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b'SUPPORT MUSIC IS NOT A GENRE ON PATREON\\n\\nWATCH MUSIC is not a GENRE VIDEOS and MORE\\n\\nThere\\u2019s a sort-of old saying: \\u201cYou can\\u2019t put lipstick on a pig.\\u201d Meaning dressing something up doesn\\u2019t change its inherent nature. Let\\u2019s sort this out for real.\\n\\nFirst, I\\u2019m betting you actually can put lipstick on a pig. It might take sedation or some form of restraint, but it can be done. Second, has anyone ever asked the pig if it even wants lipstick? I have a feeling it\\u2019s totally fine being what it is. Third and pretty crucial, does the lipstick\\u2019s ineffectiveness mean the pig itself is not worthy? Finally and most relevant to this podcast, is this even true? If you put enough \\u201clipstick\\u201d in enough areas, can you change the impression the pig makes enough to render its inherent nature virtually irrelevant?\\n\\nOkay and fifth, what does this have to do with music? When you listen to a song, all that really matters is how it makes you feel. Do you like it? Does it evoke the emotion you want it to? Will you want to listen to it again? When it comes to gut level reactions, all the steps the song went through to get to its finished state are immaterial. If you think a song is good, it\\u2019s good. If you don\\u2019t care for it, it\\u2019s not. This is why it\\u2019s not just hard but futile to try to judge the quality of any kind of art.\\n\\nBut we do. The curious \\u2013 those of us who take music seriously \\u2013 do. We\\u2019re not satisfied with first impressions. We know instinctively \\u2013 and often from direct experience \\u2013 that we\\u2019ll find as many people who agree as disagree with our opinion of a song. If consensus says a song is trash, there are likely millions of people who think it\\u2019s great. If the accepted wisdom is that a song is genius, there are millions of people who are indifferent to or flat out hate it.\\n\\nThis is what makes the process of creating music magical, even illusory. That general impression \\u2013 trash or genius \\u2013 is shaped by more factors than most of us are aware of. When we absorb a song, we tend to gravitate towards the big three: lyrics, music, performance. But it doesn\\u2019t stop there. There\\u2019s the arrangement & instrumentation (does it have guitar, drums, keys, backing vocals, etc.). The recording quality & aesthetic (lo-fi or hi-f, crisp or warm). The riffs & hooks (melodic lines or power chords or anything else not fundamental to the original written song). And the style itself (strictly one genre, a mix of sounds, consistent & comfortingly predictable, all over the place & excitingly experimental).\\n\\nAll of those are part of the music production process. I\\u2019ve stated often that if a song is good, then it can be played & recorded in just about any way and still be good. It\\u2019s why I like to do song covers that are different from the originals. But what if a song isn\\u2019t good? What if, when you get down to the basics of the song \\u2013 music & lyrics \\u2013 there\\u2019s not much there, or what is there is kinda not great? Can all that production work save that song? Can good production turn a clunky, threadbare, or otherwise poorly conceived song into a gem?\\n\\nYes. Yes it can. It has done so thousands of times. I don\\u2019t often point blank answer the questions I pose. Most of the time they\\u2019re red herrings put up as entrees into a wider discussion. And sure, that discussion is happening here too. But this time around I can say unequivocally that good production \\u2013 innovative & intuitive use of all those elements above \\u2013 can create the near universal impression that a bad song is a great song. It can even cause you to question what the nature of a well written song really is.\\n\\nREC - "Love in Stockholm" (from Distance To Empty)\\n\\nFor FULL SCRIPT, visit https://patreon.com/MUSICisnotaGENRE\\n\\n\\n--- \\n\\nThis episode is sponsored by \\n\\xb7 Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app\\n\\nSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/musicisnotagenre/support\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'