OFFNOTES IS NOT JOHN MAYER

Contrary to the e-mail addresses of anonymous tipsters to certain music blogs.


See? I'd never wear three-quarter sleeves.
John Mayer: Covered in Rain

I'd like to link directly to Mayer's post about his "Light Green" philosophy of a "third way" on global warming, but the guy's blog setup is major-label whack. Let me just say I went through a huge Mayer phase in my first couple of years of college that I'm not quite ready to explain yet (OK, the melodies and his uniquely vivid, sympathetic rendering of a certain twentysomething anxiety), but which I certainly don't feel the need to apologize for-- except insofar as he has utterly failed to live up to my high hopes for his music. He was better than you think, but the man steadfastly refuses to prove me right.

Mayer's "Light Green" idea-- essentially, "Hey, I've got a huge public platform to speak my mind, but you know what, I don't think this issue is important enough to give up my Porsche SUV or private jets or bottled water" (wait, what does bottled water have to do with global warming again? oh)-- also sums up what his approach has become to music, which is essentially: "Hey, it'd be nice if people liked better music, but they don't, so I'm going to come to them. Sure, let's do everything we can to make 'Your Body Is a Wonderland' marketable! Also, did I mention I'm really good at the blues?"

I mean, it's not like I'm doing as much as I think I should on this incredibly important issue, but at least I'm not minimizing the problem in front of a sizable audience of impressionable readers. And even I think "Daughters" is the (second-)best single of his lame preachy phase (i.e., the last four years).

We're all hypocrites, sure. Particularly on his most recent album-- which, mind-bogglingly, even the old guard of critics seems not to hate-- Mayer actually seems proud of this.