The Popularity Curse
Some people have the strange belief that popular music is somehow inherently inferior to music that is not popular. I know people who automatically dislike a song simply because it has been played on the radio. I've heard words like "meaningless," "superficial," and "not relevant to the real world."
A little anecdote: Brooke Fraser, popular singer and songwriter, traveled to Rwanda. There she met an orphaned girl named Albertine, whose life had been saved by the very guide who was showing Fraser around the country. The guide asked her to write a song about Albertine.
Most of you probably are aware that the assumption that popular music is automatically meaningless is ridiculous. I will clarify why, but not in my own words.
I am sitting still
I think of Angelique
Her mother's voice over me
And the bullets in the wall where it fell silent
And on a thousandth hill, I think of Albertine
There in her eyes what I don't see with my own
[CHORUS]
Rwanda
Now that I have seen, I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you in my own arms, I cannot let go till you are
I am on a plane across a distant sea
But I carry you in me
And the dust on, the dust on, the dust on my feet
[BRIGDE]
I will tell the world, I will tell them where I've been
I will keep my word
I will tell them Albertine
I am on a stage, a thousand eyes on me
I will tell them, Albertine
I will tell them, Albertine
-Brook Fraser, "Albertine"
Every day I fight a war against a mirror
I can't take the person staring back at me
-Pink, "Hazard to Myself"
Bruises fade father, but the pain remains the same
And I still remember how you kept me so afraid
Strength is my mother for all the love she gave
Every morning that I wake I look back to yesterday
And I'm OK
-Christina Aguilera, "I'm OK"
I won't be made useless
I won't be idle with despair
-Jewel, "Hands"
We will fight, not out of spite
But someone must stand up for what's right
For where there's a man who has no voice
There ours shall go singing
-Jewel, "Hands"
We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take, the less we become
The fortune of one man means less for some
-Sarah McLachlan, "World on Fire"
Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers they may cause you tears
Go ahead, release your fears
Stand up and be counted, don't be ashamed to cry
-Des'ree, "You Gotta Be"
We got loud guitars and big suspicions,
Great big guns and small ambitions,
And we still argue over who is God
-Sheryl Crow, "Hard to Make a Stand"
The time has come to say fair's fair
To pay the rent, to pay our share
The time has come, a fact's a fact
It belongs to them. Let's give it back
-Midnight Oil, "Beds are Burning"
So don't rain on my parade
Life's too short to waste one day
I'm gonna risk it all, the freedom to fall
It sure looks good to me
-Alicia Keys, "Sure Looks Good to Me"
Then there are those who say that hip-hop is pointless and all about bitches and hoes. I haven't listened to hip-hop in a while, but let me give you a couple examples from the early 90s:
My only bleeding hope is for the folk who can't cope
With such an enduring pain that it keeps em in the pouring rain
Who's to blame for tootin' 'caine into your own vein?
What a shame you shoot and aim for someone else's brain
You claim the insane
And name this day and time, for falling prey to crime
I say this system's got you victimed to your own mind
-TLC, "Waterfalls"
They say I got to learn, but nobody's here to teach me
If they can't understand it, how can they reach me?
I guess they can't, I guess they won't
I guess they front. That's why I know my life is out of luck, fool
-Coolio, "Gangsta's Paradise"
A little anecdote: Brooke Fraser, popular singer and songwriter, traveled to Rwanda. There she met an orphaned girl named Albertine, whose life had been saved by the very guide who was showing Fraser around the country. The guide asked her to write a song about Albertine.
Most of you probably are aware that the assumption that popular music is automatically meaningless is ridiculous. I will clarify why, but not in my own words.
I am sitting still
I think of Angelique
Her mother's voice over me
And the bullets in the wall where it fell silent
And on a thousandth hill, I think of Albertine
There in her eyes what I don't see with my own
[CHORUS]
Rwanda
Now that I have seen, I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you in my own arms, I cannot let go till you are
I am on a plane across a distant sea
But I carry you in me
And the dust on, the dust on, the dust on my feet
[BRIGDE]
I will tell the world, I will tell them where I've been
I will keep my word
I will tell them Albertine
I am on a stage, a thousand eyes on me
I will tell them, Albertine
I will tell them, Albertine
-Brook Fraser, "Albertine"
Every day I fight a war against a mirror
I can't take the person staring back at me
-Pink, "Hazard to Myself"
Bruises fade father, but the pain remains the same
And I still remember how you kept me so afraid
Strength is my mother for all the love she gave
Every morning that I wake I look back to yesterday
And I'm OK
-Christina Aguilera, "I'm OK"
I won't be made useless
I won't be idle with despair
-Jewel, "Hands"
We will fight, not out of spite
But someone must stand up for what's right
For where there's a man who has no voice
There ours shall go singing
-Jewel, "Hands"
We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take, the less we become
The fortune of one man means less for some
-Sarah McLachlan, "World on Fire"
Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers they may cause you tears
Go ahead, release your fears
Stand up and be counted, don't be ashamed to cry
-Des'ree, "You Gotta Be"
We got loud guitars and big suspicions,
Great big guns and small ambitions,
And we still argue over who is God
-Sheryl Crow, "Hard to Make a Stand"
The time has come to say fair's fair
To pay the rent, to pay our share
The time has come, a fact's a fact
It belongs to them. Let's give it back
-Midnight Oil, "Beds are Burning"
So don't rain on my parade
Life's too short to waste one day
I'm gonna risk it all, the freedom to fall
It sure looks good to me
-Alicia Keys, "Sure Looks Good to Me"
Then there are those who say that hip-hop is pointless and all about bitches and hoes. I haven't listened to hip-hop in a while, but let me give you a couple examples from the early 90s:
My only bleeding hope is for the folk who can't cope
With such an enduring pain that it keeps em in the pouring rain
Who's to blame for tootin' 'caine into your own vein?
What a shame you shoot and aim for someone else's brain
You claim the insane
And name this day and time, for falling prey to crime
I say this system's got you victimed to your own mind
-TLC, "Waterfalls"
They say I got to learn, but nobody's here to teach me
If they can't understand it, how can they reach me?
I guess they can't, I guess they won't
I guess they front. That's why I know my life is out of luck, fool
-Coolio, "Gangsta's Paradise"