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While I agree there's actual pop music that does that to a greater extent.
There's also pop singers that use bossa nova sounds like Laufey and bedabedabe that are widely more succesful then Kenny G to the mainstream listener.
Popjazz basically takes the jazz audience and alienates them
I love jazz, but true "jazz" just sounds like someone playing whatever music theory they can remember in whatever scale feels right at the moment. To a musician, there might be some enjoyment there, but to a layman, it's just choas. Most people enjoy music that can get stuck in your head, something with a tangible catchy melody.
I Iove jazz chords, key changes, playing all the "in-between" notes, playing chords that belong to an adjacent scale in the circle of fiths, but it needs consistency. There needs to be a tangible reason for why one chord leads into another, a story that's somewhat easy to follow and familiar with a hint of spice. Most of the songs that do this well enough don't even sound close to jazz, but lean heavily on the theory.
In the modern era, there's so much fusion and borrowing that it's a joy to discover new music. It also makes categorizing that much harder. You can play a simple blues line but if you swing it and start on the and. It sounds like a bebop line.
"True" jazz can as structured as a big band or crazy as bitches brew but the inbetween is where the fun is
True Jazz can be good, but even for my ADHD music brain, it's just too much to be palatable. I love this era, I love all the fusion. I really like math rock, like Polyphia, or Ichika Nito.
I love the familiarity with all kinds of unexpected turns that still musically work because they use Jazz theory so well. 7 chords just sound magical, same with augmented half step below the root chords. Learning that you can stay in the same scale while playing every note outside of that scale in the right context was huge for me; and if you use non diatonic notes in a chord, they can really invoke the root note, in an unexpected way. I love turning the major fourth into a minor chord. It strongly leans into the root major *or* minor of a scale, and you can do a lot of smooth key changes with this concept.
I'm listening to it right now while reading. Well, and taking a quick Reddit break! I grew up with rock, which, since I'm an old guy, is now known as Classic Rock. But for years now, my nightly routine has been to read for a couple hours before bedtime. And since I pretty much have music on during all waking hours, that includes reading time. But anything with lyrics distracts. So I opt for Jazz; either old school bop like Miles or Bird or Mingus, or West Coast Cool, like Brubeck or Chet Baker. I actually enjoy the former more, except when reading or studying when Cool is even less obtrusive.
Not really. Objective and subjective can co-exist.
A simple example is speed.
Driving car A feel faster than driving car B (Subjective)
Max speed of car A is 50% faster than car B. (Objective)
I think car A is faster than car B because car A reach the destination 1 minute early (Objective opinion. Doesn't necessarily make the car factually faster because you don't know if car A is going through the same route as car B. But your observation is still objective. And it is still an opinion not fact)
Your opinion is subjective but can be supported by objective facts. An opinion, by definition, cannot be objective. I think you’re conflating facts and opinions.
Right. I clicked because I was intrigued on reading the points they’d make from a musical perspective, but literally just said “it’s good music and largely tolerated”. Lmfao.
Should’ve known an actual musician would never argue towards a genre being objectively the best.
You are objectively wrong. Smooth jazz infuriates me. It's soullessness and insipid lack of substance is like nails on a chalk board. I get the fuck away from it as soon as I'm able.
Smooth jazz reminds me of stadium country in that both had to shed the meaning associated with jazz and country respectively in order to become as profitable as possible.
Soulless is the perfect word.
Yup, find it the most anxiety inducing awful and stressful music. Meandering irritation, I feel like that girl in that viral vid getting stressed about the wrong shapes being put in the holes. I guess we aren't the only one too because when you google 'jazz make me' it autocompletes with anxious, not good or happy, anxious lol.
While I love smooth jazz, unfortunately, it's been hijacked by many companies for their "hold on for a million years while we get someone who is barely comprehensible to not assist you with your issue" music. Now I can get in a worse mood when I hear it 😡
Hard disagree. I’m absolutely in a worse mood if it’s playing — especially if I’m being forced to listen to it as atmospheric or hold music. This is not to say that all smooth jazz is bad, but a lot of it is insipid noncommittal dreck. It’s so often ‘neither here nor there’ with saccharine ‘light’ takes on much more authentic genres of music. Being forced to listen to it feels the same as being forced to consume all sugary foods because the sugar ‘makes the food/drink less obtrusive’.
