Schüttelbirne wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:58 pm
6. Courtney Barnett | Debbie Downer: 5/10
It seems the average this time will be far higher than last time.
Yeah, but that might also be because the songs up till now have been more familiar, expect the first one. I wonder if both the ratings and the familiarity will keep up. Familiarity has a tendency to lead to higher ratings. In the mean time, feel free to be the title character of today's song, Schüttelbirne
Courtney Barnett – Debbie Downer: 8
I had a binge of all Barnett's albums and EP's just before Christmas. This song is a highlight and rather typical of her early laconic style.
Schüttelbirne wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:58 pm
6. Courtney Barnett | Debbie Downer: 5/10
It seems the average this time will be far higher than last time.
Yeah, but that might also be because the songs up till now have been more familiar, expect the first one. I wonder if both the ratings and the familiarity will keep up. Familiarity has a tendency to lead to higher ratings. In the mean time, feel free to be the title character of today's song, Schüttelbirne
I'm always curious about how people handle their own ratings. At least with individual songs, I have no idea how to utilize my sub-5 range. Songs tend to go by so quickly that, at worse, an unimpressive song will get a bland 5/10 from me. If I get even the slightest enjoyment, bump that up to a 6. It's rare for me to feel truly negative emotions about a song. As such, my scores will likely end up in the comparatively positive range because I simply don't have a meaningful way of differentiating between a 5/10 song and a 4/10 song and so on. The rare cases for me will be a mix of overplayed pop songs (in which case the song is usually not as much at fault as its presence) or a song by people who seem legitimately incapable of playing music, which I doubt we will encounter much of here on the forum.
I guess what this adds up to is, I will only give a song less than a 5/10 if I would rather be listening to nothing at all, but I find music in general a pleasant enough experience to outweigh (or at least equal) silence in most cases. I do have far more albums that would fall in the sub-5 range, however, as silence is preferable to consistent blandness.
BleuPanda wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:38 pm
I'm always curious about how people handle their own ratings. At least with individual songs, I have no idea how to utilize my sub-5 range. Songs tend to go by so quickly that, at worse, an unimpressive song will get a bland 5/10 from me. If I get even the slightest enjoyment, bump that up to a 6. It's rare for me to feel truly negative emotions about a song. As such, my scores will likely end up in the comparatively positive range because I simply don't have a meaningful way of differentiating between a 5/10 song and a 4/10 song and so on. The rare cases for me will be a mix of overplayed pop songs (in which case the song is usually not as much at fault as its presence) or a song by people who seem legitimately incapable of playing music, which I doubt we will encounter much of here on the forum.
I guess what this adds up to is, I will only give a song less than a 5/10 if I would rather be listening to nothing at all, but I find music in general a pleasant enough experience to outweigh (or at least equal) silence in most cases. I do have far more albums that would fall in the sub-5 range, however, as silence is preferable to consistent blandness.
Yeah it's similar for me, I give mostly grades around 7 and maybe 1 or 2 a month below 5
Basically 10 : all time top 700 or so
9 : awesome
8 : great
7 : good
6 : ok
5 : forgettable
4 : a bit annoying or bad
3 : pretty annoying or bad
I think I only gave 2 or 3 songs a 1 or 2 the last time around.
I, too, will probably be on the more positive side of the rating spectrum. I'm sure I've posted some version of this before, but my personal scale is:
10 - An all-time personal favorite
9 - Excellent
8 - Great
7 - Very good (This is the cut-off for songs I'd consider for my top 200 of a given year)
6 - Good
5 - Not my thing, but I understand why people like it
4 - Mediocre
3 - Annoying to me personally
2 - Very annoying
1 - Either indescribably annoying or morally offensive to me ("Baby Shark" for the former, and the pair of "Let's Go Brandon" songs that hit the Hot 100 chart last year for the latter, though the Brandon's are officially "zeros" in my spreadsheet.)
I appreciate this discussion — I've been feeling self-conscious about my relatively low ratings. Here's my scale:
10 — I love AND am grateful for this song.
9 — I love this song and suspect I will be grateful for it someday, or vice versa.
8 — I love or am grateful for this song.
7 — Great.
6 — Actively good. This is the lowest rating I will give to a song that I will consciously choose to listen to.
5 — Pretty good. This is the highest rating I will give to a song that I do not want to listen to.
4 — Fine, forgettable.
3 — Annoying.
2 — I never want to hear this again.
1 — I want to never hear this again.
So a 5.5 from me basically means that a song is good but I don't know how good it is. (Am I Wrong is here.)
Here's my scale.
10 love it
9 great song
8 very good
7 (and above) I need this in my music collection
6 OK
5 nice to hear but I don't need to hear it again
4 meh
3 mildly annoying
2 very annoying
1 turn it off!
5. Blood, Sweat & Tears – God Bless the Child - 6
Lots of good points but never quite grabs me, not even the surprise jazz breakdown halfway through.
6. Courtney Barnett – Debbie Downer - 9
This, Pedestrian and Elevator Operator are my favourites from this album, bangers all.
Next is another user we don’t see much of. Their “choice” is actually a sequel to one of Metallica’s most beloved songs from their “Black Album”. Can the sequel live up to the original?
7. Metallica – The Unforgiven II
Year: 1997
Album: Reload
Biggest Fan: Karla (#207)
Don’t forget you can always vote at a later moment or change your rating.
