I Kinda Liked It

By Michael Bratt

For me, whenever I hear someone talk about music as being “good music” or “bad music,” I automatically stop listening to whatever they are saying.  There’s a little switch in my brain that turns off, I nod my head knowingly until I can politely leave. It’s not that I don’t want to talk about music, it’s that I don’t want to talk about it in a qualitative way.

Imagine that you have never seen a movie before. Someone invites you to a show and when you arrive at the theatre, you are ushered in and find a seat. Someone may have told you something about the movie but you certainly do not know the story – you remember hearing something about an adventure of self discovery and friendship. Afterwards, people are talking. They want to know what you thought of the movie.

By the way, the movie you just saw is The Wizard of Oz.

Now, are you simply going to say, “I liked it.” My guess is probably not.

And that’s because there are so many more interesting things to be talking about (Fleming’s use of color, elaborately staged choreography, midgets, the music, the costumes, flying monkeys, midgets, ect…).  Nobody remembers what critics said about it when the movie came out. The discussions most people have about The Wizard of Oz are the memorable moments that happen during the course of the movie.

If I had to name one thing that I wish every piece of music had, it would be  invention. I wish every piece is a clever, well-crafted, meticulously paced work that shows me something new about music. This is what I want to talk about. Before I hear music, there’s a part of me that wants new music to be the most exotic, remarkable music that ever existed.

In my opinion, that generates a more interesting discussion. To say something is simply “good” or “bad” is the lowest form of criticism. Feel free to agree with me.