1. Counting Crows - rock/pop, Bay Area
2. Nora Jones - rock/pop, Brooklyn
3. John Mayer - rock/pop, Connecticut

4. John Lee Hooker - blues, Mississippi
5. Bonnie Raitt - blues, Los Angeles
6. Eric Clapton - blues, England

Before I define rock/pop and the blues I want to remind the reader of a famous United States Supreme Court opinion, "I can't define pornography but I can tell it when I see it". Unfortunately the U. S. Supreme Court wasn't writing a paper for GEO100. They were simply trying to interpret the law of the land, a trivial pursuit if I've heard of one. Any way, lets see what I can do with rock/pop and the blues.

Rock/pop requires the composers and performers to be in touch with the current vernacular and emotions of the audience. At the front of all dictionaries it says that languages are living things, they grow and change constantly. Consider the English of William Shakespeare to current English. Even better, think of Geoffrey Chaucer. Every generation the language changes slightly. Rock/pop uses a vernacular that reaches the emotions of youth.

The reasons for emotions change. When I was 18 South Viet Nam was a big issue. Today's youth has to deal jobs that went over seas (globalization), "The Twin Towers", and Iraq. They have new things to worry about. An extraordinary number of youths registered to vote the presidential election of 2004.

Romance and hormones make the world go around. Again, how things are viewed changes. Before "the pill" premarital sex was taboo. Girls were sent away to have babies born out of wedlock. Most were put out to adoption. Today sex is accepted. Girls give birth at thirteen, keep the child and go on welfare. The nuances of the way boys and girls interface changes. Rock/pop artists sing about the current interfaces and the hormonal reactions they produce.

Rock/pop means sex appeal and that means youth. The hormones of pubescent females have just started to erupt. They aren't attracted to old fogies (bummer). Female rockers touch hormonal emotions. The human reproductive system is incredibly powerful.

Meanwhile, the blues is about hard times. It has to be played with a guitar. If you have a piano you have a big home. That's not hard times. Usually he/she left. These relationships are not puppy love. He/she lived with, and is the family. A spoiled youth just does not come across as well as old and worn. The great ones are old fogies, although some young people do it well. Bonnie Raitt started as a Blues singer, then went more pop. She is still a premium blues singer. Eric Clapton did the opposite. He started as a rock and roller but switched to the blues about ten years ago. He has become one of my favorites.

Five years ago I bought a John Lee Hooker CD on the spur of the moment. I played the album and didn't like it. I played it again and still didn't like it. The third time I played it I finally got it. Now I play it a lot. He touches me at a completely different level. I can't define that, but I know it when I hear it.

A final note. When I mapped my artists they all came from English speaking countries, five from the U. S., one from England. The nuances of the language and the culture require this.