Get ready for your third post! You’ve got the idea with blogging now. Don’t hold back… tell us about “this song I just can’t stand because…”
As we learn more about our our brains react to music, you’ll find out more behind the technical elements of what makes music pleasing or not. Pitch, tempo, loudness, and timbre (which sounds like “tambor”) are all key factors, among others. Yet, mysteriously, there is no single song that we can ALL agree is a good song, and the same goes for a bad song. Our preferences are highly subjective.
This is what I’d like you to attempt to unpack. Sure, we all have favorites, but what can’t you stand? What makes you change the channel, and why? Try to be as specific as possible: what is it that makes your skin crawl when you hear this song? What associations do you have to this song, and what does your strong dislike suggest about this song, the artist, society, and you as a person?
Be sure to leave three comments on your peers’ posts as well. It will be interesting to see if you disagree– perhaps someone can’t stand something that’s one of your favorites!
[The song I’d pick for this prompt, by the way, is Eiffel 65’s “Blue.” I heard it constantly while studying abroad in Germany when I was younger, and then it hit in the US right when I got home, so I got a double dose of its popularity. My eardrums still haven’t forgiven me.]
Writing on Music, Summer 2015 