To celebrate its UK launch, MySpace Music has been busy putting together a series of celebrity playlists. R&B boys Pretty Ricky’s list suggests an unsurprising taste in bedroom music, while fans can imagine what Beyonce might be playing for her hubby Jay-Z. Inexplicably, amongst these celebrity lists is one put together by the Vatican.
The holy city state explains that their playlist is: “A perfect mix of classical, world and contemporary music. The genres are very different form each other, but all these artists share the aim to reach the heart of good minded people.” Sounds nice, but this can’t really be what’s playing in the Popemobile.
The twelve song list covers the predictable, beginning with “Advocata Nostra,” which features the Pope himself, and some Mozart for good measure. Muse and Fleet Foxes are surprisingly deep reaches, but still fall safety within the “nice songs for nice people” theme. (Not to mention, the opening line to Fleet Foxes “He Doesn’t Know Why” does sound a little like a Jesus reference: “Penniless and tired, with your hair grown long.”)
Things get confusing when Tupac Shakur makes an appearance with “Changes.” Yes, that Tupac.
The 1998 anthem address issues that fall more closely to the domain of gangsta rap than that of the Vatican, touching on racism, drugs and gang violence. He at one point suggests, “Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares one less hungry mouth on the welfare,” a solution we doubt the Vatican would support.
The playlist was put together by Father Giulio Neroni, artistic director of St. Paul’s Multimedia, so there’s no guarantee that the Pope himself has listened to all these songs. It does, however, imply an interest in engaging younger, edgier worshipers.
Most interestingly, however, might be the implications for Fox’s Bill O’Reilly. While he may have backing in his war against Jay-Z, Tupac’s appearance on this list seems like a change in the curriculum, and leaves us wondering if the Pope is keeping up with the O’Reilly Factor.
VATICAN PLAYLIST 1. Advocata Nostra – Music From The Vatican 2. Uprising – Muse 3. Causa Nostrae Laetitiae – Music From The Vatican 4. Il Mare Mi Salva – Rossomalpelo 5. After The Rain – Dame Shirley Bassey 6. Coexist – Nour Eddine 7. Don Giovanni – Mozart 8. Rafaele Merry Del Val – Lorenzo Perosi Inni Mottetti e Canzoni, Pablo Colino & Coro Academica Filarmonica Romana 9. He Doesn’t Know Why – Fleet Foxes 10. Changes – Tupac Shakur 11. Regina Coeli – Music From The Vatican 12. Mi sarete Testimoni – Santo Subito!
[via DailyMail]