"So, now Ed, since you began this, so WTF?"

Rock and Roll is an original American art form rooted not just in the blues and the hillbilly music of twentieth century America; it's rooted in pissing off the status quo and tweaking the nose of authoritarian power, whether it's parents, the boss, or multi-national corporations. It sides with the underdog: teen-agers, wage slaves, rebels, loners, and misfits. Think of Eddie Cochran's 'Summertime Blues'. Rock's beat- driving, sexual, liberating is a direct hit on conservative mores.

Even as rock evolved, say to the level of Triage, the song-writing continued to probe and push and hold our human and American condition up to the light. Maybe Baerwald doesn't employ the Bo Diddley beat, but the spirit of the writing is squarely in the tradition of Rock and Roll: lampooning the powerful and narrating the story of the dispossessed (take 'The Waiter' for example).

That said, I've found myself in occasional disagreement with Eagles fans here at DBIS. The Eagles (and many other bands ... I'm not picking on just the Eagles) meet none of the criteria I've described above. Bloated, castrated, self-absorbed, that kind of rock is to Rock what the 'Big Hat', 'Young Country' country music is to Hank Williams, Steve Earle, Jim Lauderdale: a pale wash hung up against the real deal.

Okay. I'm sure I've pissed off several of you now. Care to discuss? Debate ain't a bad thing.