Well, let me disagree a little (by the way, I do think that Ensareyou made some good suggestions here) --------Anyway, I do think that one can evaluate a song, or a performance, with more than just whether or not you happen to like it. One of the songs on the Akai collection is a deeply sentimental song, performed in a very emotional style. This is waaaay too sweet for my taste, and makes me uncomfortable hearing it. However, I have to concede that it is well written, well produced, and for the style, well sung. My mother would love it, and no doubt many others will too. I can judge this a "good song" even though I don't like it. On the other hand, I really like blues music in all of its' forms. But I heard a new blues recording that was a "bad song", because it did not convince me. The lyrics, the vocal performance, the guitar licks----all just going through the motions. I did not feel for one moment that these performers were loving what they were doing. Instead, they were loving the IDEA of what they were doing, they wanted to be a blues band, wanted to be "stars" at whatever level. This is the acid test of your own music----would you love it if it was not your own? Do you love it for itself, or do you love it because you did it? Uncle Dave loves his kids' artwork, but would he love this same art if it was NOT by his kids? When I first started writing, I actually got mad if anyone did not like my songs. The thrill of creating something new was so intoxicating that I was sure that if I did it, it must be great! I was sure that my critics were wrong. But with time I came to see that these early songs were pure crap! I was fooling myself because I wanted to be a writer. When I could finally hear them like they were someone elses' work----I hated them! That's OK, we have to start somewhere, but the point of this rant is that "good " and "bad" have some objective validity beyond our own preferences. People can sling paint on canvas and say that it is art and you can't prove otherwise, but that don't make it a Michaelangelo! Art is about connection----with each other, with what is eternal, with what is universal to the human condition. People, at their core, have not changed from the days of Shakespeare, which is why those works are timeless. If you do some music that really moves YOU, then the chances are excellent that it will move others too. And THAT is a "good tune" -----Rant over!
Bill