Greatest Hits and Aging Rockers
Posted: March 14, 2009 - 15:23 CT
My wife and I went to Sam's Club earlier today to buy dog food among a few other things. As per my usual routine, after loading the large bag into the cart, I continue helping by disappearing to the books or electronic section, thus helping my wife by staying out of her way while she shops. I soon found my way to the classic rock cd's, but all they had was "Greatest Hits" packages. First of all, I don't like most of these so called greatest hits packages. They always exclude my favorite tune or tunes from each group. I guess the key word is "Hits". Why can't we get a "Greatest Songs" package instead. I wonder, who picks these so-called hits anyway... the same experts who believe that listeners prefer hearing the same 20 or so songs played over and over and over ad nauseam on the classic rock radio stations?
The other problem with greatest hits packages is that, in many cases, we loose the concepts of the original concept albums. For example, how can we fully appreciate a song from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, the Who's Tommy, or the Eagles Desperado apart from the whole album. Of a much greater magnitude of importance, the most common error that Christians make while reading the Bible is to interpret a passage apart from its context within Scripture.
Secular rock music no longer holds any relevance in my life, however I still enjoy listening on occasion, primarily for some of the memories that it invokes, both good and bad, about my journey through this life. It's interesting to reflect and wonder how and why certain things, which now seem so insignificant, once held such importance... and vice versa. In my younger days, I often would side with the anti-establishment crowd. I eventually matured as I grew older, but sadly, many of the aging rockers haven't. As we were driving home, I heard a song from the new Eagles album in which Don Henley, referring to our brave military, throws in the obligatory line, "and they don't even know what they're fighting for". Actually Mr Henley, they do. They're fighting for many good reasons, one of which is for talented liberals like you to have the freedom to write idiotic songs and make lots of money doing so.
This is not meant to be a universal statement regarding all aging rockers. Many of my younger days "heroes" have gone on to better things, and Mr Henley has also been a stout supporter of several good humanitarian causes. I could give many examples, but just to name a couple, Mark Farner and Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad formed a reunion tour to raise money to keep kids off of drugs. I saw them in Austin a few years ago and they had not lost a beat. Mark has also recorded a couple of excellent Christian albums. In addition, Rick Allen, the Def Leppard drummer who lost an arm in a 1984 New Years Eve automobile accident, has established the Raven Drum Foundation, which provides aid and support for military veterans and their families suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, combat-related trauma, or just the everyday stress, anxiety, and depression commonly experienced by service men and women and their families. Alice Cooper established the Solid Rock Foundation, run by Christian volunteers and councilors, that works with churches and other organizations to help teens and children avoid drugs and gangs. We must not put a limit on which imperfect people that God chooses to do His perfect will.