List The Following In Order Of Preference
 

Out of these 5 characteristics which do you rate as the most & least important when listening to music...........

1. Songwriting - Speaks for itself really. Do they have to have great songs for you to listen to them or would you check out a band just because of what genre they happen to play or by which bands they were influenced by even if their songs are not the best ?

2. Technical Ability - Do you have to have every note played with precision accuracy or can you forgive the odd duff note or songs played simply.

3. Attitude - This can come in many forms.It can come as an energy when playing the songs , it can be about a message in the music or it can be someone who is uncompromising and make the music they want to without giving in to trends or fashions.

4. Originality - Do you want music to be groundbreaking & original with influences in many different genres of music or are you the sort of person who is happy listening to many bands from the same genre playing the same sort of stuff ?

5. Image - This is not just how the band looks , by image I mean does the way the whole image the band give out important.From the album covers to the themes of the songs , to the way that the band expresses themselves through the music.

For my own personal opinion i`d put them in this order....

1. Songwriting - If the song doesn`t grab me i`m not interested , simple as.

2. Originality - As much as I like listening to old favourites I love hearing stuff that i`ve never heard anyone else do before.If it`s something totally different than i`m not familier with i`m more likely to stick with it if i`m not sure about it more than if i`m listening to something thats been done before better.

3. Attitude - I like my bands to say something , I like bands where you can see they have a love for music.I like bands to have a purpose whether thats to get a message across or to introduce me to something new.

4. Image - As someone who is interested in art I like to see bands make an effort at how they put themselves across. I mean to give you an example why check out a metal band who sings about dungeons & dragons who have a generic spiky metal logo . probably some fire on their album covers too when you can listen to an 80s indie band with a guy wearing a hearing aid with flowers stuffed in his pocket who use images of cult movies from the 60s on their album covers. Which band do you think is going to have the more interesting music?

5. Technical Ability - I put this last simply because if the band has all the 4 above i`ll listen to them anyway. If they have this as well then great.
But I can forgive a few duff notes once in a while and it won`t bother me.You don`t have to be among the worlds elite musicians to make good music , you just have to be good enough.

1.Songwriting
2.Image
3.Originality
4.Technical Ability
5.Attitude

When I listen to music I want to connect, so songwriting is a big deal, with the lyrics and the mood and all that. I also like to see the band's "hand" on the music so image and originality rank high. With that said, I also enjoy art so I like to see creative covers and creative titles to songs and all that jazz. Not everyone can be amazing, some just want to express themselves so technical ability does not rank too high for me. And honestly, attitude isnt really important. If it were to judge the band members themselves then I would condier attitude important but the rest outrank attitude.

1 - Songwriting
2 - Originality
3 - Technical Ability
4 - Attitude
5 - Image

Attitude is good if it's affects the band's originality and style... Rage Against the Machine wouldn't have occurred if they weren't pissed off at something.
But a good band can exist without a special attitude.

Image is good for lyrical content and album covers. And I suppose it's nice if I'm able to wear a band t-shirt without receiving obscene stares because of it's artwork.

What I find interesting is how songwriting can be split up. In other words, we could create a poll for your favourite type of songwriting...
* Melodic
* Catchy
* Epic
* Atmospheric
* Progressive - i.e. it builds up to something
* Virtuoso Like
* Emotional

1.Songwriting
2.Originality
3.Technical Ability







4.Attitude






































5.Image

Though i love good album art, and i'm a big Roger Dean fan... I guess it depends on how you define "image"... I just have to agree with Seltzer on this one.

1 - Teachnical Ability
2 - Originality
3 - Songwriting
4 - Attitude - who the **** cares.
5 - Image - means nothing when its something i wouldn't even want to know about.

sometimes the lyrics make the song, other times the teachnicl ability does. But the perfect mixture is almost imposable to find.

anyone can write a song, so if you have originality on your side then you can write a good song. Which is why originality comes first. I like to listen to songs that are complex, and clear at the same time.

