For me a song must have value in and of itself, independent of any other factor. This includes the writer, producer, and performer. I don’t care if a song was was performed by “the greatest talent in the year 2007″ or produced in the top-of-the-line studio in Nashville. Popularity, promotion, airplay, and hype only serve to get the song to my ears. They don’t make it great.

I have found great songs in commercials, in EP’s, at the local open mic show, and even found one of my all-time favorites on quick-and-dirty demo CD a band left in a hotel lobby. Sure, great songs are also found on Billboard’s top 40. But for anyone to limit their musical selection to those pieces businessmen and marketers have forced upon them seems a travesty to me.