The secret's out.

This post is dedicated to my good friend J.A.M. wherever he may be (middle of nowhere pa making lasers like the super-genius he is). Well anyway, if he ever actually reads this, we may get in a fight.

So, I was on my way back from my habitat from humanity gig, when the song that J hates more than any other popped up on my iPod. The name of this song, you ask? Sir Duke. It's by Stevie wonder and the first blast of the trumpet makes J's face (and his brother's) turn redder than a wrestler going through serious roid-rage. The gears in his head start turning with fury and he waxes poetically about Mr. Wonder's many faults as a songwriter. I'd like it to be known that this particular friend of mine has unmatched disputation skills, so I just let him go on (for fear of looking like a fool).

However, there is one small fact I've managed to hide from Mr. M since we met my freshman year of college. I do not hate this song. In fact, I kind of like Sir Duke. I never put the song on purposely, but I won't skip it either. Most importantly, every time I hear it my toes tap and I start humming along. And you know what? I'm tired of hiding it!

I don't care if it's a "bad" song. I realize that the lyrics are banal at best. I can hear the song's almost complete lack of true originality. I just don't care. It makes me happy and I will no longer be ashamed. Stephen King said (in a column somewhere) that there should be no such thing as a guilty pleasure. He was speaking about movies, i believe, but the statement rings true with just about any type of art. Yet critics still chatter on about comic books versus painting, pop music versus the great concertos, and blah blah blah blah blah.

Art, no matter how trivial, is made because the artist has something that needs to get out. Hopefully, that art resonates with someone else in the world. Now, I will readily admit that 99.9% (maybe even all) of the poems I've written are complete and total crap. But that does not mean they are not art. Likewise, Sir Duke may be a "bad" song, according to some people's standards, but it is still music. And I like it. No guilt.

Yes, I realize that this whole entry goes against the notion that music should even be critiqued, thereby making all previous and future blog entries futile. But it's my blog, and I reserve the right to be a complete and total hypocrite. So put that in your pipe and smoke it, internet.