Can be great, often an essential part of many songs.

For example, "Down By The River," Neil Young: that "she could drag me over the rainbow" part is possibly the best damn part of the song.

You don't need it in every song, though, as "I Wanna Be Your Dog" forever proved. If it fits and benefits the song, go for it. If not, then don't use one.

Not Crap, but I don't think you always need a bridge.

Does an instrumental passage that comes between the second and third chorus count as a bridge?

As a songwriter, I frequently encounter the Demon Bridge That Eats The Song. A song'll go from chorus to bridge smoothly, but then I find there's no way to loop it back to the song!

Frustrating, but fitting I suppose, in the time of shrinking attention spans. "This is the same song?"

And I wouldn't be writing bridges anyway if I didn't like em, so .. not crap.

magilla wrote:As a songwriter, I frequently encounter the Demon Bridge That Eats The Song. A song'll go from chorus to bridge smoothly, but then I find there's no way to loop it back to the song!

That's what dead stops are for.