[potsie]

I have no hard criteria for evaluating music but what I've been trying to do in these pools is to strike a balance between the visceral and the intellectual. You can't discount either and come at this with complete objectivity. Music is nothing if it doesn't elicit some feeling in you, whether you find it uplifting, provoking, compelling, or something that makes you want to rattle your brain around inside your skull. If the music doesn't stir something inside me, I won't care what the writer has to say. I joked about this earlier, but I don't truly believe that enjoying the heavier moments from a band speaks to more baser instincts. It's simply a preference for a loud vs. quiet aesthetic. The "loud" songs don't have any less depth than the quieter moments.

As for lyrical analysis, well, these came from the mind of Gord Downie. If his lyrics aren't worth looking at, then nothing out there is. It doesn't need to be an exercise in academia, totally dissociated from the feeling of the song. But a song with great lyrics full of rich metaphor should elevate it above a musically equivalent counterpart.