There is no definition of good music
Music is a form of art which many people can connect with. The Sidekick staff writer Ainsley Dwyer thinks that music should not be held to a definition of whether it’s good or bad, rather if a person forms a deep connection with it. Graphic by Douglas Zambrano.
January 27, 2023
Who can live without it? I ask in all honesty
What would life be?
Without a song or a dance, what are we?
So I say thank you for the music
For giving it to me
The words to the brilliant ABBA song “Thank You For The Music” utilize beautiful lyricism to define the importance of music: no matter the genre you may listen to, one’s personal connection to music as a whole connects humanity.
In the third issue of The Sidekick, the staff voted on its favorite album and song of the year. The wide range of music easily displayed how people tend to perceive different kinds of music in their own ways. From The Weeknd to Zach Bryan, staffers wrote a paragraph about their connection to what they voted to be the song and album of the year.
Music taste is all up to who you are and what you like. There is no such thing as the perfect song that everyone loves. Genres of music can define a person; knowing their music taste can tell you a lot about their personality. How they listen and interpret music shows how they inhabit the world. Even within the same song, people find varying meanings and flow to different instruments.
I love rock music because of the energy and because it brings up childhood nostalgia. My dad is a big fan of classic rock music, so it is the music I grew up on. I connect to the brilliant lyrics and love the way I get lost in the rhythm when Jimi Hendrix starts playing a guitar solo. It is the type of music I can jam out to when I’m cleaning my room or walking in the hallway at school.
I also grew up listening to country music. In fact, I was a fan for years, before I realized I had a hard time connecting with it. That doesn’t mean that country music is bad; it means it is not the style of music that I like.
My dad grew up in the 1970s and was a teen in the 1980s. He had opportunities to go to concerts and experience the release of great albums like Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction. On our road trips, I play my six and half hour classic rock playlist and watch him light up with memories of seeing the artist in concert in high school or college.
People often like a certain type of music because it makes them think of what they love. They enjoy songs that remind them of a time in their life when they were joyful. Both my dad and I love classic rock because it brings back memories of our childhood when we are in the car singing along to The Beatles.
There are surely people who do not like rock music for their own reasons, but they can not invalidate my love for rock music solely because they are not fans. There are people who do not want to like popular music because they do not want to be called basic, when in reality, sometimes popular music is popular because it is good.
Liking certain music should not be about fitting a social norm; rather, it should be about making a connection to the song, finding beauty in its rhythm and lyrics, seeing the world through the eyes of the artist and falling in love with the way the music makes you feel.
Everyone is different and deserves their own opinion on what they think is good music. No genre of music is bad or should have a stigma attached to it because no one deserves to be told that the music they love is bad. Music is a way of finding who you are. Bonding over music is one of the most beautiful conversations people can have.
There is no simple definition of what is good music and how it can be discovered. Music isn’t meant to be liked by everyone, it is meant to be meaningful. It is meant to be a form of expression and poetry that artists create. When a person connects and feels a sense of freedom with their music–– that is what makes music good.
Follow Ainsley @ainsleydwyer and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.
