It's a tricky area to define, but it is definitely not irreducibly a matter of taste. Take some of the music in the world which has stood the test of time, and

It's a tricky area to define, but it is definitely not irreducibly a matter of taste. Take some of the music in the world which has stood the test of time, and you'll notice certain aspects (such as good use of dynamics, rather than blasting every sound as loud as it can go) that stand out above the other rabble of popular music of the time period it came from. This isn't a coincidence, nor is it irreducibly a matter of taste. There are some elements to artistic things which are objectively better than others. Good architectural elements stand out in subtle ways. Following some of these patterns tastefully makes a difference.