And what would you say most music that makes you forget about everything else have in common?
For me, seems to be a combination of:
- originality
- complexity
- melody
- ability to inspire emotion
- be in a genre I can appreciate
I think that these are my main criteria to find some music great. If it's too simple for example, the song becomes repetitive and boring. It has to be complex as to keep your mind occupied; trying to remember all the notes, inflections, variations, etc. If it's too slow or too simple, you get bored or even worse annoyed... If it has no melody then it lacks a critical component of the music, same for originality; it has to be 'new', something different, something worthwhile to listen to...
But this is very different for others. For instance, The Muffin Man by Zappa... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptoN-5QE0Lw After 1m25, it repeats the very simple melody every 5 seconds... Loops, same thing, over and over again... To me, that is painful. You hear the same thing, the same simplistic melody of 7 notes, over and over and over and over again. It's just painful. After listening 10s of the song, you know it by heart, and could play the rest song by just repeating the same 7 notes over and over again... That's horrible. Yet, for others, they have no issue and love it. The genre also, I really don't like the Zappa sound... Sort of humorous/goofy tone, just doesn't work for me. Just these two, makes me hate the music.
Anyhow, how would you put into words, the criteria for music to be considered great or at least enjoyable?