First, my reaction to the song sonically is it's not bad. I don't find it earth shattering either and I'm not convinced an electric studio version would be much different. I just found it somewhat mundane without any real twists to keep it interesting. So my response was.."nice song." I'd rather react with "oh damn that's the sh**!!!" but it just didn't do that. I think it just needs something more. There is another problem with it though.

I have to admit I'm bugged by the 2nd verse line "So keep your pseudo-punk, hip-hop, j-lo junk, And your digital downloads." Yeah, it's been bought up alot on this board..but I haven't seen anyone who is actually offended by it speaking up. Most people here automatically cheer with a line like that since they have no interest in any of those forms of music.

I doubt I'm the only one that gets the sense that there is just something wrong about that line. The worst aspect of it is naming J-Lo directly, which was pretty poor in taste. On one hand I completely understand. The trend of making "musicians" out of movie stars or other types of celebrities is annoying and discredits the music industry as a whole, but it is also nothing new either. You can go back to the 70s and find instances of this, let me re-phrase that..better instances to be scorned than J-Lo, who actually started as a dancer and is not without her own talent.

The other problem is his dismissal of hip hop. Rock and Roll is just as guilty of the kind of pure commercialism you find in Hip Hop that I'm certain the song is referring to as the basis for being "junk". But neither genre is entirely composed of that type. Both pretty much involve some pretty hungry individuals who expressing their own souls through music. For every guy on a corner with a guitar, you'll also find a guy with a beat box rhyming about his life. Whether you recognize it or not...both take skill and dedication, if they are to be done well and get people's attention.

That one lyric line makes it hard for me to take the song's message seriously when it's discrediting others who have the same drive and ambition Jon once had. It doesn't seem that sincere when you consider the band is just as guilty of the sort of crass commercialism you'll find in other forms of music.

Personally, I feel Jon is insulting his audience' intelligence.