Top 10 Worst Assumptions People Make About Music

If you have any of these assumptions, then you don't know anything about music.

1. Rock 'n' roll, heavy metal, hard rock, etc. are evil

   It's actually harmless. It doesn't ruin your brain either.

   That's what Frank Sinatra would say.

   Because rock n' roll is as evil as black metal. (Sarcasm)

2. If it's on the radio, it's good

   Almost any new songs I hear on the local pop radio stations get overplayed to death. Some are good, but I remember hearing Dance Monkey everywhere on the radio. My god, that was awful.

3. More sold copies = better music artist

   The two sometimes go hand in hand, but correlation doesn't equal causation.

   I agree, but that also doesn't mean it's automatically worse if it's popular.

   More copies just mean that it is played more, not that it is actually liked.

4. Popular musicians = talented musicians

   Popularity and talent are just two completely different things to begin with.

5. Rock and metal are all about drugs

   Metal musicians have had far fewer problems with drugs than musicians in rap, pop, grunge, and classic rock.

   No major metal musician died of drugs or alcohol, and metal lyrics aren't about drugs. (Master of Puppets by Metallica is an anti-drug song.)

6. Metal = anything that's heavy

7. Metal is just loud

   This is not accurate. Let me give an example - sometimes we confuse hard rock and metal to be the same (I do too). It's because we judge metal and rock (and other genres) by their loudness. But loudness doesn't always mean "heavy." Yes, metal music is loud, but it doesn't always have to be loud to be considered metal. When I was young, I used to think that simply increasing the volume would make any song metal, but now I realize why it can't be.

   Metal = power + speed. When you beat a drum very hard or strum a guitar heavily, it will create loud or heavy music, but it won't necessarily be metal. Punk rock is also loud. Metal is only metal when a certain amount of speed is used in it. Some metal songs aren't very loud, especially guitar solos. When guitar chords are played very fast, they create a very fast solo. Then it sounds like, well, let's say, like a device. For example, a "telephone" sound or something like that. Those solos are metal too, but they aren't loud. There are other loud genres that can't be considered metal.

   So, those who think metal is just a loud genre are wrong. Totally wrong.

8. Bad music video = bad song

   Wrecking Ball had an awful music video, but the song was her best of 2013.

9. Bigger butts = better song

   Anything sexual sells, though.

10. Rock is old-fashioned

The Newcomers
11. ?

    Pop and disco are for gay men and women

    Disco and pop are for everyone.

    People assume this seriously?

12. ?

    Terrible meaning = terrible song

The Contenders

13. The more beautiful, the better

14. Pop music is the best

    There's no such thing as a better genre.

15. Overrated = bad

    I find Nirvana slightly overrated, yet I still like their music.

16. The newest song = the best song

    My sister has this opinion, and she thinks any song that's at least 5 years old is forgettable and didn't age well. It's like she doesn't give older songs a chance.

17. Computers make better music

    I think you're forgetting the electronic music genre...

18. Listening to only popular artists = good

    And even worse, some of these people trash other people's music tastes just for liking underground artists, even though people who listen to underground artists typically have a much more diverse taste than someone who listens to the same 10 mainstream artists.

    I don't care how popular music artists are.

19. Newest = best

20. Old songs = bad songs

    I don't think so - but I'm sure there must be some idiots who think that.

21. Pop music = bad genre

    Not a big fan of this genre, but there can be good and bad in anything.

22. If a metal band is on the radio, they sold out

    Selling out isn't always necessarily a bad thing.

23. If a song stays popular for a long time, it is good

    The Monster Mash is a song from the 1960s that still makes the comedy charts every Halloween, but it's still terrible.

    In some cases, this is true. That said, sometimes garbage songs are remembered.

    There are bad songs that come back to the charts every Christmas.

24. Real fan = having singers' signatures

25. It's accurate to call things overrated if you personally don't think they're the best

    Agreed, overrating and underrating are more likely subjective things.

26. A song with good lyrics = automatically good song

    Good lyrics in songs are nice, but that doesn't automatically make the song good. After all, the music has to be good in order for a song to be called "good." Lyrics are secondary and sometimes even irrelevant.

    If a song has good lyrics but boring, lame, or bad music, then it's not a good song. It's a good poem or short story with boring or bad music in the background.

27. New songs = good songs