For me a song must have value in and of itself, independent of any other factor. This includes the writer, producer, and performer. I don’t care if a song was was performed by “the greatest talent in the year 2007″ or produced in the top-of-the-line studio in Nashville. Popularity, promotion, airplay, and hype only serve to get the song to my ears. They don’t make it great.
I have found great songs in commercials, in EP’s, at the local open mic show, and even found one of my all-time favorites on quick-and-dirty demo CD a band left in a hotel lobby. Sure, great songs are also found on Billboard’s top 40. But for anyone to limit their musical selection to those pieces businessmen and marketers have forced upon them seems a travesty to me.
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For me a song must have value in and of itself, independent of any other factor.
Not for me – sometimes I love a song (or at least its worth loving) just by virtue of when I heard it, or what phase of my life it represents. Offspring reminds me of Tecmo Bowl fests at friends, Carpenters reminds me of lego projects in my basement, and so on.
My wife and I also make it a point to pick up a CD when we’re on a getaway together. Hopefully the album stands on its own, but sometimes I just like the songs because they remind me of something.
(fwiw)
Kind of loving a child because she/he is your child, not because they are particularly loveable.