Worst Defenses Against Music Criticism

If you're going to defend a musical artist, song, or album, don't use these kinds of statements. Also, these are not direct quotes, but rather representations of one would often use as a defense against most criticisms.
The Top Ten
1 "It hit No.1 on the Billboard charts"

A few of these are kind of the same reason based on other people liking it rather than any actual attribute of the song itself another not added would be it got really positive reception from critics.

Well we had a horrible song at #1 not 2 weeks ago...

So that would mean Despacito is the best song of all time? Haha, no.

Successful =/= good (sadly).

2 "White people can't criticize black music"

Calling rap music "black" music makes you racist.

Kanye, go hug yourself. (if ya know what I mean)

Wow that's just stupid

It's kinda weird to use racism as a defense against music criticism

3 "I'd like to see you do better"

First of all, the person commenting can't do better. Second of all, the person they are commenting to isn't a musician so he can't do better. Third of all, that doesn't make every artist ever immune to criticism.

4 "If you don't like it, then don't listen to it"

If you are watching it for the first time to see if you like it, then this comment wouldn't make sense. However, if the song plays on the radio, just turn it off or switch to another station. Nobody is "forcing you" to listen to the song, it was your own choice to sit through the song without changing the station.

Obviously you need to listen to it to have an opinion on it. But stop making bands like Blood on the Dance Floor relevant by repeatedly trashing them.

I would rather rant about songs/albums I thought were gonna be good but turned out bad. I will say nothing whatsoever about bands I don't like.

Does it look like I wanted to listen to Watch Me by Silento? No but I was forced to because my School played it at every damn pep rally we went to.

Do I like What About Us? No. Did I keep hearing it on the radio over and over and over again until it drove me insane? Yes.

5 "It's just a song"

It's just my opinion on the song...

6 "You have bad taste in music"

Because music is subjective, no one has a bad taste in music. I used to say things similar to this, only about songs I hated, not liked.

I don't get this one because there's no such thing as real music. All music (as well as all forms of art in general) is subjective.

Music is subjective, so it's a dumb defense.

7 "But it's catchy"

Sometimes a song can be catchy in a good way (think Charlie Puth's songs), but having What About Us in my head for hours annoyed me to the extreme.

This is a perfectly reasonable excuse to like a song and avoid critical thought.

I don't know why people think this is a good thing. I generally find catchy music annoying

Some catchy song is bad, some are good.

8 "This [insert record/artist here] won a Grammy"

Grammy isn't always true.

And your point is...?

9 "These singers made a lot of money from this song/album while you're just sitting behind a computer hating"

And you're sitting behind a computer complaining about a stranger's opinion of a song that doesn't define you.

10 "It's still better than any of today's music.

So you're telling me that "We Built This City" is better than "Irvine", "Jesus Alone", "I'm Going To Do It", and "Blackstar"? Pfft, nonsense.

The Contenders
11 "Everyone at my school likes it"
12 "It's a dance song, so the lyrics don't matter"

Some songs aren't meant to have lyrics. As long as it's not offensive (Juju) or annoying (Watch Me), I'm fine with mediocre lyrics.

What if it's an unlistenable piece of garbage dance track?

Not all songs need to have lyrics, say like for video game tracks and some electronic dubstep songs

13 "You obviously didn't listen to it"

I did, and this is my opinion.

14 "Be honest, you only hate this song because of overplay or overhype"

If they say a song is bad then they usually have reasons for saying it besides "I've heard this song 921653932165891 times on the radio it's driving me insane".

This is probably the truest thing on the list.

15 "You just don't like it because it's not the 80s."

It would be so easy for one to use this argument on people who like old music and hate modern music, and...maybe it's true, as in the best songs list, there are virtually no songs from the 2010s, or maybe I'm just a total idiot and people actually have legit reasons to like old music, and hate modern music. I dunno...(likely the second option, though.).

16 "But it's a [insert something that the song is not here]"
17 "It's better than the rubbish that you listen to."

See Norah Jones on the list of artists who make boring music for an example of such reasoning being used.

18 "You're just jealous"

By that logic I would hate every famous band or singer.

19 "It got positive reviews from critics"

So. I don't always have to agree with them.

20 “you hate this song because it’s popular”
21 "Oh look all mainstream pop and rap is rubbish metal is way better"

Whenever these conversations come up, it's always Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne that get brought up.

"Why is mainstream pop and rap bad? "
*Answers "Justin Bieber" (a guy who hasn't been relevent in years and is now more mature) or some rapper who is a stereotype of a gangster*

22 "I am biased. This song reminds me of my friends."

I kind of disagree with this one because it does not really sound like it is being used as a defense. Really it is a reason why I like this song although I know this does not objectively make it a better song.

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