Had you comprehended the deeper significance of my statement, you might have seen that my comment was in regards of the ability to be discerning, rather than denoting everything heard to be a 10. But then, that is not your job, only mine to communicate it. Perhaps I did so with an astounding lack of clarity. So be it.
You must have mistook me for someone else. I eschew enlightenment.
This thread is about why a song got a 10, not to trash Tori Amos. Come on, seeker of light and truth... get with it!
Had you comprehended the deeper significance of my statement, you might have seen that my comment was in regards of the ability to be discerning, rather than denoting everything heard to be a 10. But then, that is not your job, only mine to communicate it. Perhaps I did so with an astounding lack of clarity. So be it.
You must have mistook me for someone else. I eschew enlightenment.
HazzeSwede wrote: So..Romeo,,3408,many or just a few ?
The song "Dirty Back Road" by the B-52's, from their album Wild Planet, is one of my all-time favorite songs... I would rank it an easy 10, but "Dirty Back Road" is not on the RP playlist... so there are songs that I would rank a 10 that are not even on my list here... so much good music, and so little time... sigh...
A 10 would be if the guy lives and then signs over the motorcycle to the girl. That way, she can lord it over him until he finally does kick the bucket. He dies, though, so that really only makes it a 9 for me. (And I assume we're both joking around a bit here. Death is NEVER funny. Well, except in "Dead Like Me.")
Yes, we're definitely kidding.
I think I give this song a 10 (even though there are, as you point out, other songs of Richards that better show off his songwriting talent and wicked sense of humor) because it is a classic tragic blues ballad of the kind that was once popular in folk music, but has sadly almost disappeared. It's Richard reminding us of our roots.
Yeah, but the girl gets the motorcycle in the end. How could that not be a 10??
A 10 would be if the guy lives and then signs over the motorcycle to the girl. That way, she can lord it over him until he finally does kick the bucket. He dies, though, so that really only makes it a 9 for me. (And I assume we're both joking around a bit here. Death is NEVER funny. Well, except in "Dead Like Me.")
Kings of Leon songs make me cry - and they're definitely not a 10 for me . But I guess that doesn't meet the "make all humans cry" criteria either
Well, SFW wasn't really specific in the REASONS why a human would cry, so I guess your comment is the flip-side of the emotional coin. (I'm not real fond of Kings of Leon, either, but they don't make me cry - they just make me mute the volume until a different song plays.)
I don't rate songs that I think are less than 10... I don't have room for them... so many 10's on RP...
I like your thinking, Romeotuma. Anything less than a 5 isn't even worth commenting about, unless Bill decides to start playing Carl Douglas's "Kung Fu Fighting," in which case I WILL rate it in the negative numbers, just because sometimes, one must make one's opinions known in order to balance the scales. And yes - so many 10's here. What a wealth of good (and abyssmal) music we have here in our paradise!
I'm wondering if the whole "scale of 1 to 10" should be streamlined to maybe five numbers instead of ten. Would that level the playing field, or create more 10's because of the limitations? Me? I think the scale should be from 1 to, say, 30. Lots of range for those songs that aren't horrible, but aren't iconic.
Oh, it's all just music anyway, right? People will always disagree on why they love or hate or dismiss a song. Thank goodness it's not one of "THE FORBIDDEN TOPICS" at the dinner table yet. (Um, to you young whippersnappers, there've always been three topics that polite society has dictated people should NEVER discuss at the dinner table: Sex, religion, and politics. Weird - in my family, the dinner table was the only time we COULD discuss that stuff, and it never erupted into a lawsuit or a custody battle, although we did end up in a few really great food-fights.)
Because its probably a song I could hear anytime and still want to hear it regardless of where I was or what I was doing.
Ooo - good point, too. It's not always about the emotional component, per se - sometimes, if a song makes me dance, I'll give it a 10. Case in point: I'd been through months of joylessness. I used to sing to the radio. I used to dance. I used to laugh out loud. Depression is an ugly thing, but one day, I was dinking around on the computer, and KINK.FM (which I was listening to on the computer at the time) played this little ditty by Marc Broussard, called "Home." I don't know what happened, exactly, but it had me on my feet and dancing. No alcohol involved. And I still love the song, even when I'm already in a good mood. I hear the beginning of it, and I just have to crank it up.
And that may be an excessive number; all of them I consider to be flawless gems.
I tend to be stingy with superlatives (which, like profanity, become meaningless if overused)
I'm sorry I haven't revisited this thread since its inception (I am a bad, bad RPeep.) Still wading through the comments, but there are quite a few good points made. Thank you all for posting your opinions and observations. I still haven't really figured out why I rate songs as 10. It sometimes depends on my mood at the time - if I'm in a not-so-happy place and a song puts me in a better space, I might rate it a 10. However, if it fails to deliver the next time I hear it, I'm not above demoting it a notch or two to compensate for my prior temporary euphoria.
And then there are the icons: Joni Mitchell's "Down to You" is so breathtakingly beautiful and well-produced that there's no way I could give it anything less than 10. Silly things, like Zep's "Stairway to Heaven" (although I much prefer "The Rain Song," also a 10), and Pink Floyd... I love that there are as many reasons to give a 10 as there are RP denizens who choose to rate and comment.
aflanigan, I agree with all your "10" choices except Richard Thompson. Oh, he's a definite 10, but IMO, he's done some better work than "1952 Vincent..." He's a wonderful storyteller, and an excellent musician with a compelling voice and an absolutely wicked sense of humor. (Maybe my personal prejudice, if there is one, is that "1952 Vincent...." ends tragically, and I have a slight aversion to death.)
I'm off to finish reading the comments here - I expect to get a solid, well-rounded education, and possibly some lectures and wrist-slapping. I'm okay with that. After all, I'm the fool who started this topic, so if I can't take the heat, I shouldn't set the kitchen on fire, right?
romeotuma wrote: I don't rate songs that I think are less than 10... I don't have room for them... so many 10's on RP... Cynaera, I have given a few songs a 10,
- and they're definitely not a 10 for me 
. But I guess that doesn't meet the "make all humans cry" criteria either 
