Sorry that sounds confusing. But some musicians like John Mayer are a little pissed off about this article and have spread it wide in their social media. And the guy I like to watch most (other than Beau) on YouTube is Rick Beato, because I’m trying to get back into music theory and practice big time and he’s a great teacher. He got this article sent to him by several people and had to respond.

If you don’t know him, he does a wide variety of videos about music theory, practicing (and usual music lesson stuff), chats with artists and breaks down songs (if you enjoy lots of music, you can binge-watch his “what makes this song great?” series and it’s totally worth it). This particular video is something he doesn’t do too often, but is always worth listening to: a rant. This one just happened to expose some major arrogance and a little something I didn’t know about Bach’s legacy (I like a nice history lesson).

I don’t really want to click on the article and give this self-described singer-songwriter journalist satisfaction for reading the damned thing, but Mr. Rick’s gonna read most of it in between the rant, anyway, so you don’t have to (though his YouTube description box will link the article). I think Mr. Rick’s got a helluva point.

Paul Simon’s not the only one cashing in his song catalog, and neither is Bob Dylan. They’re getting older and there are a lot of reasons. Rick Beato actually covered this in another video, if you’re interested. I’ll post the link below. It’s got a lot to say about relevance and pop culture and the need for good songwriting.

I think Beato’s use of the phrase “offensive” in describing this writer isn’t far off. I’m not a rabid fan, but the article just smacked of arrogance and felt half-assed in the writing. I guess I’ll read it again and piss myself off one more time before bed.

I was trying to figure out what this reeked of to me, but in a more subtle way. You know how the people who sneer at teachers like to go “those who can’t do it, teach”? Well, this (self-described) singer-songwriter & journalist is gonna have people saying he only writes about music because he can’t make enough of a splash in music himself after this.