Is there a difference between 'favourite' and 'the best'?

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Is there a difference between 'favourite' and 'the best' to you? To me there is, but it's hard for me to explain it to people.

For example... The best Echo & The Bunnymen song for me is Nothing Lasts Forever. But my favourite is all of the album Crocodiles. I also think all of Porcupine is *better* than Crocodiles.

I think that for a lot of people, favourite and the best means the same thing, ie. they'd ask you why don't you say it's the best if it's your favourite? But I think music can both be viewed through objective and subjective parameters. Most people can't see how you can view music through objective parameters, so they're stuck with thinking all discussion of quality, aesthetics etc. is subjective. Am I just wired differently to most of the population on that matter, or did you ever feel like I do about the difference between favourite and best?

"Best" = Undisputed example of the pinnacle of quality.

"Favourite" = The one you like best.

But can there be an 'undisputed example of the pinnacle of quality' in reality - not just as an abstract concept?

Yes.

Gold that is .9999 is considered "best" for it's purity, but 14c gold jewelry (.5833) seems to be the "favourite" of those who wear it.

The "best" human diet seems to be one that minimizes animal protein and pure carbohydrates while maximizing dietary fibre; but my "favourite" food is a home-grilled cheeseburger with two ground beef patties, cheddar cheese, four strips of bacon, onion, and catsup on a split and toasted kaiser roll.

Alright. Thank you.

I agree that there is a difference between "favorite" and "the best". Most people would agree that either The Nightmare Before Christmas or Edward Scissorhands is Tim Burton's best movie, but my favorite is Alice in Wonderland - which a lot of people thought was of a much lesser quality than the two previously-mentioned movies.

Cool.

I feel the same way, the discussion has popped up on this other forum I visit a couple of times as well.

I'm well aware that many of my favourite songs are fairly simple, while other songs of which I know that they're better in their composition, I'll maybe gloss over.

So yes, I think 'best' and 'favourite' are too different things.

Yeah, for example, I know enough about Led Zeppelin to know they had very competent players, fairly complex compositions etc., but in 2005, I was definitely able to say that Led Zeppelin are better, but I prefer(-red) Good Charlotte. My friend, on the other hand, argued that there isn't one definition of quality, but different ways to look at quality, and therefore GC would be as good as Led Zep, if not better because she could say so subjectively (which I respectfully disagreed on).

Damn you to hell Fnord ;0)

I'm starving, suddenly.

Lol! Me too!

While Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart may be the "best" composer, my "favourite" is Eithne Ní Bhraonáin.

I understand how "favorite" and "best" can be quite different. For me, a favorite song will be the one that has an emotional or nostalgic connection. Maybe I first heard the song during a really happy experience and it stuck with me. The band has other songs with better composition or musicianship so I know my favorite is not the best song they ever wrote, but it is my favorite for emotional reasons.

It is interesting to watch band documentaries. Many times, the musicians themselves will make the same distinction. They will have a favorite song that they wrote but realize it's not the best song they wrote. Neverthless it is their favorite. Usually there is an emotional reason for this, such as they wrote it for their newborn son or right after their life greatly improved (kicked drugs or whatever). Having watched many band documentaries I have noticed that musicians' best songs are rarely their favorite. It seems that many musicians are driven to great creative work during emotionally tough times. They write a song that moves a generation but it isn't their favorite (even though it's their best) because it reminds them of that tough emotional time they were in when they wrote it. Or they have just gotten horribly sick of it because they are obliged to play it at every single concert for their entire career.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who makes the distinction between "best" and "favourite". I think it is a very selfless concept - most people don't make the distinction, unfortunately, which can spoil what might have been a discussion about the relative merits of (insert topic here), and they end up stamping their ego all over it.

Agreed!

I often wonder about this.

But I don't think you can judge a piece of music objectively. I don't believe in a lot of harmony theory. Yes, harmony can guarantee that something will sound good, but still everyone prefers different sounds. Perhaps certain notes or chords seem more pleasing to most people and I can see that there are tendencies, but I don't think it's a general rule. Rules are only relative anyway. ^^

I have often been in the same situation as you where I wondered whether my favourite song by a band is not the best song, but the one I like best. And mostly, I thought that the question is redundant. Because if something is "best" it's still no use if I don't like it, i.e. "Stairway To Heaven". Something really pisses me off about the song. And I can even accept other songs by Led Zeppelin and think that I find them boring, but do not give it more thought. With "Stairway To Heaven" though I feel I HAVE to like it because "it's such a good song", "it's important for music history", "the song has an interesting background". The worst thing is that the band really likes the song, too. XD It's a dilemma, you see? ^^ Mostly, I like to believe the song does not exist. (But they have better songs than this one, don't they?) I am basically ignoring my own theory that one song can be "better" than another. Or maybe not. Maybe what I really think is, "Their other songs deserve greater notice than this one because there is no such thing as 'best song'". I think it's very restrictive to think of music in "good" or "bad".

Excuse my incoherence.