The arc of bands is always the same. It is astounding that no one ever really looks at it. I mean really looks at it. What in the hell happens to all those bands? Where do they go?
Every week there’s a new band being hyped. Most are never heard from again. They are usually very young people and most of them will bounce back after their fling and find a life that makes sense. They will look back on their days in the band as a great rite of passage with fond memories. But that won’t happen to the ones that get a taste of “success.�
I’ve talked about this a few times before and mentioned the bureau of labor and statistics web site as the truth of what a professional musicians life really is in terms of dollars and cents. Today, though, I’m looking deeper into fame itself and the high price it can exact.
We’ve all seen “Behind the Music� re-runs ad nauseum, and there are hundreds of tell-all books, and yet the bands keep coming out of the woodwork asking for more. It’s a tribute to the power of the Hollywood myth machine that young people just keep arriving ready and willing to sign up. There’s a daily influx at the bus station, airport and by car from all over the country and the world. They all want to pick up the golden horseshoe. They want to be delivered to the Promised Land and they’re ready to walk with or walk on, fuck or fuck over anyone they think can help them “succeed.�
They all start at a tender young age with their best friends, teenagers or early twenties at their latest. They dream and scheme and they work insanely hard for a few years and, if they’re really committed, they’ll make a record. If it’s a very good record, exciting things can start to happen. Did for me.
But what starts out to be a dream come true eventually becomes a nightmare. This is the story for 99.99% of those who take this journey. It is a ride that can last three or four years and will leave you broke with a trail of damage in your wake. Very few have avoided this. Even fewer are the ones that parlayed their seconds in the spotlight into an actual life-long career. At the risk of being overly dramatic, this is a brutal business. It exacts a toll on individuals and it really wreaks havoc on relationships.
I don’t say these things to discourage anyone from pursuing a career in the arts. If this is what you want to do, I can’t discourage you. I encourage young people to invent their own lives, just don’t be naive about the dangers.
The artist’s life can have many offerings. One of which is the chance to contribute something of beauty to a world that desperately needs beauty. Always has, always will. An artist’s way of life is punctuated by unexpected twists and a great many challenges. It’s an unorthodox existence but an interesting one. There are even great rewards. But in the artist’s life, the rewards are in the making of the art. Not in the business of fame and glory. And it’s in the latter where the pitfalls are.
This is not the message that Hollywood provides you. Hollywood needs fresh bodies and is willing to go to any lengths to get them. It needs blood, fresh blood.
It’s a cautionary tale I’m telling here and I’m talking about my own experience. But I’m also talking about the experience of a great many of my friends and acquaintances. I know a lot of people around the world and I see the same patterns over and over.
“We’re gonna make it.�
“We’re special.�
I don’t know where this idea of being “special� came from, but there sure are a lot of people who buy into it. Rehabs are full of “special� people.
This is the way it is with almost all bands. The exceptions can be counted on one hand. Bands that survive a brush with fame don’t make it without scars. The list is incredibly long and getting longer every week. I’ve seen them come and I’ve seen them go, and mostly… I’ve seen them go. All record deals go in the toilet. All deals go sour. All bands end up getting dropped from their labels. In fact, it’s the natural way of things. All things must pass.
Anytime a group of artists get together, whether they’re dancers, musicians, filmmakers, writers or actors, the same thing will and must happen. You unite for power and you set mutual goals. A great investment is made in the work and, over a period of time, these aims are met. There is nothing else that can happen next but to have things fall apart. It is the way of all nature. Everything that is born and lives must die. The center never holds.
This can be a hard thing to accept. It was for me. Especially when it all starts off so good.
In the beginning the faces are all smiling at you. Everyone laughs at your lame jokes. The women are willing. Everyone wants to hang out with you. People give you gifts like it’s your birthday every day. You may even see some real money. Journalists are asking you to expound on all your deep theories about music and politics and life and God and boy, it’s all just so fabulous.