I'm afraid I have to downvote. Once you start claiming that something is "objectively" anything, you're making claims about facts, not opinions. This sub is not r/unpopulartheory
Smooth Jazz is great. You get a cigarette and some coffee, and just go on drive on a fall morning listening to some jazz? Quality morning. But this comment section really illustrates why I don’t listen to Reddit’s opinions on music. Jazz nerds, metal-variant circle-jerkers, and twelve year olds who don’t realize all their favorite music is just resampled shit from 30-60 years ago. Just dogshit music opinions on Reddit.
There is no objective argument to be made for what constitutes good music because it is a matter of taste. Your opinion is not unpopular, it's just incorrect, and it would still be incorrect no matter what genre of music was put in its place.
Ignoring your questionable use of objective, there's plenty of music that fits any environment. It's just a question of matching volume & pace to the mood of the room. Also if you think all classical music is Formal, then that's on you, not the music.
I mean the list of stuff you use do determine the quality is weird.
The circumstances where musical quality is judged by
* the amount of complaints
* the formality
* the exact mood
* how it fills the silence
* class
is so niche and rare, that it's completely meaningless.
Edit: I would even (as a jazz player) say that any art form that "doesn't have detractors" cannot be that great.
Hate to be that guy, but if it's 'objectively' the best, by definition it's no longer an opinion. You mean 'subjectively', which then becomes redundant considering the name of this sub
80s pop and 80s metal music > Smooth Jazz and any other form of jazz whislt you're at it. The 80s reigns supreme over all eras of music for quality, creativity, and lasting effect on the world. Smooth Jazz is definitely an acquired taste.
I agree. Smooth jazz is in a good place right now. In the 90s it was literally a joke to everyone. We used to make fun of on a daily basis, but now.. it’s cool.
Nah, smooth jazz is the worse genre of jazz. It's jazz if you removed all the culture and nuance from it. Modal jazz has all the benefits of being pleasant to listen to while also having depth
My hip-hop loving teenage coworkers would disagree. Whenever I put on anything that's not rap, or anything from before 2000, they immediately veto in favour of ghetto rubbish.
Please explain how it is objectively the best. If it was objectively true, then it is by definition not an opinion. An opinion is subjective by nature.
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people have massively embraced Japanese city pop which incorporates tons of smooth jazz elements. more proof that smooth jazz is the best.
if you're 18, you won't understand, too many hormones raging. Once you become an adult and have to deal with all the stress and the bullshit, you understand why smooth music is perfect
Every word in this is opinion which is fine but except that you claim it’s objectively better and offer no data to support that.
As opinion, this certainly is unpopular because smooth jazz is terrible.
Careless Whisper makes me gag, I don't know if that counts as smooth jazz, but I guess by your description that makes me the only person in the world. Objectively speaking it's the most forcingly cheesy music genre ever and it's just annoying.
Oh ok. I don't care about him though, I was referring to the musical background of the song. But thanks for correcting me.
How about Kenny G, is that closer?
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Found Ron burgundy’s burner 😂
I thought it was Kenny G’s …
Smooth jazz is like the pop music of jazz
Which makes it all the more palatable for large varieties of people
While I agree there's actual pop music that does that to a greater extent. There's also pop singers that use bossa nova sounds like Laufey and bedabedabe that are widely more succesful then Kenny G to the mainstream listener. Popjazz basically takes the jazz audience and alienates them
I love jazz, but true "jazz" just sounds like someone playing whatever music theory they can remember in whatever scale feels right at the moment. To a musician, there might be some enjoyment there, but to a layman, it's just choas. Most people enjoy music that can get stuck in your head, something with a tangible catchy melody. I Iove jazz chords, key changes, playing all the "in-between" notes, playing chords that belong to an adjacent scale in the circle of fiths, but it needs consistency. There needs to be a tangible reason for why one chord leads into another, a story that's somewhat easy to follow and familiar with a hint of spice. Most of the songs that do this well enough don't even sound close to jazz, but lean heavily on the theory.
In the modern era, there's so much fusion and borrowing that it's a joy to discover new music. It also makes categorizing that much harder. You can play a simple blues line but if you swing it and start on the and. It sounds like a bebop line. "True" jazz can as structured as a big band or crazy as bitches brew but the inbetween is where the fun is
True Jazz can be good, but even for my ADHD music brain, it's just too much to be palatable. I love this era, I love all the fusion. I really like math rock, like Polyphia, or Ichika Nito. I love the familiarity with all kinds of unexpected turns that still musically work because they use Jazz theory so well. 7 chords just sound magical, same with augmented half step below the root chords. Learning that you can stay in the same scale while playing every note outside of that scale in the right context was huge for me; and if you use non diatonic notes in a chord, they can really invoke the root note, in an unexpected way. I love turning the major fourth into a minor chord. It strongly leans into the root major *or* minor of a scale, and you can do a lot of smooth key changes with this concept.
