What exactly makes music music?

DJ_DEnM

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Dec 22, 2010
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So I've heard many opinions of opinions on dubstep that range from calling it crapstep to Wendy's as a franchise saying it sounds like a broken Frosty machine. It's largely considered music in the US, but people don't think so. So what exactly does it take for something to be considered music?
 

Vault101

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Sep 26, 2010
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I dont know music theory

but dubstep is music...no matter what some elitists think (while wanking off to their precious rock music)

yeah...as you can tell music elitism pisses me off to no end

in other words calling somthing "not music" is another way of saying "I think its crap"

liek I said you'd have to aks somone who is familiar with music theory..the rest are jsut idiots who dont know what their talking about
 

DJ_DEnM

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Dec 22, 2010
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Vault101 said:
I dont know music theory

but dubstep is music...no matter what some elitists think (while wanking off to their precious rock music)

yeah...as you can tell music elitism pisses me off to no end

in other words calling somthing "not music" is another way of saying "I think its crap"

liek I said you'd have to aks somone who is familiar with music theory..the rest are jsut idiots who dont know what their talking about
So common internet critics?
 
Dec 14, 2009
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I'm not an expert on music, not by a long shot.

My opinion of dubstep is like this.

The vast majority of it, is shite, but when a good dubstep track comes along, I really like it.

Like this, for instance.



It pushes all the right buttons in my brain and I can't help but like it.

So, to answer your question, music for me is a mixture of two things.

The track above gets my rythm going, but there's very little emotional involvement.

While this...


Makes my heart soar. The former I will have forgotten in six months, while the latter will be with me for a very long time.
 

BathorysGraveland

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Dec 7, 2011
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Being a passionate fan of death metal, I can certainly relate to that sort of shit. "Wtf? You can't understand what they are saying, they are just banging on drums and making noise, this shit isn't music". My advice is to just ignore such bullshit from ignorant people.

I don't know any technical terms or what have you, by any means. But my vision of music, is one or more people making noise, either with instruments or without, with the intention of self-enjoyment and also for the enjoyment of other people.
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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DJ_DEnM said:
Vault101 said:
So common internet critics?
my point is this thread...isnt (and shouldnt) be about weather dubstep is "good" or "bad"

unless somone out there familiar with music theory will corrent me...Dubstep is music..I've got no interest in defending it as a genre

weather people like it or not is irrelevent
 

Launcelot111

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Jan 19, 2012
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I would define music as an organization of sounds that may shift in pitch, tone, or timbre and that are produced in a manner dictated by some rhythm or tempo. This is left very vague and broad to fit in the entire range of music from Gregorian chant to African drum circles to Einsturzende Neubauten, who made songs hitting corrugated metal with hammers, to John Cage's 4'33", which I would consider performance art but which some would consider music due to the fact that it has sheet music and that tempo is essential to its performance. In this framework, dubstep is undeniably music. Modern music has done away with many of the more rigid rules of classical music theory as well as introducing ideas that 18th century composers couldn't even consider, so dubstep may be unfamiliar or incomprehensible to the ears of some, but it cannot be justly denied that dubstep is music.

That said, all I've ever really heard of dubstep is Skrillex-style whu-whu-whu-whump-whump bass lines and some overproduced Zelda remixes that my friend tried to win me over with. I don't legitimately know what qualifies something as dubstep (which is fine because music is overclassified), but what I've heard has been pretty terrible
 

Chased

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Sep 17, 2010
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Daystar Clarion said:
While this...


Makes my heart soar. The former I will have forgotten in six months, while the latter will be with me for a very long time.
Sweeeet stuff, I'm assuming GITS is Ghost in the Shell, bit rusty on the anime.

OP: Music in my opinion is whenever someone combines sounds for the purpose of personal enjoyment. Of course dubstep is music (this is coming from someone that almost exclusivity listened to drone for about a year).
 

TheRealJLars

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Feb 15, 2010
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As a former jazz studies major: Music, in its broadest sense, is any combination of sounds that elicits some sort of emotional response from the the listener. It doesn't matter if it's any good or not.

I think dubstep sounds like someone pushing a dishwasher down a mountain, but it's still technically music.

This on the otherhand, is excellent.

 
Dec 14, 2009
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Chased said:
Daystar Clarion said:
While this...


Makes my heart soar. The former I will have forgotten in six months, while the latter will be with me for a very long time.
Sweeeet stuff, I'm assuming GITS is Ghost in the Shell, bit rusty on the anime.

OP: Music in my opinion is whenever someone combines sounds for the purpose of personal enjoyment. Of course dubstep is music (this is coming from someone that almost exclusivity listened to drone for about a year).
Yeah, it's Ghost in the Shell.

