Poll: Is Music Art?

[G1eet]

But why has Music of late (generally) not on par with those bands. Why does no one say: "That [band name] are great, like The Beatles, y'know?"

Because it is a rarity to find someone who knows the musical masterpieces of Protest the Hero.

Also, Tenacious D. I mean,

<spoiler=this>http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2oXH8AbQCfs/SUOF49DFD8I/AAAAAAAACy0/WFaOK5ndjEQ/s400/Funny+art+01.jpg

is considered art, but it doesn't have to make sense.

 

[Ancientgamer]

All music is art. Bad music is merely bad art.

YES, this. What he said. I don't get what's up with people thinking art carries notions of quality with it. Particularly when by "quality" they usually mean "what they like in their subjective opinion."

 

[Randomeaninglessword]

Certain songs. Although, nothing I've heard that's popular lately I would consider art. But music like classical certainly is.

 

[dsau]

I know a lot of pop music lately isn't considered art by some people mainly because of the general lyrics that consist of "BADADAPOKERFAAAACCEEABABOOMPOOWLOOVEEBANDERSNATCHFSAAAATCCCH"

Which I think is quite sad because when you look at music from the past (Beatles, Queen to name obvious examples) some of their songs were really artistic and meant something. Now it is a lot easier to be considered artistic when bands like that right their own music, play their own instruments, etc.

But why has Music of late (generally) not on par with those bands. Why does no one say: "That [band name] are great, like The Beatles, y'know?"

But about it being considered art, I find it difficult to name a more than a handful of examples of songs that actually count as "Artistic" in a profound sense beyond the obvous time and effot people put into it (in most cases) and even then those songs are limited to my personal taste.

So what do you guys all think? Is Music Art? Is Music as big or as memorable as it (arguably) used to be? And is the classification of art open to the interpretation of the individual?

Would also be nice if you could all post some examples of Music you count as Art too.

Edit: Oh don't get me wrong, I love modern music for the most part I was just referencing that some of it can be very superficial, and was only mentioning older generations as something easily comparable.

music is the ultimate art form, its the combination of sounds, lyrics, ideas, philosophy, and experiences. however some music is shitty art, like poker face. but yes music is art, no doubt

 

[TacticalAssassin1]

Sure, music is art! Movies (as a performing art) are works of art. I would even debate that video games are a medium of art.

This is something I believe deserves the title of art: http://www.youtube.com/user/TacticalAssasin1#play/user/D453DF4450AD5A1C/14/D5PDDcTM0P8

But just because this
http://www.youtube.com/user/TacticalAssasin1#play/favorites/2/xVAXJm_kjno
is of a different genre and would appeal to different people, doesn't mean it is less of an artistic piece. Sure, it might not be as thoughtful or carefully created or anything like that, but it's still art.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Who said poetry was art? It is literature... not art. Art is something that can be passively perceived. Literature is active, you have to consciously read it. And that is my personal opinion, there is nothing ignorant about it. I run a production company in my free time, and I know what good music is and what sucks. Do you realize how simple rap and hip-hop are? 2 tracks... that is it. 1 is the music the other is the vocals. All the people that can't make it in other genres do it after they get shunned from the others. I curse myself everytime I get dragged into one of their shows, because it is utterly disgusting!

Wow, for being someone who runs a production company in his spare time you certainly don't have very much musical knowledge. But then again that's hardly surprising.

Before I begin let me just say that im no fan of rap and hip hop, it's just not my kind of music. But it is still music, even if I don't like it. It's just that rap and hip hop is a music that more often than not focus primarily on rythm/pace rather than tones.

So while musical artists who rely heavily on traditional instruments and combinations of their playing, their music can be considered mostly tone-based music, even if it often do contain an element of rythm. This isn't true for all bands of course as some black metal, death metal and grindcore bands use their tone based instruments ina miore precussive manner, effectively making certain songs more about a shredding rythm than about variations of tones.

