September 27, 2002

Can We Find an Anthem for 9/11?

By MARTHA BAYLES

Music, to make harmony, must investigate discord. -Plutarch

In the last year, many popular musicians have tried to produce a song accessible to all ears, yet also able to resonate with the overwhelming emotions of September 11. But no such anthem has appeared. Why not?

One answer is that the popular idiom is simply too shallow to express what needs to be expressed. Lawrence Grossberg, professor of cultural studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has

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