Instinctively liking long songs more than short songs

[Nick]

My biggest problem with long songs verses short songs is that they shouldn't be compared. Although songs should be compared on their average quality throughout their length it simply never happens in this context. People tend to remember the overall epicness and great parts of a long song and rank it above a shorter song of the same average quality.

So often the question is "would you rather hear Octavarium live, or Learning to Live live?" Which is a flat out poor question. The question should be "would you rather hear Octavarium live, or Learning to Live AND Outcry live?" Although not as often compared you will find similar results if you simply ask people, which is better, A Change of Seasons or Strange Deja Vu? Most people live Strange Deja Vu, but because we'd rather have 20+ minutes of awesome sauce instead of 5 minutes we instinctively pick A Change of Seasons. Simply put we should flat out NOT be comparing songs of significantly different length with one another, as there is almost no way to do it without some degree of inherent bias.

[Jaq]

I think a bit of a false correlation was made here in the first place, namely that because there is a perception that DTF considers the band's epics to be their best songs, that we naturally gravitate towards long songs. The problem that exists here is two fold; one, not everyone here thinks that, and two, Dream Theater works in a genre where, generally, long songs happen a lot. Simple math will make it likelier for a list of DT songs to feature long songs since the band tends to work in a range between 6-13 minutes in general. And again, there's a bit of "this is what this board thinks" not the actual truth. The wider consensus for what is best from bands is a lot different than this place. For example, the broader consensus with Pink Floyd is that either The Wall or Dark Side of the Moon are their best albums, and neither album has a song over 8 minutes long.

While I gravitate towards bands that do long songs well, song length isn't the sole determining factor for what songs I like best.

[senecadawg2]

Length doesn't matter. It's all about how you can use it. At least that's what I've been told 

[jsem]

Length doesn't matter. It's all about how you can use it. At least that's what I've been told 

Idk if I've said it, but epic avatar. And a pretty true statement too.

[Moonchild]

Well, it doesn't matter if a song is long or short when it sucks... Long songs like TMOLS have both great parts and suck parts.

When you look at a band like Iron Maiden who is beyond their prime.. They ruled on the short songs on the early part on their career but in the middle they turned to the long songs which are good and the short songs kinda suck.

PS: It all comes down to personal taste, this thread is irrelevant.