Pick a genre, any genre, it can be hip-hop, metal, electronic, doesn't matter, and you can find someone who knows exactly what it's supposed to sound like, what it *must* sound like, and someone else who is ruling the hearts and minds of teenagers and radio programmers without sounding anything like that. Which just makes the first someone dig in his heels even more. You know the drill. Here, for example, is the current argument that there is no such thing as a true definition of country music. And here, by way of an angry response, is an attempt at a definition. Both articles have swear words in their headlines. Of course. Hopefully no one's swearing in defense of GOD's music, but the same existential fight is happening there, too. And KIRK FRANKLIN, we learn in VINSON CUNNINGHAM's NEW YORKER profile of the 10-time GRAMMY winner, does not care. Two of his four Grammy nominations this year are for "ULTRALIGHT BEAM," his fantastic collaboration with KANYE WEST (a "blasphemous fool," as one of Franklin's fans wrote on INSTAGRAM), and he talks longingly of being played on the radio next to DRAKE. "My job," he says, "is to make God famous." Which, in a way, is no different than making metal famous. Righteous causes, both. We also learn, in Cunningham's excellent piece, that concert promoters are still walking up to artists as big as Franklin after shows and trying to stiff them out of their guarantee. "You mean after twenty years I’m still having a promoter come up to me and tell me he doesn’t have three thousand dollars?," Franklin asks. Some things—maybe all things—never change... SPOTIFY has posted a job opening for president of playlists. Requirements include "a Nobel Peace Prize" and willingness to "attend daily briefings." This is why... THE EDGE says DONALD TRUMP's election caused U2 to go back into the studio and "think about" their upcoming "SONGS OF EXPERIENCE" album, which they thought they had finished... A buyer has stepped in to save METAL HAMMER and CLASSIC ROCK magazines. But no guarantee that FUTURE PUBLISHING will bring back more than a handful of the 70-plus staffers who lost their jobs at the mags in December... A night at the opera, featuring DIEGO MARADONA... RIP DJ CRAZY TOONES and BUDDY BREGMAN.