From Wagner to Green Day to Macklemore: It's Getting More Difficult to Listen to Music

I discussed the topic of separating the artist from the message with Jonathan Rosen on his Jewish Lens podcast.

I recently appeared on The Jewish Lens with Jonathan Rosen to discuss my work as a writer and editor, as well as the broader state of Jewish representation in publishing.

Among the many topics we covered was how antisemitism surfaces in music and the arts. We talked about the ongoing struggle to separate art from the artist, citing examples like Wagner—whose operas my father admired despite the composer’s virulent antisemitism. When I once asked my dad how he could listen to Wagner knowing his views, he responded, "Yeah, that makes it even better, because I’m saying, 'F you, Wagner. I’m a Jew, and I’m listening to your music and enjoying it.'"

We contrasted that with more recent figures like Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, who was seen wrapping himself in a Palestinian flag, and Macklemore, who uses antisemitic imagery. It’s not a dilemma with easy answers. I acknowledged that my own reactions aren’t always consistent—sometimes, I delete songs immediately, and other times, I try to preserve the value of the work while rejecting the person behind it.

It’s no great loss for me to stop listening to Macklemore. I only had two of his songs in my Apple Music library. Deleted. Pink Floyd, too, was not a problem because their music bored me to tears, anyway. But my son is a big Green Day fan, so it’s difficult for me to hit the “skip” button when we’re on a road trip together.

We also covered my new novel, Found and Lost: The Jake and Cait Story, which follows two musicians who reconnect decades after their brief creative partnership as teenagers. The book explores themes of time, aging, music, and faith. I wrote the novel before October 7, 2023, at a time when I still had a sense of humor. Since then, I’m finding very few reasons to laugh, and some of that lightness is gone. I’m not sure I could write the same story today.

Another major focus of our conversation was the AWP conference, where I participated in a panel on antisemitism in the literary community. Compared to the previous year’s hostile environment, this year’s event showed real improvement thanks to increased security and the proactive efforts of the Jewish Book Council. But the problem hasn’t gone away—Jewish authors are still being marginalized. I emphasized that one way to push back against this trend is to show that publishing Jewish voices is actually good business. Did you know that Jews actually buy a lot of books? Who knew?

Thank you to Jonathan Rosen for hosting such a wide-ranging discussion. You can listen to and watch the whole thing here.

Save the Date: ‘Literary Modiin’

I'm excited to participate in Julie Zuckerman's Literary Modiin on Sunday, May 18, at 1 p.m. EDT. I will talk about my novel, read an excerpt, and meet a couple of other amazing authors! I’ll also take questions from viewers. You can register here.