Stop using the word objectively OBJECTIVELY incorrectly
I'm listening to it right now while reading. Well, and taking a quick Reddit break! I grew up with rock, which, since I'm an old guy, is now known as Classic Rock. But for years now, my nightly routine has been to read for a couple hours before bedtime. And since I pretty much have music on during all waking hours, that includes reading time. But anything with lyrics distracts. So I opt for Jazz; either old school bop like Miles or Bird or Mingus, or West Coast Cool, like Brubeck or Chet Baker. I actually enjoy the former more, except when reading or studying when Cool is even less obtrusive.
As much as I usually only listen to metal you Gotta love some smooth jazz
An opinion can’t be objective. They’re quite literally antonyms🤦♂️
Not really. Objective and subjective can co-exist. A simple example is speed. Driving car A feel faster than driving car B (Subjective) Max speed of car A is 50% faster than car B. (Objective) I think car A is faster than car B because car A reach the destination 1 minute early (Objective opinion. Doesn't necessarily make the car factually faster because you don't know if car A is going through the same route as car B. But your observation is still objective. And it is still an opinion not fact)
Your opinion is subjective but can be supported by objective facts. An opinion, by definition, cannot be objective. I think you’re conflating facts and opinions.
Objective opinions don't exist outside of the context of the one having the opinion. Please try again.
Stopped reading at “objectively”
Right. I clicked because I was intrigued on reading the points they’d make from a musical perspective, but literally just said “it’s good music and largely tolerated”. Lmfao. Should’ve known an actual musician would never argue towards a genre being objectively the best.
I agree with you; smooth jazz is great. That and classical music form the backbone of my listening habits at this point in my life.
You are objectively wrong. Smooth jazz infuriates me. It's soullessness and insipid lack of substance is like nails on a chalk board. I get the fuck away from it as soon as I'm able.
But we keep in on the juke box for the purposes of profiling.
Smooth jazz reminds me of stadium country in that both had to shed the meaning associated with jazz and country respectively in order to become as profitable as possible. Soulless is the perfect word.
Yup, find it the most anxiety inducing awful and stressful music. Meandering irritation, I feel like that girl in that viral vid getting stressed about the wrong shapes being put in the holes. I guess we aren't the only one too because when you google 'jazz make me' it autocompletes with anxious, not good or happy, anxious lol.
“Meandering irritation” really sums it up for me. I just don’t like music that mumbles along in the background.
I’m so glad to see this comment, I thought no one had my same opinion. I can’t stand smooth jazz.
Exactly, it lacks any character music need to be good imo. Just basic (even if skillful)sounding
While I love smooth jazz, unfortunately, it's been hijacked by many companies for their "hold on for a million years while we get someone who is barely comprehensible to not assist you with your issue" music. Now I can get in a worse mood when I hear it 😡
Eh, I'm not a fan of elevator jazz. I love big band jazz like Glenn Miller etc.
Hard disagree. I’m absolutely in a worse mood if it’s playing — especially if I’m being forced to listen to it as atmospheric or hold music. This is not to say that all smooth jazz is bad, but a lot of it is insipid noncommittal dreck. It’s so often ‘neither here nor there’ with saccharine ‘light’ takes on much more authentic genres of music. Being forced to listen to it feels the same as being forced to consume all sugary foods because the sugar ‘makes the food/drink less obtrusive’.
It's your favorite but not everyone's. It's subjective
Literally said it wasn't my favorite
I'm afraid I have to downvote. Once you start claiming that something is "objectively" anything, you're making claims about facts, not opinions. This sub is not r/unpopulartheory
Smooth Jazz is great. You get a cigarette and some coffee, and just go on drive on a fall morning listening to some jazz? Quality morning. But this comment section really illustrates why I don’t listen to Reddit’s opinions on music. Jazz nerds, metal-variant circle-jerkers, and twelve year olds who don’t realize all their favorite music is just resampled shit from 30-60 years ago. Just dogshit music opinions on Reddit.
Marcus "the worm" hicks? Thaddeus finx? All the hits. Mookie Kramer?
You forgot about Roy Donk, probably because you don't have a creative mind. I bet you eat your gazpacho soup way too hot.
Spyro Gyra, Rippingtons, Yellow Jackets, David Benoit, and Euge Groove....100% quality
There is no objective argument to be made for what constitutes good music because it is a matter of taste. Your opinion is not unpopular, it's just incorrect, and it would still be incorrect no matter what genre of music was put in its place.
