Music

A Great Question: What Makes Music Boring?

For most people “boring music” is hard to define.  It’s like defining porn:  you can’t describe it but you know it when you see (hear) it.

I ran across this essay from the AV Club earlier today and after skimming it, I went back and read it again, thinking about that central question:  what makes music boring?

Any attempt to answer that will be necessarily loaded with subjectivity.  We are, after all, being asked to pass judgement on an artistic creation.  

I find Fleet Foxes not only boring, but tedious and soporific.  Most Americana (Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, etc.) leaves me cold).  Jam bands from the Grateful Dead forward put me to sleep.  And if I hear one more word about how brilliant Coner Oberst is, I’m going to stroke out with boredom.

But why do I find those artists/genres boring?  It all comes down to this key paragraph in the article.

When music is boring, it speaks to a lack of what people turn to music for, which is a connection. It might be physical, it might be mental, it might be emotional—but we all want to feel something when we hear a song. If it moves us in some way (whether it’s in our hearts, minds, or hips), we like it. We might even need that connection, over and over again, if it reaches down deep enough inside of us. I write about music for a living, so it’s my job to describe how or why something moves me. But even for a critic, it still boils down to a response in your gut that you can’t ever totally explain. Music triggers a primal yet mysterious force inside of us. It’s universal, and yet the connections that are made vary from person to person. We don’t understand it, but when it’s there, we know. Sometimes we don’t connect, even when it seems that the whole rest of the world is, and that’s when music becomes uninvolving, even unlistenable. Hence, boring.

You should read the story and the reflect on your own biases and prejudices regarding music.  It may offer some interesting self-awareness about your musical tastes.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38019 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

2 thoughts on “A Great Question: What Makes Music Boring?

  • I fully agree about Fleet Foxes, Conor Oberst and most of the article's ideas. I think that good music is supposed to move us in some way. That is what makes it a universal language. There are too many bands worried only for their pose and looking and sounding "cool".
    Music appeals to our deepest feelings and memories. Some old people suffering from Alzheimer disease cannot recognize his wife or husband, but can remember and sing along melodies from 60 years ago.
    Speaking also in scientific terms, music must give us melodic and rhythmic surprises in order to be attractive to our ears and brain. I learned this in a National Geographic documentary in wich Sting played an important role. Predictable, flat music equals boring music. Listen to The Beatles, Brian Wilson and Paul Simon, for instance: there are lots of changes within just one song. "A day in the life" by The Beatles is a clear example of what I say.

    Reply
  • "Sometimes we don’t connect, even when it seems that the whole rest of the world is, and that’s when music becomes uninvolving, even unlistenable. Hence, boring."

    This is my experience with top 40 summed up in a nice little nutshell.

    Reply

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