When is a song "great"?

[ggalen]

Have you ever wondered about that elusive adjective: "great", as applied to a song?(Those of you who know my posts know that I enjoy thinking about the psychology of things, and of the music business. I just enjoy exploring how we humans 'work', especially when it comes to something as powerful and universal as music.)Thought #1Take one of your favorite artists. At one of their concerts, do you typically like every song? What percentage do you like?I'll find myself grooving to one tune, while the person next to me might be quietly listening, but is not particularly moved by that specific song.But on the next song, they might be grinning and bouncing in their seat, while my mind wanders.Is it possible to write a song that the majority of listeners love and would call "great"?I'd say rarely.I'd say it is next to impossible to write a song that is rated "great" by more than 50% of any RANDOM set of listeners who do like music in general.What do you think? Thought #2Another thing: we are typically instructed that anything less than 'great' need not even be submitted: "great vocals required", "great lyrics needed", "must have great production", "only great performances, please".Yet clearly many of the things we hear in commercial music, films, and other commercial uses are not great. They are just "good," or perhaps "solid but uninspired". And yet paradoxically, someone thought they were "great" when they were submitted, and paid money for them.But were they really? Or were they simply "better than average"?