Joy in Music

Recently the band U2 visited the HP Pavilion in San Jose. Since I'm poor I really couldn't afford any tickets and they disapeared faster then....something, insert your own metaphor here. Anyways here's an excerpt from a review by David Barton that appeared in the Sac Bee:
" It's a dangerous position to be in, in a culture that too often embraces a wanton materialism and scoff at idealists, or professes cramped ideals they want to impose on everyone else. But U2 matters to the faithful because they embrace the essence of religion and rock'n'roll at their betst: unfettered joy. From its beginnings 50 years ago, rock music was about joy, about the expression of the spirit that transcended its early subject matter of dancing and driving and boys and girls hooking up.
Rock music, to those who know and love it, is about reaching for moments where everyone involved-singer,band,and audience- feels a greater passion, a greater community, a greater love. U2 matter because, no matter what's going on in the world as reflected in their songs-war,famine,torture,addiction- they address and inspire a human spirit that transcends those struggles.
And when they step on a stage, they seem to bring their considerable powers to bear on creating a moment when the whole world feels the same profound, transcendent-and blissfully sweaty-joy."

It's a good article if you can track it down. What interested me the most was the idea of trascendence which the writer brought up. Good art transcends societal, linguistical, cultural, racial, and gender barriers; it's instantly approachable and immediately memorable. I want to make good art. Good art is about joy, happiness, love. I believe negative feelings about sadness and death can also be expressed in a joyful manner. I think joy is when your spirit rises to your throat and all you can think about is the profoundness of the emotion you're feeling. You may cry or laugh or do both. Or you may simply just smile and feel utterly content with what you've just witnessed.... It transcends all other emotions, joy does, and there's as many shapes of joy as there are of color. It's transcendence..... it's like touching the divine, the holy. When humans make art (whether it be writing, dancing, painting or whatever) it's us worshipping God, whether we realize it or not. The best art captures this, and that is why the best sorta art transcends.