Originality
Song writing
technical ability
attitude
Image

Songwriting
Originality
Attitude
Technical Ability
Image

1. Songwriting
2. Originality
3. Attitude
4. Technical Ability
5. Image

I'm glad we agree :)

Originality - Mincing into the stuido to bust a sweat over Creeds effortless riffs will earn no votes from me. Imagination is high on my list.

Attitude - My definition of attitude is 'feel'. If I feel the band through their music then thats all thats needed.

Technical Ability

Song writing - I'm indifferent on it. If Dylans making a song then the songwriting is obviously more important than the above 3. But in the same token I love the Melvins, and Buzzo doesn't even make words when he sings some of his songs. Yet I don't care because it sounds so bloody awesome, it has that attitude and feeling.

Image

Originality
Song Writing
Technical Ability
Attitude
Image

Reasoning: originality comes first because although songwriting is very important, for me to REALLY like a band they have to have something that sets them apart- there's thousands of great albums out there with good songs on them, but a lot of them sound the same, and it's the unique ones that ultimately end up being your favorite albums. That being said, songwriting is still integral in making a great album. Image usually doesn't factor into my liking a band and usually goes unknown until I'm really into a band and decide to look 'em up online or go to a show or something, at which point it doesn't really matter anymore. Attitude is important, I guess, but if you're a truly great, original songwriter who can play his instrument I don't really give a crap if you're only in it for the money. That being said, technical ability comes third, because although it's not truly a determining factor (hell, I like the Shaggs) it probably does factor in a bit more than image or attitude, unless the image and attitude reflect an amateurish, outsiders' approach to making music, in which case the fact that they can't play their instruments might be outweighed. That is, if they have originality. Not just "hey! look at us, we're like creed... except we can't play our instruments!" That doesn't work. So yeah.

Songwriting. - nothing to do with lyrics, but structure and progression are very very important to me. i listen to music that i find interesting..

Originality - again, im not going to find it interesting if ive heard the same stuff played by another band. these two points should be joint first :P

Technical Ability - i ownly mark down a band on technical ability if its really really poor. Otherwise different abilities and styles of each instrument suit different genre.

Image and Attitude. - these can go together... if i go and see a live band and they come on stage looking like twats then my opinion of them will drop a bit, but with the right attitude that can cancel out. Image in terms of releases is important to me... if an album has ****ty artwork im less likely to buy it.

Originality
Songwriting
Atitude
Technical ability
Image

I like to hear something new, something that hasn't been done before or something that puts the spin on a particular genre I guess. So originiality is high on my list

I go for songwriting next because if I can connnect to a song then I'll like it even more.

Attitude means a lot to me. If most of what makes the band is sound enhancements in a studio then I'm turned off because it says something about your musical capabilities anyway.

Technical ability comes next. It's great if you have a nice voice but even better if you can finda sound that compliments it.

And lastly image. I can't listen to an album cover or a CD cover, but it's nice if you're well rounded enough to make a good album and your album shows some emphasis on either the band's personality or is a word picture of what you can expect from the album

To the people who are saying image isn`t important.

Say that band had the other 4 characteristics yet had an extremly racist image , would you still listen to them then?

Probably not.

Although it depends.

If say the band was avidly against racism and other forms of prejudice and most of their songs on a particular album expressed their views then I would undertsand it if they perhaps did an album cover that portrayed someone being lynched.
Although I'm sure i might find it unsettling

I`m not talking about a racist album cover , i`m talking about the whole thing.
Bands who use the music to promote hatred & are a mouthpiece for racist organisations.

As I said there`s a lot more to image than what the band and the album covers look like.

I usually don't feed intot he media hype that surrounds most musicians.

But on this, I do not support racism or any other form of prejudice. SO if a musician were to use music to promote such things I'd probably form an opinion of their music seperate from their image. But because of their image I wouldn't help support them. I wouldn't buy any of their CDs, posters, concert tickets and such.

Which proves my point. Image is much more important than people are admitting to.

That would stop you buying the music regardless of how good the actual songs or musicianship is.