Schüttelbirne wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:58 pm
6. Courtney Barnett | Debbie Downer: 5/10
It seems the average this time will be far higher than last time.
Yeah, but that might also be because the songs up till now have been more familiar, expect the first one. I wonder if both the ratings and the familiarity will keep up. Familiarity has a tendency to lead to higher ratings. In the mean time, feel free to be the title character of today's song, Schüttelbirne
I'm always curious about how people handle their own ratings.
My ratings tend to be very instinctive, so I don't really prefer to add descriptions to my ratings. It depends a bit on the emotion or impression the song leaves, as well as if I care to listen to it again. As said, I listen to each song that appears here three times spread out during the day, so I can at least acclimatize to what the song is going for. The 6 and 5 divise is probably the least noticeable of all, where both songs that to be okay, but with a 6 I think it okay in a good way and 5 in a less good way.
Below five you just get various degrees of blandness, lack of originality, terrible executions, annoying songs, stupidity, (unintended) evil messages and other types of garbage.
10 - Incredibly awesome
9.95 - Awesome
9.9 - Close to Incredible
9.8 - Almost fantastic
9.4 - Great
9.2 - Excellent
8.2 - Very Good
7.6 - almost very good
7.2 - better than good
6.3 - Good
5.5 - Pretty Good
5 - Okay
4.4 - not quite okay
4.2 - a bit disappointing
4 - tolerable
3.6 - More Disappointing
3.2 - let's skip it
2.6 - kinda painful
2 - Bad
1 - Terrible
0.5 - Unbelievably Horrible
0.1 - Turn it off NOW!!!
For me, it’s:
10 - classic
9 - basically perfect
8 - great
7 - very good
6 - good side of meh
5 - pure meh
4 - bad side of meh
3 - not good
2 - quite bad
1 - very bad
0 - Celebrate by Piero and the MusicStars
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand - Sir Duke (1976)
The original Unforgiven is one of the best songs by Metallica. This sequel is a weird one. It's opening and ending refer to it's predecessor quite clearly, but in the long middle it seems almost aimless at times. Almost as if making a follow-up to The Unforgiven was a bit of an afterthought. About two thirds of the song still work, but the other third bring it down.
I'm actually really curious how The Unforgiven II becomes someone's all-time favorite Metallica song. My gut reaction to seeing this here was that Karla must be some Metallica mega-fan (as we certainly have our equivalent Prince and Todd Rundgren mega-fans among others), but this is actually her highest track from the band. Especially in this specific case where there is a much more obvious predecessor, I am intrigued.
BleuPanda wrote: ↑Fri Jan 14, 2022 6:28 pm
I'm actually really curious how The Unforgiven II becomes someone's all-time favorite Metallica song. My gut reaction to seeing this here was that Karla must be some Metallica mega-fan (as we certainly have our equivalent Prince and Todd Rundgren mega-fans among others), but this is actually her highest track from the band. Especially in this specific case where there is a much more obvious predecessor, I am intrigued.
I can't speak for Karla of course, but sometimes I find myself having an unexpected, overlooked personal favorite from an artist. I don't think that is too strange. Perhaps the lyrical content, which is quite different from part I, speaks to her for example.
My Morning Jacket – I Will Be There When You Die: 6
A bit different from the sound they would become famous for, but at the same time something of a first step. I sometimes struggle with lo-fi songs like these, because they can tend to feel like they don't move forward. This one suffers only slightly from it; it seems more formed than usual, but not quite as captivating as the best singer/songwriter with just a guitar tunes.
Anderson.Paak - Am I Wrong (5)
Neo Soul with a bit of tempo behind it, this is decent. I quite like the horns at the end.
Beck - Guess I'm doing fine (4)
Not keen on Beck's change of style on Sea Change. This track is a typical example why. I initially didn't even recognise him, thinking this was the Blood Sweat & Tears track.
Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman - (4.5)
Classic house and the famous lee da dee da makes it instantly recognisable, although I'm sure I've heard only the sample on many occasions. Overall, a rather weak track
Blood, Sweat & Tears - God Bless The Child - (6)
Decent country rock, tinged with some Caribbean rhythms in the middle, making it that little bit more interesting
Courtney Barnett - Debbie Downer - (8.5)
Barnett has taken the Liz Phair crown - this nonchalant singing with great guitar hooks and excellent songwriting. This comes from one of 1000 alltime favourite albums.
Metallica - The Unforgiven II - (5) OK this is not The Unforgiven I, but it reminded me of the first song, which is great. You got to give it to Metallica, they know how to write lovely acoustic guitar licks. But as BleuPanda indicates, I don't see how this could be ahead of the original in the nominator's eyes, maybe they don't know the original ?
My Morning Jacket - I Will Be There When You Die (5) - Yeah, not keen on this one. Lo-fi indie rock which doesn't sound like MMJ, but I don't really like where they went anyway
Swans – When Will I Return (8). Swans have grown on me for a long time now. They have an underlying menace in their songs which appeal to me, this is the case with this one - the crescendo threat is palpable.
Swans – When Will I Return: 8
Dark and menacing, yes, but in the end life-affirming. A masterful epic track by Swans, whom I still need to hear more of.
This might be the time. I have decided that after every seven entries, so each week, I will listen to one album from one of those songs in full. From last week I did Blood, Sweat & Tears (quite a great album), so The Glowing Man stands a good chance being this week's pick.