Survey: Define "good" music.

[Crashfan3]

0. What is/are your favorite genre(s)?
Rock and Metal are my top faves, but I find enjoyment in things ranging from electronic music to folk and alt-country.

1a. What do you consider good music, either in general or in concrete examples?
I like music that tells a story, the kind that unfold like the pages of a great book. This is what first hooked me on power metal when I was about 15 years old. Songs from bands like Sonata Arctica are among my all time favorites.
1b. How about bad music?
Aside from music with annoying beat patterns, the stuff I hate falls along the type of music that tries to "bash" other groups of people (most modern country) or that sounds like propaganda. I also really dislike newer music that tries to directly copy the vinyl greats of the 60s and 70s and make it sound "retro and hip"

2. Are you biased against some genres because of the fans they tend to attract?
Yeah, you can probably guess by now I don't like hipsters. Bands like The Black Keys piss me off because of this reason.

3a. Do you make assumptions about fans of particular genres?
I try not to.
3b. What are some of the stereotypes you are familiar with?
A lot of people seem to think that Skrillex fans are 'childish'.
3c. What stereotypes exist about fans of your preferred genre?
A lot of people think power metal fans are fat-asses that sit in their basement and play D&D, and while I'm actually starting to pick up the basics of D&D from a friend, I still don't appreciate the stereotype, but oh well.

4. What role does a band/artist/genre's popularity play in your like or dislike for them/hir/it?
Pretty much zero, recently at least. Up until a couple of years ago I only listened to the mainstream giants of my favorite genres, but I've been trying to branch out and follow smaller bands such as Oceans Divide, Signum AD, Daybreak Embrace (all of which hard rock fans should listen to, oh my god they're amazing)

5. Do you think you have good taste in music?
Yes, I do.

6. How objective do you think you are when you judge music?
I don't know... a lot of those lesser known bands I found just by typing a well-known artist into last.fm radio and just letting it play for a few hours. The ones that I find myself reaching for the volume control are the ones I end up liking on facebook later, heheh.

7. Do you judge artists/bands on their entire body of work, or on a song-by-song basis?
Definitely on a song-by-song basis. There's a lot of older bands out there that sound way different now than they did in 1995 or 1985, Metallica being a very good example (St. Anger, anyone? ugh.)

8. Do you consider your choice of music part of your identity, image or public persona?
Yes, absolutely.

9. Have you ever made choices in music based on what your peers might think of you? (For example, do you avoid a certain genre because your friends think it is without merit? Do you listen to genres you don't particularly like because your friends like them?, etc.)
No way, jose.

10a. How do you feel/react when someone states an opinion contrary to yours regarding music in general?
Annoyed. I know I'm going to get bashed for this, but I don't like when people seem to hate on Nickelback because it seems to be popular to do so. I'm not ashamed to admit that I have four Nickelback CDs in my library.
10b. What about particular songs/artists/genres?
Aside from the Nickelback example above, I really only get annoyed if someone seems to belittle me for every single band I like and then they try to hook me up on hipster crap (it's happened before).

11. Do you have formal musical training? (Such as receiving singing lessons, playing an instrument, etc.)
A little bit. I played snare drum 6th through 8th grade, and I tried to pick up a guitar for a while in my junior and senior years of high school.

12. Who influences your choice of music most? How do you find new music? Through which channels? Through advertising/word of mouth/YouTube/reviews/other?
Most of my music I find on my own via the internet, but my friends and my brother have shown me a lot of good songs too that I didn't know about.

13a. Have your tastes or preferences changed over time?
Indeed they have. I listened to nothing but country until I was about 10, because that's what my parents listened to. From then until I was about 14 it was nothing but hip-hop / typical top40 radio because that's what was popular (oh if I could take those years back...). At age 15 I started listening to rock and metal, but only the mainstream stuff mostly. At 18 years old I started discovering a lot of good underground bands that now fill up my Zune. (Yeah, I have a Zune, don't hate.)
13b. If not, why not?
N/A
13c. If yes, in what way?
See above.

14. Anything you'd like to add on this subject? Any other questions you wish I'd posed?
Nope. Cool thread.