But it's all still music, and artistic. It's just a question of what the artist is focussing on. Rap being a form of musical poetry quite naturally focus more on rythm than on tones. Otherwise the rapper wouldn't prefer to rap, but rather sing (rapping = more monotone speech, singing = variations in tone of voice).

That being said, creating good rap music demands just as much talent as creating any other form of music to sound good. So dismissing all rap and hip hop as bad and talentless wouldn't be the most insightful thing to do.

And as for your comments on poetry not being an artform... Wow, just wow. I seem to witness new heights in ignorance every day.

Also, how is art something that can only be passively percieved? An artist till has to create the art, right? Hence the artist is doing an ACTIVE action, just like the writer of poetry is actively writing. This goes for the spectator as well. A spectator still has to experience a piece of art by using his or her senses, which is no different than actually reading or listening to a piece of poetry being read...

 

[Julianking93]

Of course.

But don't be fooled. Most people think the word "Art" constitutes into something "good" this is not the case.

Plenty of sculptures, paintings, statues, or poetry suck, but they're still a form of art.

The same goes with music, games, and movies. Sure, tons if it suck, but its still art.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

I just don't get why musicians can't just be musicians, or is artist a fancier word which makes them sound better?

No. It's because they dabble in creating a certain stimulus for our senses, which isn't really designed to help in a persons survival, but rather just be... Well, stimulating.

A piece of visual art is a stimulus of our eyesight and how the brain interprates what is being seen. Musical art is doing the same thing, but with our hearing.

Some forms of art combine several senses, and some forms are just meant to stimulate cognitive thinking in some way.

Art is kind of purposed stimulation. It's just that musicians use the specators hearing as a medium to convey it, while the visual artist use the spectators eyesight.

 

[Meemaimoh]

I guess, definitively, that all music is art. However, from a personal perspective, I see art as anything that the artist approaches as art. It may suck, but is a three-year-old's scribble any less art than a Picasso just because one has more skill than the other?

I formed this idea because my art is writing: a skill that is used by everyone every day, but isn't art until the artist wants it to be. In the same way, a company can create a Crazy Frog song in order to generate money (and as a corporate committee certainly never thought it was art at any point, it's not art) but a musician can sit down and write a song to convey a feeling and because of that approach, it's art.

 

[Terramax]

As Lewton from Discworld Noir said "art is for people who were terrible at maths".

I don't care for art. All I care is if it sounds good or not.

 

[deleted60525]

DELETED

 

[IDBash]

Who said poetry was art? It is literature... not art. Art is something that can be passively perceived. Literature is active, you have to consciously read it. And that is my personal opinion, there is nothing ignorant about it. I run a production company in my free time, and I know what good music is and what sucks. Do you realize how simple rap and hip-hop are? 2 tracks... that is it. 1 is the music the other is the vocals. All the people that can't make it in other genres do it after they get shunned from the others. I curse myself everytime I get dragged into one of their shows, because it is utterly disgusting!

Wow, for being someone who runs a production company in his spare time you certainly don't have very much musical knowledge. But then again that's hardly surprising.

Before I begin let me just say that im no fan of rap and hip hop, it's just not my kind of music. But it is still music, even if I don't like it. It's just that rap and hip hop is a music that more often than not focus primarily on rythm/pace rather than tones.

So while musical artists who rely heavily on traditional instruments and combinations of their playing, their music can be considered mostly tone-based music, even if it often do contain an element of rythm. This isn't true for all bands of course as some black metal, death metal and grindcore bands use their tone based instruments ina miore precussive manner, effectively making certain songs more about a shredding rythm than about variations of tones.

But it's all still music, and artistic. It's just a question of what the artist is focussing on. Rap being a form of musical poetry quite naturally focus more on rythm than on tones. Otherwise the rapper wouldn't prefer to rap, but rather sing (rapping = more monotone speech, singing = variations in tone of voice).

