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Interview, August, 2003

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR AUGUST 2003

Sometimes we work on an issue that I can't wait to get into your hands. This special, in which we devote our entire feature section to contemporary music, is one of those. It's not that it's perfect-- nothing is--it's that it's human, full of individual passions and struggles, and I think it's a real reflection of how people are feeling these days. Music, when it's inspired, can do this.

For sheer talent this is a great time for music, but it's also a moment in which the business that surrounds the artists seems to be a real mess, experiencing all sorts of crises, a situation that is really frustrating for those who find themselves caught in it. Every day one hears stories of musicians feeling abandoned by their record companies that are under pressure to sell, sell, sell. Perhaps because of all this, it became even more important to hear from musicians themselves and to provide a forum in which they can speak to each other--we've done that a lot here. As you'll see, we haven't favored one genre because we believe that people like all kinds of music; our choices reflect that. The irony, of course, is that at a time when the music business is having such an identity crisis, the creative side of music is flourishing. Could it be that we need musicians more than ever?

"I really think that [September 11, 2001] was kind of watershed for all of us, where we really were in shock," Sting tells me in an interview beginning on page 134. We were talking about Sacred Love, his new record that comes out on September 23, and about what had driven it. Referring to the shock of that tragic day he says: "It makes everybody reconsider their lives, you know, and I think artists are a bit like canaries in a coal mine, in that we're supposed to be more sensitive. I think questions like, 'What is my function?' and 'What am I doing here?' are healthy ones. I suppose that if I do have an answer it's about finding out what the truth is....With this album I remember feeling anxiety, anger, fear, love, wanting to put the world right through the only medium I have."

Over and over in this issue you'll witness artists going through this process that Sting describes in their own ways. Sometimes the truth is a personal one, such as what Ozzy Osbourne tells Marianne Faithfull (interview on 128), or what Christina Aguilera relays to Cyndi Lauper (page 112): 'What I wanted to do with this record is tell a story. My story. It talks about things that happened with my father and my past....That's the kind of music I want to make: something people can relate to, or music where I can somehow be that voice that they can't find for themselves." Or sometimes the goal is to give song to a sensed collective desire. This was the case with Jewel's new record, 0304, no doubt another occasion in which the singer's instinct and intelligence will surprise those who wish to pin her to one definition or another. Talking to the terrific songwriter Bernie Taupin (page 130), Jewel explains: "We were headed to war, and I knew the economy was probably going to be unstable for a while. I looked at wha t music did well during times of strain, like Big Band during World War II. People want an escape. They want to crowd into a room and press up against someone and feel young and sexy." As Jewel knows, people also want to be able to feel like something is so amazing that it takes their breath away. This happened to me when I read the transcript of Michael Jackson's interview of Pharrell Williams (page 120). Toward the end of their discussion, Williams says, "I hope that this all gets printed because it's very important to me." We don't let him down, giving you the whole record of what occurred in this revealing, historic conversation. We know that there is much in it that is quotable; it's a real Interview artifact. And it sums up why music can be such an important vehicle to understanding who we are. Talking about making music, Williams tells Jackson: "You treat the air as a canvas and the paint is the chords that come through your fingers, out of the keyboard. So when I'm playing, I'm sort of painting a feel ing in the air."

INGRID SISCHY, EDITOR IN CHIEF