It's all in the beat

Firstly, yay real internets and reynardo's organisating of it. Yippee.

Since I haven't burbled about music in ages, I'm going to bore you now with the fact that, IMO, the difference between one song being ok and another being great is often in something as elementary as its beat.

ironed_orchid made a comment a while back about music that makes you feel sexy. Not all of my favourite music is "sexy music", but plenty of it has an enhancing (if you like) effect, or is reminiscent. The other thing about much of my favourite music is that the beat is interesting, and is undoubtedly why I prefer breakbeat genres.

It's no secret I enjoy a lot of electronica, but when you mention that, the first thing people think of is house or trance. Me, I can't stand 95%+ of either of those genres, because they have incredibly boring 4/4 beats. So too with much rock music. The basic backbeat is, when done in the usual way, as boring as hell when done to excess (for me, about three tracks). Also add to that the prosaic bassline that a lot of rock or pop has (dum... dum.... or sometimes dum... de dum...) and I want to expire from ennui.

Unsurprisingly, the rock I like has good beats. While people go on about Jimi Hendrix being a fantastic guitarist (and sure, he was innovative in many respects), the reason why he shot to the stratosphere was in no small part due to Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding's efforts. Their backing was interesting and dynamic, and totally amped up the overall sound.

( illustrative YouTubeness )

I'll go on a bit more about what I think sexy and/or enjoyable music is (for me) anon.