My Music Rating Scale

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You might be sick of me writing about Rush, but I’m not sick of writing about Rush. I’m going to be doing something I’ve wanted to do for a long time: review and rate all of their albums.

But here’s the kicker: I’m going to review them on a song-by-song basis, tabulate the scores, and make my ratings as objective as possible based upon the following rating scale:

Awful. No redeeming qualities.Awful, but at least one redeeming quality.Pretty bad, but a few redeeming qualities.So bad it’s good. Listenable despite its badness.Bad, but enjoyable.A decent, perfectly serviceable rock song you wouldn’t change if it came on the radio. Might be fun, might be catchy, but is nothing special.A good rock song you would actually turn up if it came on the radio, yet still lacks some ineffable quality that pushes it further.A really good, memorable rock song that is catchy and has some unique quality that stretches the band or pushes its sound forward.An excellent song. Iconic. Basically flawlessA perfect song that goes beyond iconic into legendary. You wouldn’t change a note. It has that ineffable factor you can’t describe that resonates with you and pushes a 9 to a 10.

A good, though not ironclad rule, I’ll be keeping in mind is this: if given the choice between two songs, I’d rather listen to a 10 over a 9, a 9 over an 8, and so on.

I debated reserving the right to add or subtract bonus points based upon how well the album holds together as a unified whole, but decided against that because I think the final, song-based scores will speak for themselves.

Lastly, I will be giving each album cover a separate rating on an entirely different scale:

Awful and objectively bad. No ties to the album’s concept or theme.Objectively bad, but at least conveys some information.Pretty bad, but a few redeeming qualities. Related to the music contained therein.So bad it’s good. A train-wreck you can’t look away from.Bad, but enjoyable. Might be a groaner of a pun in there, but ties into the music and the overall concept, as appropriate. Or, if not, is at least not actively ugly.Eye-catching, objectively good, and if it has nothing to do with the album’s theme or concept or what have you, is at least a nice piece of art.An objectively good image that conveys a message that relates to and enhances enjoyment of the music contained therein.An objectively good image that conveys a message that relates to and enhances enjoyment and understanding of the music contained therein.An iconic, objectively good image that has some ineffable quality that fits the music so perfectly, you close your eyes while listening to a song from this album and you see this image.Legendary. The songs sound like this image.

This’ll be fun, and I can’t wait to see all of the disagreements I’m sure to get in the comments section. First review coming soon!

This was all supposed to go in Dreamers & Misfits, but the writing process–and book!–were already long enough. Maybe this’ll go into a second edition. In the meantime, snag the book for yourself here.