Down with the Critic

This is going to sound so stupid and obvious but I absolutely LOVE music and more specifically I LOVE a great song. The only reason I say this is because for the past few years I have made the statement “I hate music” and a part of me really mourns when I say it.

Back Story:
My mom and dad traveled while I was growing up doing concerts in churches and at conferences. Dad was and is a great writer and mom still has a mesmerizing voice. Their ability to weave the story of struggle and redemption in their songs was a gift that truly connected with people. Even as a little boy, I watched people approach my mom and dad after concerts with a sense of gratitude and joy as if they had truly been ministered to. We all listened to a lot of music growing up. I remember getting a “jam box” for Christmas when I was 9 and I could record Casey Kasem’s top 40 on cassette tapes. It felt like a whole new world was opened up. I started buying cassettes when my brother and I got into breakdancing…yes…breakdancing. We bought the soundtrack to “Breakin”, a Whodini record called "Escape" and for some reason as I am typing this, “Basketball” by Curtis Blow popped into my head. We even had our own vinyl breakdance mat that we could lay in the floor next to our bunk-beds so we could do back spins and keep trying to do the windmill like Turbo and Ozone(characters in Breakin’). So music in our house growing up ranged from Hip Hop to Kenny Rogers to REO Speedwagon. I Loved music. We had a Grand Piano in the house and I would always hop up on the bench beside my dad and try to just hit all the keys I could while he was playing. Music was always encouraged and was simply a way of life growing up in the Cates household. I could tell a lot more family musical stories but I’ll save those for later.

I have spent the past 7 years writing songs professionally and feel really blessed by doing what I love for a living. However, this occupation has at times turned me into someone I don’t like: A critic. While being a critic can help you find the better song when you are chasing it down in the room, it can also steal your joy when listening to music. It makes you less inspired when a song feels bailed out. It makes you mad when a writer(often me) misses something so obvious in a lyric or a melody. Sometimes it keeps you from engaging the Lord on a Sunday morning during the singing part of worship because you are critiquing a song. The critic makes you feel prideful and ugly and can steal your love for music.

So...down with the critic…I Love Music.