That being said, creating good rap music demands just as much talent as creating any other form of music to sound good. So dismissing all rap and hip hop as bad and talentless wouldn't be the most insightful thing to do.

And as for your comments on poetry not being an artform... Wow, just wow. I seem to witness new heights in ignorance every day.

Also, how is art something that can only be passively percieved? An artist till has to create the art, right? Hence the artist is doing an ACTIVE action, just like the writer of poetry is actively writing. This goes for the spectator as well. A spectator still has to experience a piece of art by using his or her senses, which is no different than actually reading or listening to a piece of poetry being read...

Do you read? I don't recall ever saying it didn't take talent. That is your only beef against what I said. I know a-z what happens in the musical process. I also can assure you that I am aware of hip-hop and rap's talent, but it is only in the mouth. If you want rhythmic music, list to hardcore or metalcore. The most rhythmic music you will ever hear in your life. Kingston Falls is a good example.

Literature is not an art, that is my opinion. You can disagree with me on that. If you want to hear Poetry in music try out mewithoutyou, one of the most artistic approaches to poetry. Also, I only dismissed rap and hip-hop as not art, I never said it was bad or talentless.(Although I do think it is bad, but I still give new rappers and hip-hop bands a chance... for example I like The Streets..[not art, but comedy] but they are trip-hop.. sooo nvm)

Also, see rant on calling people ignorant... geez. Chances are you are ignorant of other opinions existences.

 

[Berethond]

You betcha!

There are some songs that are more arty than others however.

Pretty much.
<youtube=LP0QNiZoKs0&feature=related>

 

[Berethond]

Who said poetry was art? It is literature... not art. Art is something that can be passively perceived. Literature is active, you have to consciously read it. And that is my personal opinion, there is nothing ignorant about it. I run a production company in my free time, and I know what good music is and what sucks. Do you realize how simple rap and hip-hop are? 2 tracks... that is it. 1 is the music the other is the vocals. All the people that can't make it in other genres do it after they get shunned from the others. I curse myself everytime I get dragged into one of their shows, because it is utterly disgusting!

Wow, for being someone who runs a production company in his spare time you certainly don't have very much musical knowledge. But then again that's hardly surprising.

Before I begin let me just say that im no fan of rap and hip hop, it's just not my kind of music. But it is still music, even if I don't like it. It's just that rap and hip hop is a music that more often than not focus primarily on rythm/pace rather than tones.

So while musical artists who rely heavily on traditional instruments and combinations of their playing, their music can be considered mostly tone-based music, even if it often do contain an element of rythm. This isn't true for all bands of course as some black metal, death metal and grindcore bands use their tone based instruments ina miore precussive manner, effectively making certain songs more about a shredding rythm than about variations of tones.

But it's all still music, and artistic. It's just a question of what the artist is focussing on. Rap being a form of musical poetry quite naturally focus more on rythm than on tones. Otherwise the rapper wouldn't prefer to rap, but rather sing (rapping = more monotone speech, singing = variations in tone of voice).

That being said, creating good rap music demands just as much talent as creating any other form of music to sound good. So dismissing all rap and hip hop as bad and talentless wouldn't be the most insightful thing to do.

And as for your comments on poetry not being an artform... Wow, just wow. I seem to witness new heights in ignorance every day.

Also, how is art something that can only be passively percieved? An artist till has to create the art, right? Hence the artist is doing an ACTIVE action, just like the writer of poetry is actively writing. This goes for the spectator as well. A spectator still has to experience a piece of art by using his or her senses, which is no different than actually reading or listening to a piece of poetry being read...

Do you read? I don't recall ever saying it didn't take talent. That is your only beef against what I said. I know a-z what happens in the musical process. I also can assure you that I am aware of hip-hop and rap's talent, but it is only in the mouth. If you want rhythmic music, list to hardcore or metalcore. The most rhythmic music you will ever hear in your life. Kingston Falls is a good example.

