Music is subjective....or is it?

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I would say objective for the main reason Sib pointed out. I can dislike a band and I mean really dislike a band (e.g. Cradle of Filth) but I can appreciate the music as an entity in and of itself. I have never come across a style of music that I would say has no redeeming features.

Traditional Chinese music can be a bit jarring to our Western ears due to the different scales and tones but it is still music none the less.

 

[Fire Daemon]

I have to say neither. I think there is no answer to this question.

Take Rap for example. I do not like rap music. I hate it and I want it to suffer, suffer for a long time. I really hate rap. No only is it so annoying and boring but it also makes me angry, angry like a boiling kettle. This is really how I feel.

Anywho looking at this you would think of me as having an Objective look at music. This is wrong.

While my opinions of rap are now set in stone this was not always the same, there was a time (read: 12 years old) when I could have became a fan of rap and have my undying love for rap set in stone. What I am saying here is that it is possible for our music tastes to change thus making them subjective. But if your music taste is determined by popular culture than you are usually also told what is good, at the same time telling you what is bad. For example rap fans thinking that metal is lame and vice versa.

While most will think this makes music both subjective and objective I think the opposite. This is because the two will negate each other. How can you think that all music is good while also having the music you listen determined by something out of your control.

Granted there are people who form there own music choices, this makes music subjective for them and there are people who only listen to one type of music despite whther it is popular or not (classical fans come to mind here).

You become Objective by a Subjective society pretty much. You have the chance to like many differant types of music and then you become one of those that only like one type of music (objective).

This is just my opinion and has obviously been altered by my life and the things that contain. This is also why I think it is neither because if the answer changes from person to person that makes the answer nothing. There is no answer.

 

[Melaisis]

Subjunctive. Although you could definitely analyse the degree of complexity between songs or bands, although this does not necessarily mean one song is 'better' than another.

 

[Anarchemitis]

Music is subjective to the point where it becomes objective as a science in Audiology (or whatever the study would be). All science can judge of music is whether the sound is cacophony or harmonious. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the seeker, not necessarily the scientist.

 

[ConnorCool]

things sound good to one person and bad to others. from a technical point of view, an instrument can be played wrongly, or a not can be missed, but music is all down to preference, and thats why I love it

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

I "All my Exes Live in Texas" style country. Everything else I will listen to, and like certain other genres.

Ooh, I like that song.

So yes, music is obviously subjective.

 

[wewontdie11]

I think you can judge the technical skill of musicians objectively, but that's a relatively minor element of music, so I'm going to say almost entirely subjective.

Yea this. Dragonforce have some very technical tracks but it doesn't make them good.

People look for different things in music.

For example I was talking to my friends dad the other day about classical music and I prefer Beethoven over Bach because of a lot of the raw emotion he brings through so effectively but my friends dad prefers Bach because of the methodical, precise and almost mathematical way in which he composed a lot of his pieces, and he appreciates that more.

 

[Mongodyr]

I would say it's subjective. Though I also think that there are ways to judge the quality of music, or musicians. For instance: Innovation, technique... And even though it's not really subjective or affecting the music, I also like to count how the artist performs on stage. I think an artist should be able to reproduce their own songs on stage.