Some pretty sweet tracks for that series, but nothing quite stands out like that one.

At least for me, anyway.
 

DoPo

"You're not cleared for that."
Jan 30, 2012
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I've often thought about just that - what is common between different music styles? How do you distinguish music from "just a sound". I have a friend of mine who is an amateur music producer and some more acquaintances who are into music, like more professionally than just listening to it[footnote]I myself have tried my hand at it but I just think it takes too long to make a decent track. Also, it's fun in the beginning but smoothing out the final product and giving it the final touches are a bit boring. That's why I haven't pursued the amateur scene.[/footnote]. We've talked about it and we do have sampled a wide variety of music. In the end, here's the conclusion I reached: I have no fucking clue. If I had to guess, it probably is about intent and acceptance. Somebody intends the sounds they produce to be music and there are people who accept it. Just a guess, though.

Is dubstep music? Yes, I would say it is. I don't understand the somewhat recent hate towards it, though. I first heard dubstep several years ago and it was an established genre but the (widespread) hate seems to have emerged in the past year or so. Why did the people wait for so long? And why do they call it "not music". And there are things far more nonsensical than the dubstep sound, however I haven't heard the public complain about them. There was a genre (or several) the sole reason of which was to be be weird and schizophrenic.

I didn't like dubstep the first time I heard it but I the thought to call it "not music" never crossed my mind. That thought never crossed my mind for any kinds of wild and weird music I've heard.
 

Total LOLige

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Jul 17, 2009
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It's all music. I think dubstep is shit but I've never been a fan of electronic music. It's fit for purpose which is to make people dance. Personally I think music should have some sort of meaning, or have decent lyrics so not "swagger jagger" and most modern pop music.
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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ToTaL LoLiGe said:
It's all music. I think dubstep is shit but I've never been a fan of electronic music. It's fit for purpose which is to make people dance. Personally I think music should have some sort of meaning, or have decent lyrics so not "swagger jagger" and most modern pop music.
I quite like electronic

and music can have meaning, especially if it has no lyrics, thats when your imagination fills in what ever feeling/meaning/ image you get from the music

and yes this does and can happen with electronic

EDIT: which is why no lyrics is better than bad lyrics..you can have an awsome music track but its hard to enjoy or add some kind of concept too when the learcs are atraight forward "yeah! party!"
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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DoPo said:
some peopel dont like it because they are under the delusion that anything considered "moderen" is crap by default

some people dont like it because its simply not apealing..with dubstep this is understandable

some people dont like it because they associate whats "popualr" with shithead teenagers

some people dont like it because of the direction it has gone

some people call it "not music" because they dont like it
 

Fieldy409_v1legacy

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Oct 9, 2008
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The way I figure it, its all in the intention of the creator. If they wanted to create music when they put together a set of sounds, its music. Just like if an artist was trying to make art when he creates a piece of art, its art.

Saying anything from a particular genre isnt music smells more to me of hating on stuff you dont like. I try to be mature and accept that people have different tastes.
 

DoPo

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Jan 30, 2012
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Vault101 said:
DoPo said:
some peopel dont like it because they are under the delusion that anything considered "moderen" is crap by default

some people dont like it because its simply not apealing..with dubstep this is understandable

some people dont like it because they associate whats "popualr" with shithead teenagers

some people dont like it because of the direction it has gone

some people call it "not music" because they dont like it
And, of course, they are all wrong. In addition they are late. Had they rose up before the genre was established, they would have been sli-i-ightly less wrong, however, we can now call piano music "not music" with the same success.
 

dnnydllr

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Apr 5, 2009
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Vault101 said:
DJ_DEnM said:
Vault101 said:
So common internet critics?
my point is this thread...isnt (and shouldnt) be about weather dubstep is "good" or "bad"

unless somone out there familiar with music theory will corrent me...Dubstep is music..I've got no interest in defending it as a genre

weather people like it or not is irrelevent
Technically, no, it's not music. Then again, almost nothing that's produced today can actually fall under the "technical" classification of music. I'm as schooled in music theory as a half baked potato, but one of my more (and incredibly) musically inclined friends explained it to me once. I can't remember too much from his explanation, but suffice to say most popular forms of music are missing at least one quality that keeps them from being "technically" music.
 

reyttm4

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Mar 7, 2009
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Dubstep is music, and so is every other genre that people don't like (yes rap too). Music isn't a science, it's an art which makes it subjective. So I'm fairly sure as long as it's organized sound it's music.
Also as a side note, I'm fairly sure dub step gets so much shtick from people because of the insane amount of terrible dubstep remixes there are, like it's so popular literally everything has a dubstep remix, or maybe just an audio clip with some 'wub-wub-wubs' behind it.