It really works hand in hand with being young. When I was young I was convinced that I would live forever and that I was certain I was absolutely right about everything. In psychiatric jargon this attitude is called omnipotence. It also a major factor in alcoholism, but that usually develops a little later down the line when things start to go wrong.
You see, there is a high that sneaks into the picture with recognition, except you don’t know you’re high. If I drink a glass of whisky, I know I’m going to get a buzz. But I don’t know it when I’m high on celebrity. The intoxication of notoriety comes on subtly. You’re not even aware of it. You become actually drunk with it, but you don’t know it. None of this happens consciously. This happens below the level of consciousness. It’s just “a feeling,� and then, you want more of that feeling and need it again and again. Inevitably, common sense goes out the window and lunacy replaces it. Bigger cars, bigger accolades, bigger tits, and mostly bigger trouble.
There is nothing in one’s experience that can prepare you for prominence. There are no college courses on Fame 101. It’s “on the job training� and then it’s too late, way too late.
It all fades after a time, as it must.
This is a point where I have to face a world that just isn’t going the way I want it to go. The Band just isn’t the darlings we once were. Sales drop off. There’s a new band that everyone is talking about. The money just didn’t keep rolling in like everyone said it would. Disappointments start coming faster. Life gets increasingly complicated. And then the pain-killing properties of booze and drugs fit right in. It’s a lethal combination and the attrition rate is high. Just check out the long list of dead and damaged rock and film stars. It’s all so predictable and it can go on for years.
The damage is mostly done in relationships. People who started out as best friends end up with life-long resentments that distort the whole course of their lives. Family units are splintered and no one ever talks about any of it. It becomes the pink elephant in the room that no one recognizes.
Bitterness, regret and blaming everyone else for your failures become the dominant themes.
I’ve seen a couple of episodes of the current VH-1 TV show about reuniting bands from the ‘80s. Jools Holland and Nino Bettencourt, were so resolute against re-upping that it’s hard for an average person to understand. These are deep-seated feelings; they spring from deep in the soul. These folks have a pain about their pasts that they refuse to bring into today. They just can’t go there.
I can identify with them. For years I couldn’t watch MTV without getting angry. I was filled with resentment for everyone I ever knew in the music business. I didn’t know that I was the author of all my troubles.
There is an antidote for the damage and it’s in living today, not in yesterday. It’s also in finally growing up. Ultimately doing your art is the reward of your efforts. Not as the means to greater self-glorification. Keeping the horse in front of the cart makes it easier on the horse and you can carry a heavier load. You can actually do better work than when you were younger. Art is not tied to youth. Skill and craft are acquired over years of work. Art is something you do for life. Not till you hit the big time.
If you want to be a musician, then do it with all your heart. Study music and learn how to protect yourself in business. Because if you don’t, you will not be able to maintain a career. If you want to be a filmmaker, write your story and make your movie. If you want to be a painter or dancer or start a company or whatever it is that turns you on. Do it with commitment and passion. Go for it whole-heartedly, give it all you got. But don’t expect fame to fix you. It can’t. I have not seen many who have benefited as people from it.
There’s nothing wrong with money and recognition as long as it doesn’t come first.
I believe the best we can do as artists (and as people, too) is making a contribution to the world, whatever it may be. That’s something that matters.
Wayne
Every week there’s a new band being hyped. Most are never heard from again. They are usually very young people and most of them will bounce back after their fling and find a life that makes sense. They will look back on their days in the band as a great rite of passage with fond memories. But that won’t happen to the ones that get a taste of “success.�
I’ve talked about this a few times before and mentioned the bureau of labor and statistics web site as the truth of what a professional musicians life really is in terms of dollars and cents. Today, though, I’m looking deeper into fame itself and the high price it can exact.
