"Emotion makes the world go 'round"

I just watched Randy Owen critique demo songs written by a group of aspiring singer songwriters. Randy knows a thing or two about writing songs. He wrote 42 number one country hits. He was also the lead singer for Alabama. The group sold over 80 million records.

Here's Randy's reaction to one of the demo songs he heard and its writer:

"I'm surprised how good that is. The thing that I see from you is emotion. That's the thing we write from. It's OK to be emotional. Emotion makes the world go 'round -- good emotion, bad emotion -- that's what speeds up the universe and makes it go, you know?"

I got to thinking, isn't emotion the inspiration and measure for anything really good that an artist creates? The greatest songs, movies, books, TV shows, and stuff radio personalities create always seem to be a reflection of some real emotion.

So, here's an idea for radio personalities and program directors everywhere inspired by what I heard from Randy Owen. The next time you listen to and critique what you've put on the radio, ask yourselves one simple question. "Do I feel real emotion coming out of the radio?" I suspect if the answer is yes, you'll like what you hear and so will your listeners.