Is it better than the sound of silence?
The short answer is no, but our standards must be high if we are to choose the ten best songs which ever came into existence, a list which cannot include Shaggy, Shania Twain or Shannon Noll. In fact, it is unlikely that any artist beginning with sh could ever aspire to be in such a list. We do endeavour to find such songs, however, because these lists cannot be left to the less able.
If the masses are left to determine the greatest songs of all time, and this is a problem fundamentally undermining democracy, Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine will inevitably find their way to the top. To make a difference in this climate of ignorance and apathy, the gravest consideration must be given to which ten songs will receive our blessing.
To qualify, these songs must be almost as good as the sound of silence. They will never be better, but admissions must be made and sacrifices taken, if we are to do what is best for the people; namely not to vote for ACDC. This does not mean we will permit low standards, however the criteria are ambiguous and without priority. Can I dance to this song? But what if I listen to it in the bath? Is it dated, does any one point of this song make me cringe? Does it plagiarise Elvis Costello? Did this artist, at any point of his career, collaborate with Eminem? Disqualification would ensue.
Modesty aside, it is fair to point out that we transcend standards as they are seen by most people, because we identify and examine the intricacies of a song which are overlooked by most people, and assess music more holistically than most people would know how.
Why? Because most people listen to Rhianna and Lady Gaga, and there is something fundamentally wrong with that. So we seek to balance our excellence against their ignorance. This requires scrutiny even of our own system of assessment. Using criteria to decide what is good or bad can be manipulated unfairly, and so in some cases, criteria and comparisons must be disregarded, and our own intuition relied upon. Thus, in a correct manner which is not arbitrary, we are able to decide whether any song is comparable to the sound of silence.
Popularity is a questionable criterion. Popularity has become such an acceptable measure of worth that music polls are taken to indicate greatness, but the same respect is not afforded to political opinion polls. Popular music is assumed to be good purely because it is popular. The Beatles are not solely responsible for the prevailing attitude towards popularity, but by being almost as good as their reputation suggests, they lend some legitimacy to the misconception that if most people like it, it is good. However, most people liked Abba too. Most people liked the Spice Girls. Pretty Fly For A White Guy, by The Offspring, was voted the best song in Australia in 1999. This was such a serious misjudgment that it challenges the relationship between popularity and quality. Take Pink, for example. No more need be said. Criteria cannot always be trusted.
Sometimes the endorsement of a reliable source of information must be disregarded. By comparison to anything touched by Rupert Murdoch, the Sydney Morning Herald is reliable and inclined to tell the truth. Thus I trust opinions within it. An article alerted me to a new singer, because he was likened to Bjork. Now, surely this would be good. Surely, if the SMH tells me that Sam Sparro sounds and acts like a male Bjork, then there must be something appealing about him. Youtube demonstrated otherwise. Not only was Sam Sparro actually quite well-listened-to, but his entire persona seemed to be that of a homosexual gangsta. Sydney Morning Herald Fail. If I had not trusted my intuition above that of the SMH, I might have even recommended the song to a friend. Luckily, my own sense prevailed when I chose to listen to another song by Sparro, Cottonmouth. Avoid it. The lesson in this is that there is no reliable source, and the only trustworthy endorsement is our own.
So it is that when we pore over the plethora of inadequate drivel peddled to us all as music, the only question we can really ask ourselves is whether it is better than the sound of silence.
