Worst Songs Ever Inspire Thoughts About Music's Power

Recently, Blender.com (which loves nothing more than making lists and ranking songs) decided to tackle the 50 worst songs of all time. Their scientific methodology for arriving at said songs? Evidently they got a bunch of writers in a room together and vamped on what songs annoy them the most today and which they are most ashamed of having liked before. How else do you explain that almost every song on the list is a former number one? And how else do you explain Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" being one number away from Color Me Badd's (the extra "D" is because they're extra bad) “I Wanna Sex You Up”?

The list has provided many minutes of rumination around our house, mostly revolving around the inclusion of Bobby McFerrin at number seven (!) with "Don't Worry Be Happy." We love Bobby McFerrin around our house, and are baffled at how anyone could not love a video that stars Robin Williams and Bill Irwin and was the first a capella pop song to chart at number one? Still, the real reason we love Bobby McFerrin is because of a solo concert we attended a few years ago at which he did this:



Audience participation and imparting a love of music in this manner is an amazing gift. He creates community out of a huge group of people, and I challenge you to watch this or, better yet, attend a concert and not get chills at moments like this one. He truly demonstrates the power of music.