There is nobody in the world who doesn’t like music, except
ISIS (they think drums are haram). Music is a way to connect with people,
allows you to express your feelings, gives the sense of power and lets you
relate your life with it. It is considered that music has existed among humans
from past 55,000 years and now has diversified into different forms and genres.
From Indian classical music to death metal, now music offers a wide range of
variety for the listeners. For some people music is a single string instrument
while for others it is a group of 100 people playing in an orchestra. But with
the increasing demand and popularity, anyone is recording and selling music
these days, but there are some common characteristic of music, based on which
you can judge whether you are listening to music or shit.
1.Lyrics
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Lyrics are one of the most important part of a song, but
nowadays most of the mainstream musicians don’t pay much attention to lyrics.
You must understand that lyrics is not just about rhyming words, it’s a way of
describing the feeling of the instrument through vocals. Every instrument used
in a song tells a story which is written into lyrics. If the song which you are
listening doesn’t have good lyrics then your choice of music is not good. Most
of the lyrics these days keeps on repeating two or three words which are based
on girls, party, car and love which is the worst way of composing music. A good
lyrics is like a novel which is written with rhyming words and in a much
shorter format.
2. Meaning and
Message
Every song has a meaning and message, and if your song
doesn’t have these then you need to move on. The guitars, drums, bass, vocals
all contribute to tell you a story or message in the most entertaining and
musical way possible. But most of the new songs these days are meaningless.
They are just made to sell which reduces the power of music that has the
capability to bring the most wonderful change possible in the world. And let me
tell you that if your song says to party till 4, that isn’t a message.
3.Live performance
If you are still confused about the choice of your song then
you can judge it through its live performance. A good musician will never release
shit music and he will also never perform on tracks and lip sync. A good song
will be performed on the stage with each
and every instrument used in the studio but most of the live performance these
days consist of tracks and lip sync and people going for such concerts are
either dumb or just want to see their so called music idols live. Dude, you can
do that anywhere else also, you don’t need to pay Rs.20, 000 and stand in a
huge crowd.
4.Theme
The theme of a song is also very much important. A good song
will be having themes like consequences of war and drugs, story of a famous
person, motivation, life, dreams, desire, etc. All such themes have a standard
and quality while the theme of shit music is based upon party, girls, cars,
bum, gold, cash, lavish lifestyle, promotion of drugs and then party again. I
am not classifying music on the basis of the above mentioned theme, but you can
easily see the standard of quality in these two scenarios.
5.Instrument
The use of instrument is a very important part of a good
song. Musicians all over the world work hard for their whole life and then they
add their musical influences and ideas in a song to give it a perfect shape
while many songs, these days, are all based on auto tuned beats and notes which
can be produced with just a one month lesson on a software. A good song should
contain those parts of instruments which alone can give you goose bumps.
6.Originality
Have you ever thought how original your song is? By talking
about originality, I don’t mean copying a song, but I mean about the way in
which it has been recorded in the studio and the way it will sound when
performed without so much filters. There are many singers who sound awesome on
the recording and when you hear them singing live, you will ask yourself, Is
this the same singer? A good song will sound exactly like the studio recording
when performed live (or even better, example of Cry by Joe Satriani)
7.Song structure
A song is not based on any type of standardization, but
still there are some essential parts of songs which need to be there like
bridge, chorus, etc. It makes the song complete and takes you to various ups
and down throughout the song but many songs these days starts from the north
and then ends up nowhere. These songs are not meant to be heard, but are just
sold to earn money.
8.Song for whom
Have you ever thought what goes in the mind of a musician
(true musician) while composing the song? Whom does he keep in mind while
composing a song? The answer is simple, himself. A true musician will never think that the next
part of my song will be liked by the audience or not, because he composes songs
for himself not for the crowd and that’s how a true musician is able to express
his feelings in the song. If a musician will start composing songs according to
the demand of the crowd, then he will never be able to produce what he thinks.
9.Sustainability
A good song exists in the playlist of the listeners for
lifetime while a shit piece of music lasts only a month in the market. If a
song is good, then you can listen to it even after 10 or 20 years of its release
because it has been made from the depth of the heart while songs these days
come and go like seasons.
10.Crowd’s age
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A good song can be listened be any age category, gender or
race. Have you ever heard of 80 year old person enjoying Justin beiber’s song?
No, but a song like stairway to heaven or nothing else matters can be enjoyed
by a 6 year old kid to a 90 year old person also.
