“Time” Magazine’s “Most Influential People In The World” List: One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others

Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People In The World” list is out today, and while we don’t want to turn into one of those music blogs that reprints every absurd ranking ever released (“Hot crap! Mother Jones just listed the 25 sexiest songs about switchgrass…of all time!”), we can’t help but note its pop-music entries: Justin Timberlake, Rick Rubin and John Mayer. Rubin? Sure, we’ll give them this one, even though his biggest commercial success has been with some of his weakest albums. Timberlake? Okay, he’s influential–influential on our pants! Ha! Still, he’s going to be ripped off by a half-dozen or so male singers all year, so okay. But Mayer as “influential”? How can they possibly justify that choice?

John Mayer doesn’t radiate courage. With his sunken eyes and a wardrobe you might generously call agoraphobic chic, his aura of passivity is an artistic achievement. Factor in Mayer’s Grammy-winning ode to helplessness, Waiting on the World to Change, and it’s tempting to dismiss the 29-year-old as the latest figure in a disturbing cultural phenomenon: the rock star as wuss.

Listen to his music, though, and you’ll discover that Mayer wields sincerity like a pitchfork. His empathetic voice and emotional fearlessness elevate songs like Your Body Is a Wonderland and Daughters from pop ballads into more meaningful territory; give them half a chance, and during vulnerable moments, they’ll be your friends for life.

Come on, Time–we know that nobody over there actually thinks Mayer (who, we’ll admit, seems very smart and witty) is anything other than a modern-day version of Loggins and/or Messina. But hey, maybe he’ll show up at the party if we put him on there!

John Mayer [Time.com]