Music: Art or Entertainment?

[Caelum Adustum]

Which one is music to you?

 

[no country for old wainds]

Heh, do you have ANY idea what you've started with this post?

 

[Caelum Adustum]

Oh, indeed I do...

 

[Sóti]

thiers different types

carcass would be entertaintment
and ulver would be art

 

[SculptedCold]

Hehe. I can't vote. I enjoy music alternately and simultaneously as both, and also regard its societal importance, functionally, as equally divided also.

 

[oneshotendsthiswar]

depends what mood im in, if i want to appreciate art i listen to neurosis, if i want to be entertained i listen to something more immediate like children of bodom or suffocation. why does it have to be either or?

 

[EternalMetal]

I said entertainment, but i meant entertainment in an art sense I enjoy good music, and thats why i listen to good music, but i listen to it for the art of entertainment.

 

[E6V6I6L]

both for me.

 

[Slayed Necros]

Art. Rarely do I listen to something for means of entertainment.

 

[Esteban]

Art, no matter how cheesy or simple, music is art. People who listen to music for entertainment don't really like music and usually listen to whatever MTV wants them to listen.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

So, if you don't listen to MTV's idea of good you automatically listen to music as art?

I'd say I do a mixture of both, simultaneously and alternately as SculptedCold put it.

 

[Nico]

Entertainment is only a distraction. Art is much more. I see music as art, as a composition by artists.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

What if you perceive entertainment as more than a distraction? Does it become art?

 

[no country for old wainds]

Most listen simply because it sounds good. That's when you're listening as entertainment. If you listen to analyse and interpret the music, rather than being satisfied with whatever gets your head banging, you're listening as art.

 

[Henrik Main]

Most probably art. As with all kinds of art, there is music that is easily digestable (labelled as "entertainment" by some) and music that is harder to interpret and enjoy at first listen, but that will grow on you - music with more depth.

Bad paintings, paintings painted by a three-year old, bland sculptures and bad sculptures - all of those are still art. Therefore, in my opinion, bad music is just art of a lesser value.

 

[King Chaos]

I listen to music for enjoyment, but not entertainment. Some things like Wierd al Yankowich are entertaining but I rarely listen to them. I find some German techno Grindcore bands hilarious... I listen to them to be entertained. But as I say I dont listen to stuff like that often.

 

[Henrik Main]

I listen to music for enjoyment, but not entertainment. Some things like Wierd al Yankowich are entertaining but I rarely listen to them. I find some German techno Grindcore bands hilarious... I listen to them to be entertained. But as I say I dont listen to stuff like that often.

The Excrementory Grindfuckers, perhaps? ;D

 

[polarity]

Personally, I'd agree with SculptedCold.

Most listen simply because it sounds good. That's when you're listening as entertainment. If you listen to analyse and interpret the music, rather than being satisfied with whatever gets your head banging, you're listening as art.

But how accurately can you analyse music? The messages music (ignoring lyrics, for the moment) communicates are abstract and inexplicit, and also subject to a great degree of subjective interpretation. You can't gain absolute meaning from dissecting the music. Isn't how a piece of music makes you feel just as valid an artistic interpretation as knowing the actual meaning behind the music?

Also, I highly doubt many people listen to music that they don't enjoy aesthetically. Personally, I'm not going to listen to music that I think has great artistic validity if I can't appreciate the aesthetic of what I'm hearing. Noise music could theoretically be a great artistic statement, but it sounds like shit to me, so I'm not going to listen to it. Most likely, this is the case for the majority of people, and most people who say they listen to music solely as art are lying or misguided.

 

[no country for old wainds]

Art should surely be analysed as a whole, therefore aesthetics are just one thing that should be taken into account. I'm not saying you should disregard them entirely.

 

[prozak]

Awesome question - depends on the music at hand.

Immortal "Pure Holocaust" - Art
Pink "Missundastood" - Entertainment