When hearing something for the first time, I have to ask myself whether the music has any point at all other than to make skads of filthy lucre for the performer, the record company suits and marketing geeks. Is the music connected to anything real? I hesitate to use the word "soul" so I won't. Let's just say the artist/performer is motivated by something greater and less tangible than the desire to make money or fulfill some contractual obligation. When listening to artists like Nirvana, Toots and the Maytals or The Stanley Brothers, I know that here at last is someone who loves (or loved) what they do, has something to say and a kickass way of saying it. At the end of the day, it's not about the money.
Don't get me wrong. I like money as much as the next guy. But I hate being sold. The idea that some fresh faces might audition and be cobbled together by some marketing execs to appeal to a specific demographic or a fat recording contract is awarded to someone because they received the most votes in a national talent competition is anathema. Nothing worth listening to can ever come from such arrangements as these.
This all might sound like I am slamming popular music, and I guess I am, but the so called "alternative" music is just as bad. Tune in most any alternative station and you will hear one song of heart, insight and originality followed by about four songs by bands trying to whore off the first band so that they can (you guessed it) move a lot of product. This is why I rarely listen to these stations anymore.
So, just to recap: bad music for me is the stuff put out there by someone who thinks maybe I, or my teenage daughter, will like it, hum it and presumably buy it. Good music is made by people who could really care less if we like it or not. It is a game of sheeps vs. goats; who wants to be a star and who wants to be an artist.