The IQ and EQ in the music.

Just to have a high IQ is not that good. I was just watching a game show on TV and the contester was in MENSA (a club for people with high IQ) and had a high IQ. Lost almost on the first question on how many legs a spider has. IQ shows how good you are on logical things. Don’t really say if you are smart or successful.

Also, this contestant, you really felt that she was not someone you really wanted to have a conversation with. What she was lacking quite a lot is EQ. Your EQ is the level of your ability to understand other people, what motivates them, and how to work cooperatively with them. So, having one of these is good but you can perform badly on other things. Like you are super smart but friendly like a venomous snake. Or you get along with all people but not really see when people take advantage.

In music it is the same. Let’s compare the IQ with skills. You can play the guitar as fast as possible with great tunes. EQ is the ability to write songs and harmonies. In the first you have Yngwie Malmsteen, yes, he can play guitar fast like hell. But he can’t write a decent tune. Then you have Per Gessle from Roxette who is average on guitar but writes hit songs as easy as he makes a cup of tea.

The problem I have is that some genres only goes on the IQ part. And on top of that, they think since they are “smarter” they look down on the EQ ones. On the other side the EQ ones make all the money and have the audience. IQ just survives on government aid.

This shows off quite easily. Classic music has not had a hit in almost a hundred years. The last hit was Wagner. The style is popular among the audience, but not the new things, only the back catalog. Why is it so impossible for classical artists to make something good today? My guess is that Wagner, Mozart, and the other were EQ people, but they had to enter the classical world. Today there are all sorts of other ways. And by that it is impossible to tell any classical schooled artists too write a good song. They really do not have the skills. They can only play advanced. But the advanced just sounds terrible. And most schools are just encouraging them to play right not do things that are great.

Same with Jazz, okay had a few hits later, but hey when did a jazz song really hit the charts, especially the kind of improvisation jazz? No, it’s fun to play, but listen to is as fun as watching a game of curling. Yes, there is a reason why curling is not a big seller on the TV menu.

From time to time I meet people from these sections coming and want a real career not just pennies from the government. I just tell them, write a hit, if you can’t buy one. And they don’t really understand. They rather want me to change the audience so they should understand the technical skills. And that will never happen. Also, these people tend to just be around each other. A bit like the mad scientists that only hang together and tell algebra jokes.

So just because you can say horse in nine languages when you should ride you buy a cow. You really need both sides to be successful.