Literature is not an art, that is my opinion. You can disagree with me on that. If you want to hear Poetry in music try out mewithoutyou, one of the most artistic approaches to poetry. Also, I only dismissed rap and hip-hop as not art, I never said it was bad or talentless.(Although I do think it is bad, but I still give new rappers and hip-hop bands a chance... for example I like The Streets..[not art, but comedy] but they are trip-hop.. sooo nvm)

Also, see rant on calling people ignorant... geez. Chances are you are ignorant of other opinions existences.

Really? Hardcore is the most rhythmic music? Really?

 

[IDBash]

Really? Hardcore is the most rhythmic music? Really?

OMFG!!!! Have you ever listened to it? It is truly inspiring music. Most people mistake Hardcore as a metal genre... it isn't. It plays perfect 4/4 count with fourth rest and nothing else. If it uses another timing structure it isn't hardcore.

http://www.last.fm/music/Kingston+Falls/_/The+Weak+Shall+Prevail

Listen to that sound, it is the definition of metalcore (Hardcore with Death metal vocals and I use Kingston Falls because they are the most technical hardcore band... they never break the rules). If that is not rhythmic, then I worry about this world... I understand that without an understanding of the genre it sounds a bit random, but it is not at all. They have more beat than any rapper.

Also, 2 step was invented by the hardcore scene with the signature beat, kick kick snare rest. kick kick snare rest. And is a derrivative of skanking from Ska, which is a form of swing dancing... sorry I am a music buff... I love it. I only do computers because the pay is better, lol.

 

[RoyalStranger]

I hate how almost any thread like this usually starts with the obligatory "Back in my day..."

Because old mainstream music does not always = good music. Today's music is the pasts music, only more straight forward and computer edited in a high-end studio. (If you can think of the rock bands using Sex to sell in the late 70's to 80's.)

Rap is something that adapts to culture, and sadly in culture today sex sells, scantily clad women sell, drugs sell, violence sells.

But its not just one genre that does this, quite a few genres do this, and its become socially acceptable.

In my opinion, there are few past artists that I can give credit for being good.

Neil Young, Joan Jett, Janis Joplin, David Bowie...and a few others.

OT: Music is art, just as poetry is considered art. Books are considered art. Art isn't something that can be narrowed down to drawings on paper. If it appeals to your emotions, then its art.

 

[Clashero]

It takes a good artistic mind to make good music. So it must be art in a way.

Exactly. I do think cash-in artists and pop music designed to be marketed shouldn't be considered art. It's disrespectful.

 

[minoes]

Who said poetry was art? It is literature... not art.

Literature is art, along with the plastic and performing arts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature

 

[Clashero]

Really? Hardcore is the most rhythmic music? Really?

OMFG!!!! Have you ever listened to it? It is truly inspiring music. Most people mistake Hardcore as a metal genre... it isn't. It plays perfect 4/4 count with fourth rest and nothing else. If it uses another timing structure it isn't hardcore.

http://www.last.fm/music/Kingston+Falls/_/The+Weak+Shall+Prevail

Listen to that sound, it is the definition of metalcore (Hardcore with Death metal vocals and I use Kingston Falls because they are the most technical hardcore band... they never break the rules). If that is not rhythmic, then I worry about this world... I understand that without an understanding of the genre it sounds a bit random, but it is not at all. They have more beat than any rapper.

Also, 2 step was invented by the hardcore scene with the signature beat, kick kick snare rest. kick kick snare rest. And is a derrivative of skanking from Ska, which is a form of swing dancing... sorry I am a music buff... I love it. I only do computers because the pay is better, lol.

Metalcore is the most rhythmic and inspiring music? I just played Earth Crisis' In Ashes, which, as I understand, is metalcore. It made the exact same sound the train makes when it's going over a broken segment of rails. If you're looking for technical music, listen to Bach.

Then again, I'm trying to reason with someone who thinks literature isn't art...

I'd have thought someone who runs a music production company would be able to provide a proper example of rhythmic music, and wouldn't use the phrase OMFG!!!