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It’s almost 2 in the morning and I have to be at work at 8:30 tomorrow – so I can go to a wedding at 4 and a family reunion at 8 – so I’m going to make this quick. I get so freaking sick of people talking about how some or other kind of music (pop, country, musical theater, rap, hip-hop, rock ‘n’ roll, contemporary Christian) “isn’t real music.” There’s a saying with musicians that the more you love music, the more music you love. I submit that all music is music, and all music is real art, because all music connects with people – the people that like that kind of music, that is – and moves them in ways that are often not achievable by other means.
Based on the contents of my iPod, my favorite artists are 2Pac, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, and Queen. My favorite classical performers, who often have a more limited oeuvre, are much listened to but less represented. Also prominent are Sammy Hagar, Van Halen, Madonna, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, NIN, Nirvana, Weird Al Yankovic, Taylor Swift, Otis Redding, Fontella Bass, They Might Be Giants, the Beatles… the list goes on and on and on and that only covers a couple of genres. I have Ray Charles singing “Georgia on My Mind” with Count Basie and another recording of the same song by Michael Bublé, “Give Me Some” by Bessie Smith, the Empress of Blues, and a very nice if not stylistically perfect rendition of Gershwin’s “But Not for Me” interpreted by Rod Stewart. Yes, that Rod Stewart.
I love, love, love every one of these performances and, like my favorite friend, every one of them brings out a part of myself that I love and that wouldn’t be the same without them. Sammy Hagar makes me happy. Lady Gaga is delightfully flamboyant. They Might Be Giants are quirky. Weird Al makes me laugh, 2Pac makes me cry (well, other than California Love – as my boyfriend put it, “The rest is the message; that’s the funding”).
Every time someone thinks a young opera singer is a good person to complain to about “kids these days and their rap/Top 40/whatever kind of music,” I feel quite honestly sad for them. I’m not saying that to be glib or flippant. I feel sad for them because I wish they could experience what I do when I listen to all of these very different but very committed and talented artists. Every song – every note – sets a part of me free. I don’t care if the music was made for profit. I’m just happy that there’s a system in place that allows these artists to profit from creating what they create.
I also think we should all be proud, not dismayed, that we live in a world where actors, musicians, fashion designers, and athletes are our aspirational figures. Politics is politics and politics is important, but it says a lot about us that the people we admire are those who do things they love and share that with the world. Whatever they’re doing, I say more power to them.