If It Makes You Happy



You know what song isn't as terrible as it should be? "If It Makes You Happy," by Sheryl Crow. I hear it about once a year in a grocery store or bowling alley and find myself tapping my foot or humming along. I really shouldn't like it since it's by the same woman who sang, "The First Cut is the Deepest" and loads of other songs that send me towards the exit. "If It Makes You Happy" sets off an internal struggle I'd rather not face. It really shouldn't be so terrible to like one song by a musician who I dislike on every other measurable level. Nothing else is like that. I can enjoy a restaurant as long as there's one thing on the menu I like, and I can watch a sports team with tons of players I hate if I like just one of them. I suppose it's because we attach more importance to the kind of music we like when identifying our personalities and pop-culture alliances, and that's why good songs by terrible musicians are such guilty pleasures.

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