Sorry in advance for this rant:

I don't have anything to debate, as it's obviously subjective.

While liking the way a song makes a person feel may be the only criteria some need, it is not the only way it can be judged. It’s a given that most pop music really has little else to offer, but other forms (especially classical) have many other criteria that can be applied that are not nearly as subjective as the way a song “feels”. I suppose this case can be made for all art forms, but I think musical is far more mathematical in nature than most art, and therefore is more accessible to less-subjective standards.

As an example, while many listen to classical music and only observe it by the way the instruments and melody sound, most of the time there is a lot more going on. If you’ve studied the different forms (i.e. sonata) you’ll find that the composer is generally following some well defined (and mathematical) “rules”, and doing it rather well (or the music wouldn’t still be around). The really best composers (like Bach) can sometimes really twist the “rules” to the extreme, but if you look at the music you’ll eventually see how it all makes sense.

While this all might seem academic, it really isn’t. One’s appreciation for music skyrockets when these “rules” are understood. Instead of sitting at a symphony thinking “that was a nice melody, but let’s get on to something more interesting” you find yourself with thoughts more like “hmmm, I wonder what the composer’s going to do now . . . Oh, I see, but . . . OK that was different. I sure would like to hear it again. I like the way he brought the main them back into the recapitulation but this time in the lower voices.”

Certainly there is still a subjective element here, but it is not pure subjective reasoning. Of course this is just one medium, and there are a whole different set of “rules” for pop music than there are for classical (The dastardly crime of “parallel fifths” in classical would write off half the rock songs I know). Still, it is difficult to find pop music that really is even remotely intelligent from a form standpoint, thus leaving the listener with only pure-subjective criteria for determining whether a song is “good” or not.

To bring it back around, “Hotel California” has more going on than just a subjective listening would tell you. The chord progression alone is fairly complicated from a musical standpoint.