Why is the best music overwhelmingly made by men?

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Reply 20

Reformed

men invented music

Reply 21

difeo

Original post by XOR_

The best music is not always/usually the one with the most

(sales, critical reception, awards) however https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists_in_Japan notice the amount of female musicians.

Going by your criteria Rihanna would be a better musician than Bjork & Justin Bieber would be a better musician than Hybrid. Most Pop (popular) music sucks to begin with so making popularity the criteria is a bad choice.

That's one country, I'm talking overall (and even then it looks like a pretty even split).

Personally I think critical reception is a better metric, but we can't dismiss sales completely.

Reply 22

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by difeo

I meant all music ever rather just right now, but it's true for the present day too. Popularity and critical reception together definitely are a good measure of who's making better music, and it's not even close on both counts:
http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-40-biggest-artist-albums-of-2015-revealed__13273/
http://www.metacritic.com/browse/albums/score/metascore/year/filtered?year_selected=2015

Selective sources much. If you want to talk about ALL TIME why link to a single year?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists

Swifty > U2

Reply 23

difeo

Original post by PQ

Selective sources much. If you want to talk about ALL TIME why link to a single year?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists

Swifty > U2

Wtf, I linked to a single year (the most recent) because you specifically said "IS (not was)"...

No idea what you're attempting to prove there, that just supports my point with the vast majority being male. Taylor Swift is a brilliant artist.

Reply 24

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by difeo

"Vast majority"

Do you have any understanding of what that means?

Reply 25

PossiblyNotGod

Original post by difeo

,

That's one country, I'm talking overall (and even then it looks like a pretty even split).

Personally I think critical reception is a better metric, but we can't dismiss sales completely.

Yes we can dismiss sales, and critical reception correlates with sales.

Reply 26

poohat

Why are most of the best music composers male?
Why are most of the best artists male?
Why are most of the best scientists male?
Why are most of the best authors male?
Why are most of the best athletes male?
Why are most of the best chess players male?
Why are most of the best fashion designers male?
Why are most of the best chefs male?
Why are most of the best entrepeneurs male?
Why are most of the best lawyers male?

Men are better than women when it comes to elite performance in pretty much every single area of hunan endeavour - its really hard to think of anything where women dominate men at the top end. The reason for this is hinted at in the scientific literature on cognitive/psychometric traits, which shows that (for most traits) while both sexes are equal on average, men tend to have a lot more variance. As such, you get a lot more men on the extremes - both positive and negative. As such, So the people at the top tend to be male, but so also do the people at the bottom (why are most homeless people, criminals, drug addicts, etc male?)

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 27

Andy98

Original post by PQ

wtf?

(That's a hint as well as an exclamation of disbelief)

What? I genuinely haven't come across any good female rappers

Original post by difeo

There was Lauryn Hill but she disappeared, Nicki had potential, but yeah there's not many at all. I know nothing about the genre but metal is probably the same.

Never heard of Lauryn Hill, and I guess I can see where you're coming from with Nicki - she's done one or two good lines

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Reply 28

MJlover

joni mitchell, lauryn hill and kate bush, nina simone (some of my fav artists) are women

Reply 29

MJlover

Original post by Andy98

What? I genuinely haven't come across any good female rappers

Never heard of Lauryn Hill, and I guess I can see where you're coming from with Nicki - she's done one or two good lines

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Missy Elliott?

Reply 30

Andy98

Original post by MJlover

Missy Elliott?

Did she rap? Thought she just did R&B :dontknow:

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Reply 31

difeo

Original post by PQ

"Vast majority"

Do you have any understanding of what that means?

Yes, do you? 6 of the top 7 is the vast majority. Obviously how big the majority is depends where you cut it off, but the top X will always be a male majority.

Reply 32

difeo

Original post by XOR_

Yes we can dismiss sales, and critical reception correlates with sales.

We can dismiss everything, how convenient. It's okay pal, you won't be called sexist just for admitting something so obviously true.

Reply 33

MJlover

Original post by Andy98

Did she rap? Thought she just did R&B :dontknow:

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she rapped... if u have spotify, I'd recommend her 'under construction' album.

Reply 34

difeo

Original post by Andy98

Legendary album brah: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miseducation_of_Lauryn_Hill

Reply 35

PossiblyNotGod

Let's do an experiment, name a top male musician and I'll tell you of a better female musician.

Reply 36

poohat

I think people are confusing performers with musicians. Taylor Swift/Beyonce/Miley Cyrus don't write/produce their own music - most of it is written and created by men. They are just the figureheads of their respective brands, since their products are primarily being marketed to teenage girls, who identify more with female performers.

There aren't many female pop stars who actually write their own material. Lady Gaga, Kate Bush and Adele would be among the few exceptions.

edit: oops my mistake, Taylor Swift does write a lot of her own music