Originally Posted By: Charlie Fogle
<< When do you know that you have written a good song? >>

According to the numbers, statistics and put up by both Mr. Henry and Herb, unquestionably the elite and standout best songs are ballads.

The charts are dominated by people like Black-Eyed Peas, Kanye, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Flo Rida who are the best 'talent' that corporate music can buy and produce.

Mariah Carey, Adele, and Elton each have an extensive list of songwriting credits and stand tall alone as the top 3% of such a huge and lucrative market. That's indistinguishable from the economic one percenters that have most of the money...

By the numbers and the performance of songs overall as you guys have detailed, 50-97% of songs that are 'good' have great hooks, beat, feel or sometimes lyrics. The elite songs are ballads.



Charlie Fogle, Herb Hartley - Thanks for the replies. The discussion is great. My only position was that I felt that "GOOD" songs (which was the subject at hand) do not have to be sad songs and it "appeared" that most of the responses in the forum were based on sad songs. My only point was that I think a "GOOD" song is a song that creates a "connection" with the listener and that did not necessarily mean "sad". It could mean a lot of other feelings. Like you said Charlie: "great hooks, beat, feel, etc.." One thing I will say is that Ballads do tend to stand the test of time whereas uptempo songs are snapshots and don't usually have the same "shelf life" as beats change, tempos change, etc.. Also usually ballads that stand of test of time usually have truly outstanding vocalists. Uptempo songs .. not so much :-)