what is the difference between good and bad music


my friend says rap is bad music. another friend says mahler is a terrible composer.

is it all subjective, i.e., a matter of opinion ? or are there standards which can distinguish good from bad music, however one defines these terms ?

if there are standards, can one specify them or refer me to a source ?
mrtennis
hi newbee. you question the relevance of raising the question in the first place, yet you don't question the relevance of asking the question, what is the difference between good sound and bad sound.

i detect inconsistency.

in essence asking any question about quality of anything is philosophical.

the purpose of raising philosophical questions is to exercise our brain cells, exchange ideas, create a dialogue and have fun.
Good music evokes an emotion consistent with the music. The emotion may or may not be one you welcome at the time. For example some may not like listening to sad songs because they find it depressing, but that does not make it bad music. Bad music fails to be convincing or credible enough, or familiar or fresh enough, to get under the skin enough to unleash that emotion.
Mr Tennis, Your inconsistency detector may need recalibration. Same POV from my direction except I used a different manner of expressing it.
hi redkiwi:

one person's emotional communication may be another's non communication.

if you and i listen to the same music, you may react emotionally and i may not. is the music bad or good ? or you may react emotionally to music one time and not another time.

your reaction emotionally is more a matter of your emotional state than the music you are listening to.

if your are not receptive to the music then there may not be an emotional reaction to any music.

again, do you like the music is more important than do you react to it.

i may react emotioanlly to a piece of music but still not like it for other reasons that have nothing to do with emotions.

i respect your perspective, but have yet to be convinced that quality of music, unfortunately is at the whim of the listener.

if you want to point to the intrinsiic qualities of music that signify quality it is necessary to point out what they are.

if instead you want to refer to a reaction to the music, there are many reactions that can be viewed as favorable to the listenet besides an emotional response.