Ian! Maybe another way to put it - I’d like a way to evaluate if I’d recommend an album to someone when I don’t like it. It’s easy to read reviews of an album and say “I don’t like it but this is why other people think it’s cool” but it would be great to form that opinion on my own. That’s not objectivity but it’s a step in that direction.
Maybe it’s more accurate to say I’m trying to separate my “gut” opinion and a more well-informed “brain” opinion. TBD on the terminology as well. I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts!
I grew up on Tom Petty - when I was 8 I remember thinking he was a current artist and wondering why his songs weren’t on TV alongside Britney Spears and Co. Damn The Torpedoes is amazing!
Very interesting approach. And this former philosophy major who specialized in aesthetics can offer at least a suggestion of help as you try to move forward. In any case”objective” approach, we must first define our terms. So when you say, “In conclusion, I’m revamping how I do my “objective” ratings. I’ll try to make them less about how much I like the song and more about how good I think certain aspects of it are.” that points you toward your next step, which is to try defining what “good” means in this context. It won’t be easy, but I think you’ll find it a useful exercise! P.S. Check the credits on Back To Black - about half of it was produced by Salaam Remi, who was much more sympathetic to Winehouse, I believe. He also worked on Frank, her previous album.
Hi Jeremy, thanks so much for the comment! It's exactly this kind of discussion that prompted me to start this project in the first place. I appreciate your fact check - I will update the permanent version of this post accordingly.
I definitely have found a challenge when it comes to objectively rating music, however "objective" might be defined. I find having some measure other than "I like it or don't like it" is useful, as it leads to me listening to a larger variety of music. Having a goal to form an objective rating of the music doesn't allow me to dismiss it as easily as I might when relying only on my subjective feelings. It will be an interesting exercise to define what "good" music is to me!
Thanks again for reading!