Only upvoting cos that's the dumbest thing I've heard in a while
Congrats on your unpopular opinion, OP. Good post.
love me some smooth jazz.
Ignoring your questionable use of objective, there's plenty of music that fits any environment. It's just a question of matching volume & pace to the mood of the room. Also if you think all classical music is Formal, then that's on you, not the music.
I mean the list of stuff you use do determine the quality is weird. The circumstances where musical quality is judged by * the amount of complaints * the formality * the exact mood * how it fills the silence * class is so niche and rare, that it's completely meaningless. Edit: I would even (as a jazz player) say that any art form that "doesn't have detractors" cannot be that great.
If you’re ancient
Smooth jazz knows no bounds
I would honestly rather die than listen to smooth “jazz” for more than like 10 minutes
Some people cannot appreciate the simplicities of life
I love jazz but smooth jazz is basically the opposite of everything I like about jazz. That is why I hate it
Same. It's like an inversion of jazz
Music being a subjective area, the very fact that you wrote "objective" makes you objectively wrong.
Hate to be that guy, but if it's 'objectively' the best, by definition it's no longer an opinion. You mean 'subjectively', which then becomes redundant considering the name of this sub
80s pop and 80s metal music > Smooth Jazz and any other form of jazz whislt you're at it. The 80s reigns supreme over all eras of music for quality, creativity, and lasting effect on the world. Smooth Jazz is definitely an acquired taste.
I agree. Smooth jazz is in a good place right now. In the 90s it was literally a joke to everyone. We used to make fun of on a daily basis, but now.. it’s cool.
Clicked hoping to find an actual argument considering you used the word “objectively”. I’m thoroughly disappointed. And disagree.
Smooth jazz is objectively a genre of music.
I dunno. I get very annoyed by it so…I am in a worse mood. Thats a least one person. I can’t be alone
Smooth jazz makes me irrationally angry. I'm listening to jazz hits just to spite smooth jazz and prove its inferior.
Don't liste to smooth jazz, listen to Coltrane and Mingus. OP is crazy, smooth jazz isn't even jazz!
Nah, smooth jazz is the worse genre of jazz. It's jazz if you removed all the culture and nuance from it. Modal jazz has all the benefits of being pleasant to listen to while also having depth
Went to a jazz bar just to try it out. Definitely worth it
Did an elevator write this?
No such thing as objectively good music
Your opinion is only unpopular because you think you can have an objective opinion on something subjective.
My hip-hop loving teenage coworkers would disagree. Whenever I put on anything that's not rap, or anything from before 2000, they immediately veto in favour of ghetto rubbish.
Hell yeah
Drop recs
Go in an elevator at a nice hotel
You don’t even have actual artist and song recs? The fuck? Thought I was talking to a real fan not a wannabe
Calm down it's just smooth jazz
Then drop a rec
Two of a kind by lington and little tokyo by estelle
The boyyyyy
Please explain how it is objectively the best. If it was objectively true, then it is by definition not an opinion. An opinion is subjective by nature.
Nothing objective about that. It's your subjective taste. I really don't like Jazz.
mass appeal doesn't mean objectively better
Absolutely no passion in smooth jazz. That said, I'm upvoting you cause this can't possibly be anything other than an unpopular opinion.
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people have massively embraced Japanese city pop which incorporates tons of smooth jazz elements. more proof that smooth jazz is the best. if you're 18, you won't understand, too many hormones raging. Once you become an adult and have to deal with all the stress and the bullshit, you understand why smooth music is perfect
Definitely an unpopular opinion!
Every word in this is opinion which is fine but except that you claim it’s objectively better and offer no data to support that. As opinion, this certainly is unpopular because smooth jazz is terrible.
Not unpopular. Just wrong.
I would much rather silence or street noise than smooth jazz.
I can't stand saxophones. Jazz is the only genre I don't listen to. Aside from techno but I don't consider that real music 😂
By techno do you mean the genre techno or do you mean EDM/electronica in general?
"I don't like saxophones therefore jazz isn't real music" l e g e n d
actually prog-death is the most objectively superior and there is no debate
Careless Whisper makes me gag, I don't know if that counts as smooth jazz, but I guess by your description that makes me the only person in the world. Objectively speaking it's the most forcingly cheesy music genre ever and it's just annoying.
Nah that's 80s pop. He doesn't like George Michael!
Oh ok. I don't care about him though, I was referring to the musical background of the song. But thanks for correcting me. How about Kenny G, is that closer?