Not necessarily.
I could buy pirate copies of a band's CD and they won't make a profit off that.
I could probably stage a protest (if I wanted to waste my time) and perhaps get enough people to do the same.
I could go to napster and hope enough other people are doing the same adn they won't profit.
Or I could hope they do something stupid that'll get their music banned in certain places.
Like Shakira. There isn't a place in Argentina that sells her CDs unless it's a burned copy because of her relationship with the son of a former politician.

And I see your point about image.
But for me to like a song, image isn't the first thing I take into consideration because i can't hear that. Not unless I start to ask questions and read about them because of my like for their music which was already determined by the other four qualities.

1. Songwriting- I love good lyrics and the tune has got to be good.

2. Originality- I can't stand it when bands all sound the same, I like a bit of variety!

3. Technical Ability- I do love amazingly talented musicians, but some of the bands I listen to are just as powerful even when they aren't as good as others, for example Nirvana.

4. Attitude- I love my angry women :) And music can change things I suppose!

5. Image- Doesn't matter as much s the other stuff, although I do love to look at costumes people wear on stage, and of course the trends started by musicians.

Yeah.

1. Attitude
2. Originality
3. Songwriting
4. Tech Ability
5. Image

The thing is, most racist bands are generic skinhead punk bands. But say there was this incredibly innovative krautrock band from back in the day who were also incredibly racist... yeah, I'd listen to them.

1 Tech ability, ( I dont want to lsiten to crap)
2 songwriting
3 originality
4 attitude
5 image

Again, image is completely insignificant when it comes to being a good musician in my mind... And racist bands tend to make sh*tty music anyway.

Indeed.

1. Attitude

Simply because the attitude will draw me into the music even if I haven't heard anything yet. I suppose the image could also be a part of this, but more often than not I am drawn into a band by the way they make themselves appear to everyone else and their spirit.

2. Songwriting

Although not essential to me, as I will more often than not like a song based on its tune, songwriting makes a band that much more memorable, and can define an artists style.

3. Originality

I like plenty of generic bands, but I do love a good original band (although I don't usually like overly original bands, as they confuse my inferior mind) I would like to say originality is a must for me, but judging from my tastes it just isn't the case. As long as they don't sound TOO much like everyone else then I'm okay with it.

4. Image

I can be quite the superficial person, and I still dislike the fact that I love The Smiths basically because of the image they have. An image isn't the difference between me hating and loving a band, it's the difference between me loving a band and admitting I love a band.

5. Technical Ability

I don't know my C's from my B's from my F sharps', so Technical Ability isn't needed. As long as it sounds good to my ears then I don't need any flashy guitar solos or amazing bass wankery. Just a few simple chords will do for me, as I probably won't be able to tell the difference anyway.

Sweet, I thought I was going to be the only one who didn't put Songwriting in the top two.

1. Attitude
2. Originality
3. Songwriting
4. Image
5. Technical Ability

I know enough about music to know if someone just screwed up a note or chord, but I'm not put off by the occasional error. Everyone makes mistakes at some point. But originality and attitude are key. The other parts form from that.

Songwritting, because the lyrics are what I feel takes the most talent.

Attitude, because you can't make good songs with the wrong thought in your head.

Technical Ability, because I love a good quitar riff or drum solo.

Originality, because as music becomes broader, it can be hard to actually be original.

And Image, because I don't really care what a band or singer looks like or believes in, as long as the music is there.

Songwriting
Technical ability
originality
attitude
image

I don't watch too many videos, so I have the image placed the last. I love an excellent song with a good text and musical composition, technical interpretation, some originality and attitude

Originality, - Because music could do with a brand new genre, none of this developing sub-genre crap, give me something i haven't heard before.
Songwritting, - can't write a song without good songwriting, well youcan, it just won't be much of a song.
Attitude, - without some sense of musical direction bands fall apart.
Technical Ability, - you can't be ****....unless your clit-45 ofcourse (hehe)
Image, - not really necessary, can help in some instances, lordi, gwar, kiss, twisted sister, etc.
but as long as your not repulsive and too fat to put on a stage performance what does it matter? it's the musical fusion you create is what really counts.