Dead Men Tell No Tales (but Why is Journey on Their iPod?)

Via richgirlsareweeping, this article on Heath Ledger's iPod:

Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal dropped by the Today Show this morning to shill a movie, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Eckhart earnestly related to host Matt Lauer a story about their deceased costar Heath Ledger which he'd told Ledger's mother—namely, that friends were passing around Ledger's iPod as a form of remembrance:

I told a little story about Heath's iPod. Whenever we went into the trailer we'd say "Whose iPod is this?" Because it would always be some wacked-out music nobody had ever heard of before. And it was Heath's. And that iPod has since become a symbol of Heath and his friends pass it around to each other, download the music and then pass it on.

...

Ledger was only 28 when he died, on the cusp of the generation often called "Millennials." If he was anything like his peers, he must have defined himself in part by his taste in music. It's only natural that friends would go through his music collection as a way of getting a sense of the man they lost, with a song they enjoyed together providing a poignant point of shared experience.

When I saw richgirls linking to it, my first thought was that it was deeply morbid—the idea of searching out a dead man's iPod in order to "know" him better. If the article did indeed start listing his playlists, maybe I'd still think it was morbid. But the way Eckhart explains it is more earnest and more personal than that. Maybe I'm responding to it because I know from firsthand experience that one of the first places I went when my dad died earlier this year was his record collection. Granted, it was to find music to play at his funeral, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't also a form of therapy. Just listening to Ry Cooder or Graceland or songs from the O Brother soundtrack were a mode of experiencing comfort, grief, and catharsis. 

The main article here jokingly warns at one point to watch what you put on your iPod, lest your corpse be misjudged by your ironic love of Journey. (By the way, love of Journey, however qualified, is grounds for harsh crtique, whether you're in the ground or not.) But really that is a grotesque way to think about it. Seeking out a dead stranger's playlist out of morbid curiosity will teach you nothing. If anything it will render him even more two-dimensional than he might already seem. We already know Zach Braff's taste in music—all it does is stereotype him as insufferable. To seek this sort of thing out as a way to "know" someone is a way to judge them on cultural terms. It's a cynic's game. Read People magazine if all you want to know is what the Stars like and dislike. (Or, if you must, go here to find out what was on Jesse Helms's "funky jams" playlist, which he was apparently listening to just before he died.)

On the other hand, to know someone who loved music, and listen to his music as a personal tribute, that's actually kind of beautiful. The idea of Ledger's friends quietly passing around his iPod actually begins to sound really meaningful. I hope that music, whatever it is, really is cherished, and is never shared with outsiders.

Comments

[Richard]

I confess to feeling some dismay at the (largely unironic, I have no doubt) love of Journey that is so common these days.

[scott pgwp]

Don't ask me to explain it... someone put "don't stop believing" on a mix cd for us and it just hurts me to know that song is in my possession.

Also, just saw Foreigner on the cover of Billboard as I passed a newstand this morning. Ay yi yi...

[Richard]

(I must also confess to have a soft spot for Foreigner, but I can't say they're really any better than Journey, though Lou Gramm's voice is less offensive than is Steve Perry's. But only one Foreigner song is on my iPod, the admittedly mawkish and sort of terrible "I Want to Know What Love Is"--a song I loved earnestly--oh yes--before I developed any taste in music of my own.)

[cindyhotpoint]

When I posted that link, I wasn't in the frame of mind to elaborate why that particular statement spoke to me. I'm actually pondering a long-ish entry about this subject, but there's a sensitive detail that I need to get cleared for publication first. It's not as exciting as it sounds, I just don't want anyone to get in trouble over something I wrote on the internet.

[scott pgwp]

Go for it Cindy - but be prepared for a lot of google searches for "heath+ledger+ipod+playlist" - sorry everyone! All you've found is me shaming you.

[cindyhotpoint]

Oh, ugh. I hadn't even thought of that. Perhaps I'll use asterisks.

H***h L****r

Hrm. Maybe not.

[scott pgwp]

Hey, could be worse. I still regret a post I did two years ago that used the phrase "she-hulk p*rn". I get hits almost daily on that search term. That makes me sad for this world.