A lot of you out there may think you like Carlos Santana. A lot of you are wrong. Dead wrong.
You think you like Carlos Santana. You think, "He’s a great guitarist." You think, "I’m really into his sound."
You don’t like Carlos Santana.
I know, I know. You think you do. But ask yourself this: why do you care at all about Carlos Santana? Why did you first want to buy his latest album? Is it because… you read about him being one of the greatest guitarists of the last few decades? Is it because… you were interested in his exciting mix of guitar rock and Latin rhythm?
Let’s be honest. You heard of Carlos Santana because you saw him on MTV with the Matchbox 20 guy. You think Carlos Santana is great musician because MTV said, "Carlos Santana is a great musician." Then they said, "His exciting mix of guitar rock and Latin music is really a very exciting mix indeed." And you said, "Yeah. You know that’s really… yeah."
You don’t like Carlos Santana. He doesn’t even sing on his songs. For every other band in the Universe, you only care about the guy who sings. Pearl Jam: Eddie Vedder, Bush: Gavin… something (I wanna say Gavin McLeod, but that’s the guy on Love Boat), nSync: that main nSync guy who sings a lot. Never in your life have you been listening to a song and thought, "The guitar work on this song is wonderful and I like this song because the guitar work is so good and interesting." You remember songs when the words are catchy and they play them on Top 40 radio and MTV. That’s fine; I don’t knock it. That’s a valid way to decide to like music.
But you don’t like Carlos Santana. You like Rob Thomas maybe. And you like Wyclef. But really you only like them because they were on MTV a lot too.
Anyway, the next time you say to someone, "Yes, I’m a big Carlos Santana fan; he’s a great musician." Stop. Punch yourself in the face, and go download "Black Magic Woman" off of Napster.