Today's Sunday Reading section has only one article, not the usualy four or more, because no other article printer today matches it. Kelefa Sanneh of the NY Times has written what is easily the best music-related article of the year. "The Rap Against Rockism" tackles "rockism," that music critic word for a bias toward traditional rock and against shiny, mainstream pop music. It's one of those rare moments in journalism where a writer steps back from his/her profession and peers and reflects on their collective attitudes and biases. Not only that, but it's a call to arms of sorts, a call for change within his profession.

Ashlee Simpson's backing track fiasco on Saturday Night Live was surely the impetus for the article, but it sounds like Sanneh has been hodling this in for too long.

"A rockist is someone who reduces rock 'n' roll to a caricature, then uses that caricature as a weapon. Rockism means idolizing the authentic old legend (or underground hero) while mocking the latest pop star; lionizing punk while barely tolerating disco; loving the live show and hating the music video; extolling the growling performer while hating the lip-syncher."

Rockism is everywhere. It's there when you hear today's music isn't as good as it used to be. It's there when somebody admits a pop song is a "guilty pleasure." It was there when rock purists fought against disco.

"And just as the anti-disco partisans of a quarter-century ago railed against a bewildering new pop order (partly because disco was so closely associated with black culture and gay culture), current critics rail against a world hopelessly corrupted by hip-hop excess. Since before Sean Combs became Puff Daddy, we've been hearing that mainstream hip-hop was too flashy, too crass, too violent, too ridiculous, unlike those hard-working rock 'n' roll stars we used to have."

Personally, Coolfer tends to lean toward musicians who write their own songs, play their own instruments and tour like hell. Makes sense, since I hang out at the NYC clubs that cater to that kind of scene. But it's all music, even if it has a million-dollar video and a team of expensive songwriters.

"Rockism makes it hard to hear the glorious, incoherent, corporate-financed, audience-tested mess that passes for popular music these days. To glorify only performers who write their own songs and play their own guitars is to ignore the marketplace that helps create the music we hear in the first place, with its checkbook-chasing superproducers, its audience-obsessed executives and its cred-hungry performers."

Bottom line: If you like it, listen to it--without guilt, without putting it into a historical context, and hopefully without a "rockist" bias.

Great article, Kelefa.