I love rock ‘n’ roll. It’s all I listen to.

I know there are people who like classical music and jazz. I’m sure they’re good people and I respect their tastes. But I like rock ‘n’ roll. Loud rock ‘n’ roll.

Take a ride with me in my car someday, and if it’s not the music station WFNX on the radio then it’s a CD with bands such as Girls Against Boys, the Cranberries or Smashing Pumpkins.

So why, you may ask, have I pushed the MDC so hard to cut back on the new concerts it and radio stations WFNX and WODS have proposed adding to the Hatch Shell’s summer schedule? Simple. This debate has nothing to do with music. It has everything to do with the conservation of a treasured parkland, the Esplanade, and striving to maintain the quality of life in the city’s residential neighborhoods.

Over the last few weeks, Boston Phoenix and WFNX owner Stephen Mindich has launched a media assault on the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, trying to get by bullying what he has been unable to obtain by reason. He has tried to cast the argument as one of discrimination against rock ‘n’ roll.

Nonsense. Rock is without question the most ubiquitous music ever. The pages of the Phoenix advertise dozens of clubs in the area featuring rock acts. Scan through the FM radio stations, and you will find the overwhelming majority playing rock ‘n’ roll. Rock acts predominate at Foxboro Stadium, Great Woods, and the Fleet Center. Rock songs are the theme songs for hit shows like Friends. In this context, Mindich’s argument that rock is somehow a surpressed art form is ludicrous.

So what is the problem? Let’s take a band like the Cranberries. It’s a great band. Last year’s album was, to my mind, one of the best albums of 1995. The current album, just released, has one song seemingly destined for hit status. Believe me, if the Cranberries play at the Hatch Shell--for free, mind you--I will go. My family will go. So will about 50,000 other people.

That is the problem. The Hatch Shell historically has featured acts of all musical types that attracted small crowds of 2,000 to 5,000. Crowds like this don’t disturb other users of the park. They don’t disturb the surrounding residential areas. Crowds of 50,000 are vastly different, not only quantitatively, but qualitatively. They are not just 10 to 25 times larger, with concomitant increases in people, noise and trash. They also have the effect of overwhelming the park itself, making it into a new Great Woods, Foxboro or Fleet Center.

When neighborhood representatives first met with the MDC on this problem in February, the issue was framed thusly: Should the Hatch Shell be made into a major regional entertainment venue? This, I would submit, is still the issue. And to my mind, the answer is an overwhelming no.