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What I really hate about some music

When I listen to music, there are four things that I really bothers me and was wondering if there are others who feel the same way about songs just as strongly as I do. I don't like feeling this way but when I hear these things, I just want to turn the music off and I'm not sure why the song writer doesn't realize he probably has a dud and not a hit. Here they are:

1. When a song writer finds a catchy phrase and the singer repeats the line three times in a row and then a stanza later, here it comes again repeated all three times and this just keeps going on and on.

2. Very similar to the above, a writer writes a real good line of music and then makes the whole song a repeat or variation of this line of music and has no imagination to add a little something in-between.

3. Singers who can't really sing well and think they can but get such really great score of music behind them that if a really good singer sang the song it would be wonderful to listen to. Please understand that carrying a tune to me doesn't make a good singer and I'm not talking about karoke singers here either.

4. Rhyming in a melody.... Please you can predict what the next line of the song is going to be before it is sang because it rhymes with the last line just sang...

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tony1954's avatar
tony1954
1,034 posts
 

For the most part I agree with your assessment, but if I could be so bold as to add another peeve to the list.

5. Songs that have absolutely nothing to say. Songs where the lyrics have no emotional or intellectual content whatsoever.

If I disagree with anything it might be your reference to "Singers who can't really sing". This might be an interesting topic on it's own, but some of my favourite singers aren't good singers. Case in point, Neil Young.

He has no vocal range and can barely hold a tune, but it doesn't matter to me at all. The strength of his writing and the sheer emotion of his vocals make the other deficiencies irrelevant.

tylermunns
601 posts
 

@tony1954 When one says Neil Young can “barely hold a tune,” and has “no vocal range,” it makes me wonder if they’ve ever heard Neil Young before.

I’m a huge fan, from his best songs with Buffalo Springfield to today, and, funnily enough, I’ve been scouring YouTube these last few days for live Neil Young performances, just for fun.
Whether it was early ‘70s or the 2010s, his pitch was pretty unimpeachable.  We could argue as to the favorability of his tone, timbre, etc., but pitch is not an issue for Mr. Young.

This charge could be legitimately leveled at, say, Bryan Ferry or Ian Curtis (to name a couple off the top of my head) but not Neil.

Range is not an issue for Neil either. He’s comfortable in a lower register on a song like “Motion Pictures,” and, just the other day, I was shocked as to his ability to hit that high A note on the chorus of “Old Man” in a live performance. Not sure if you’ve ever tried to sing that chorus without resorting to falsetto.  Suffice to say, many cannot.

A 67-year old Neil Young sang Old Man (original key of D, no detuned guitar to help hit those notes) at Farm Aid in 2013. Unsurprisingly, those notes were a tad difficult for him at that age, but even at 67, after almost 50 years of touring, he acquitted himself nicely as a wide-range vocalist for those lucky audience members.

tony1954's avatar
tony1954
1,034 posts
 

@tylermunns 

"When one says Neil Young can “barely hold a tune,” and has “no vocal range,” it makes me wonder if they’ve ever heard Neil Young before."

My comments were made to illustrate a point and sound a bit harsh in retrospect.

Believe me, I have loved Neil Young since I first heard "For What It's Worth" back in 1967. I was just trying to say that it's a singer's passion and soul that make the connection with the listener, not just a pretty voice.

 

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