Christ and Pop Culture
When Apple recently released a list of the ten most downloaded songs in the history of iTunes, it was in celebration of the 10 billionth download from the iTunes story. But when people got a load of the list, there wasn’t much celebrating. At least, those I followed on Twitter were linking to the list with comments that suggested they were linking to an article about the death of their mom. They were filled with grief, and disillusionment with the public who would embrace this music to the point of unequaled success. No, we’re not talking about the death of a parent here, but could we be talking about the death of a culture?
We could be. Or we could be falling victim to a common mistake, discounting something particularly because it is “popular.” My suspicion is that those who are most grieved by these songs haven’t really become acquainted with them. Nonetheless, there are tons of normal people out there who loved these songs enough to spend a dollar on them. What do they see in this stuff? And what does it all mean?
I hope to answer these questions by doing something that most of us refuse to do: taking these songs seriously. In the next few weeks, I’ll listen to and write about two songs at a time. Christ and Pop Culture has unwittingly ignored popular music for some time. This is unfortunate, because it’s clearly one of the biggest and more prevalent aspects of Popular culture that’s out there right now, even in the midst of its’ current downfall. Hopefully this series will begin to make up for this.
The Number Ten Most Downloaded Song of All Time: Ke$ha – ‘Tik Tok’
I have to say, we’re not off to a great start. There’s not a lot to like about this song, other than the undeniably catchy chorus. Nonetheless, the song is a perfect introduction to our series, being a startlingly transparent collection of pop music cliches and staples. From the opening needless cameo from rapper/mogul, P. Diddy to the straightforward description of hedonistic party life. Life’s purpose is the party, from the time we “wake up in the mornin'” and “brush my teeth with a bottle of jack.” What happens when the party’s over? Not an issue because, “the party don’t stop,” a classic pop sentiment that’s pushed to it’s logical conclusion here. In this life, who is the deity? The DJ: “You build me up, you break me down, my heart it pounds, yeah you got me. With my hands up, you got me now. You got that sound, yeah you got me.”
Really, it’s a song about social hedonism, a social contract that assumes that we are here for the sake of one another, though we have no actual responsibilities to one another. In fact, it is ourselves that is of primary importance: “The party don’t start till I walk in.” Ke$ha embraces a sort of stunted community in which the “boys try to touch my junk junk.” But don’t worry, she’ll “slap em’ if they get too drunk drunk.”
Bottom line? It’s an unsustainable lifestyle that refuses to acknowledge the very real dangers that follow from indulging. The social emphasis is commendable but not altogether surprising, and ultimately not helpful when short-circuited with a self-centered search for pleasure.
But gosh, it sure is catchy. It brings me pleasure. Ironically, though, I’ll be listening to this song (oftentimes on repeat) in the privacy of my own home.
The Number Nine Most Downloaded Song of All Time: Leona Lewis – ‘Bleeding Love’
On a list filled with self-centered, sentimental and vapid love and not-exactly-love songs, ‘Bleeding Love’ stands out. I like this song because it appreciates the love relationship without sentimentalizing it. Sure, it’s not a super-deep song, and it takes the frozen/closin’ heart metaphor a little further than it probably should (“My heart’s crippled by the vein that I keep on closin'”) but the song seems both sincere and a direct result of real emotional growth.
The song avoids blatant extremes that we see in other pop songs. Even those who try to keep her from the one she loves are friends looking out for her, not villains: “Yet I know that the goal is to keep me from falling.”
We could accuse the song of unabated emotionalism; the reasons cited for ignoring her friends advice aren’t exactly based on pure logic: “But nothing’s greater than the rush that comes with your embrace. In this world of loneliness I see your face.” Then again, how many of us always describe our love for someone else on purely logical terms? Does even Christ himself?
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