Falling into the do-gooder doldrums
The Times’ pop music critic’s take on “American Idol”:
FIGHTING poverty is good. Shilling piety is bad. As “Idol” greets the gray dawn of post-Sanjaya sobriety, its singers have forgotten a fundamental of great pop -- and of political change: liberating happiness, incendiary joy.
Why must an awareness of the imperiled poor and their champions lead to hymn after hand-wringing hymn? Chris Richardson bopped through the Clapton-Babyface collab “Change the World,” offering a ray of hope, but it wasn’t followed by a ray of light (I’d love to hear Jordin Sparks tackle that Madonna song!). Instead, we had Melinda Doolittle posturing like a basic-cable gospel-show hostess, Phil Stacey delivering a Garth Brooks ballad with none of Garth’s transcendent cheesiness; Blake Lewis turning “Imagine” into New Romantic mush; and Sparks blasting out “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Only LaKisha Jones, the last free-thinker standing, did something sassy -- covering a Fantasia song too soon after that Idol’s reign.
Maybe Bono and the other charitable kingpins scheduled to appear Wednesday night will remind our earnest Final 6 that you’ve gotta throw some spice into activism’s nutritious diet.
Music that sustains struggling communities and inspires change has always been intensely fun, from the songs of the Mardi Gras Indians to the street anthems against South African apartheid to the rebel rock of Rage Against the Machine.
What’s the famous line from anarchist pioneer Emma Goldman? “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Idols, take it to heart.
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