Repetitiveness: Why is it always a bad thing?

Something that came to mind after thinking about the reaction to stuff I post in the "rate the above song" thread. Usually it's something like "I don't like it; too repetitive" or "It's good, but too repetitive".

But is being repetitive really such a bad thing? I mean, I understand that if a phrase or sequence keeps repeating with little or no variation, then it's a bad thing, but it seems like if a phrase or a sequence repeats itself more than twice, people start to get bored.

Furthermore, all music is repetitive to some extent, people just tend to notice it more with songs they don't already like. I don't really think that's fair, though. I feel like people are so convinced that it has no variation that they stop listening before any changes happen in the song, and it really shortchanges it.

Plus, if a certain part of a song is really good, wouldn't you want to hear it a lot? I would. So why is repetitiveness so inherently bad?

A really cool riff, like a good joke, can become dull if it's beaten into your head over and over again. Overall it depends on how repetitiveness plays into the composition as a whole. Hardcore punk can make it work by virtue of the sparse number of riffs used all being fairly high energy and the songs being very short. Other bands can use repetition to create a hypnotic sense of mood like in the case of Cultes des Ghoules or use it to create a sense of expectation for release as with Sinister on Hate.

Only Death Is Real

"Hey Jude" is, in my opinion, one example of why repetition can be a good thing (YMMV on that one, though). A solid four minutes of it, at that.

edited 31st Aug '14 3:20:51 PM by MrLavisherMoot

simple as

It depends on the song. Some songs seem to be nothing but the same line repeated ad nauseam, I want to punch the stereo.

However, "Lover, Lover" by Jerrod Niemann is repetitive as heck and I love it.

edited 31st Aug '14 3:42:02 PM by Twentington

Repetition itself isn't bad.

Notice that both of those complains are that it's too repetitious. "Too" anything is not good. Too loud, too soft, too slow, too fast, too complicated, too simple, too derivative... too is the operative word that makes it not good.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

I see...

Now that I think about it, isn't the matter of "too much" repetition (or anything, for that matter) subjective anyway?

Well yeah, not like it matters what others think when it comes to your tastes anyway. Plus, there's genres defined by constant repetition like stoner metal, drone, dark ambient, eurobeat, and so on and so forth. So like most things about music, it's up to the listener to decide if it's pleasing to the ear.

That's probably it, the nature of the repetition. Most repetitive electronic music just sounds like someone threw shit at a keyboard for one measure then just looped it a billion times, but the repetitive songs that I like at least repeat something that is musically interesting to me.

...what are you defining as "most repetitive electronic music"? Because "most electronic music" I've heard sounds like it was well-crafted by people who know what they're doing.

I'm just gonna guess Dubstep right here and now. I'll be generous and make Venetian Snares my second guess.

edited 31st Aug '14 6:28:37 PM by PhysicalStamina

Venetian Snares may sound like the result of throwing synthesizers and drum machines down a flight of stairs, but "repetitive" he isn't.

I'll drink to that.

It's part of the fun though. It's a grinder of sample-based chaos with structure at it's core.

Honestly I kinda find very melodic music overrated if there's no abrasive qualities to break it up.

Most electronic music I've heard in public settings. I don't bother to look up the artist. Hell, a lot of it, I can't even find a melody.

Even synths in regular pop music can be annoying, like that buzzy sounding "rise" in "We Found Love" that makes me think the song is about to explode.

edited 31st Aug '14 9:38:10 PM by Twentington

I'm guessing you're talking about Electro House, then, which, from what I've heard, does have melodies (the ones that are good anyway).

Electronic dance music is generally supposed to be functional, with some niche genres being more focused on sound design or, like certain kinds of rock music, to overwhelm the mind and body. The repetition serves both as a template for variation and a kind of ritual hypnotic thing. It flows through you and gets you to move, or else puts you into a certain kind of mental groove.

Sure, there's a lot of bad dance music out there, but acting like all of it is the same or devoid of effort because it isn't your thing is incredibly presumptuous.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

You've got everything from acid techno, industrial and all it's many, many fusion genres, techno punk, noise, eurobeat, ambient, dark ambient, chillstep, progressive trance, goa, gabber, hardstyle, breakcore, breakbeat, synth pop, harsh noise, and combining those and much more with other styles like industrial metal, glitchhop, dub death metal, etc, etc, etc.

And don't forget rockabilly!

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Yup!

(I would say that noise is a bit outside the dance tradition in electronic music [if related to it], although power noise and industrial techno definitely have their share of extreme elements.)

And hot swing, and polka, and corridos, and Shetland fiddling...

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Personally, when it comes to dance music, I tend to gravitate toward big beat music. Tends to be a nice happy medium that uses all these elements rather well a lot of the time.

edited 31st Aug '14 10:51:12 PM by Odd1

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

I prefer minimal, industrial and dub techno myself. I also enjoy breakcore, jungle, Goa trance, acid house and some varieties of dubstep and dancehall quite a bit.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Dude, Big Beat needs to come back so bad.

Hey Twentington, what do you think of Tammy Wynnette's collaboration with The KLF, "Justified and Ancient (Stand by the JAMs)"?

Eh, I'd argue that there are several Spiritual Successor genres like Neurohop and breaks (Well, that's kinda dead but still) and, maybe the kinda shit Flume's been doing? (not really but it's similar in spirit)

I dunno, tbh the next few years of electronic music are gonna be dominated by "future house" (basically poppy Deep House) and Flume type shit. Everybody's burned out by Big room, therefore pretty much everything else with a maximalist mindset (like Brostep and electro house) and gonna get killed in the collapse except drum and bass I guess cause it's going on for like ever it seems, and its taking off in the US again, mostly by Brostep fans who don't like big room who are looking for a new scene for "hard shit" and think Hardstyle is "too gey."

edited 31st Aug '14 11:26:49 PM by RoboZombie

Even setting aside the poppier stuff that draws on it, deep house is gaining a certain amount of traction, which I appreciate; and while I doubt that industrial techno will ever be the big new sound, people like Perc are gaining a lot of clout, which is also pleasing.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

I'd like for Future Funk (French House disguised as vaporwave, e.g., SAINT PEPSI, MACROSS 82-99 and the like) to get popular.

...I'd also like for people to call it what it is, but you know.

edited 1st Sep '14 7:20:29 AM by PhysicalStamina