We’ve all seen “Behind the Music� re-runs ad nauseum, and there are hundreds of tell-all books, and yet the bands keep coming out of the woodwork asking for more. It’s a tribute to the power of the Hollywood myth machine that young people just keep arriving ready and willing to sign up. There’s a daily influx at the bus station, airport and by car from all over the country and the world. They all want to pick up the golden horseshoe. They want to be delivered to the Promised Land and they’re ready to walk with or walk on, fuck or fuck over anyone they think can help them “succeed.�
They all start at a tender young age with their best friends, teenagers or early twenties at their latest. They dream and scheme and they work insanely hard for a few years and, if they’re really committed, they’ll make a record. If it’s a very good record, exciting things can start to happen. Did for me.
But what starts out to be a dream come true eventually becomes a nightmare. This is the story for 99.99% of those who take this journey. It is a ride that can last three or four years and will leave you broke with a trail of damage in your wake. Very few have avoided this. Even fewer are the ones that parlayed their seconds in the spotlight into an actual life-long career. At the risk of being overly dramatic, this is a brutal business. It exacts a toll on individuals and it really wreaks havoc on relationships.
I don’t say these things to discourage anyone from pursuing a career in the arts. If this is what you want to do, I can’t discourage you. I encourage young people to invent their own lives, just don’t be naive about the dangers.
The artist’s life can have many offerings. One of which is the chance to contribute something of beauty to a world that desperately needs beauty. Always has, always will. An artist’s way of life is punctuated by unexpected twists and a great many challenges. It’s an unorthodox existence but an interesting one. There are even great rewards. But in the artist’s life, the rewards are in the making of the art. Not in the business of fame and glory. And it’s in the latter where the pitfalls are.
This is not the message that Hollywood provides you. Hollywood needs fresh bodies and is willing to go to any lengths to get them. It needs blood, fresh blood.
It’s a cautionary tale I’m telling here and I’m talking about my own experience. But I’m also talking about the experience of a great many of my friends and acquaintances. I know a lot of people around the world and I see the same patterns over and over.
“We’re gonna make it.�
“We’re special.�
I don’t know where this idea of being “special� came from, but there sure are a lot of people who buy into it. Rehabs are full of “special� people.
This is the way it is with almost all bands. The exceptions can be counted on one hand. Bands that survive a brush with fame don’t make it without scars. The list is incredibly long and getting longer every week. I’ve seen them come and I’ve seen them go, and mostly… I’ve seen them go. All record deals go in the toilet. All deals go sour. All bands end up getting dropped from their labels. In fact, it’s the natural way of things. All things must pass.
Anytime a group of artists get together, whether they’re dancers, musicians, filmmakers, writers or actors, the same thing will and must happen. You unite for power and you set mutual goals. A great investment is made in the work and, over a period of time, these aims are met. There is nothing else that can happen next but to have things fall apart. It is the way of all nature. Everything that is born and lives must die. The center never holds.
This can be a hard thing to accept. It was for me. Especially when it all starts off so good.
In the beginning the faces are all smiling at you. Everyone laughs at your lame jokes. The women are willing. Everyone wants to hang out with you. People give you gifts like it’s your birthday every day. You may even see some real money. Journalists are asking you to expound on all your deep theories about music and politics and life and God and boy, it’s all just so fabulous.
It really works hand in hand with being young. When I was young I was convinced that I would live forever and that I was certain I was absolutely right about everything. In psychiatric jargon this attitude is called omnipotence. It also a major factor in alcoholism, but that usually develops a little later down the line when things start to go wrong.
You see, there is a high that sneaks into the picture with recognition, except you don’t know you’re high. If I drink a glass of whisky, I know I’m going to get a buzz. But I don’t know it when I’m high on celebrity. The intoxication of notoriety comes on subtly. You’re not even aware of it. You become actually drunk with it, but you don’t know it. None of this happens consciously. This happens below the level of consciousness. It’s just “a feeling,� and then, you want more of that feeling and need it again and again. Inevitably, common sense goes out the window and lunacy replaces it. Bigger cars, bigger accolades, bigger tits, and mostly bigger trouble.
There is nothing in one’s experience that can prepare you for prominence. There are no college courses on Fame 101. It’s “on the job training� and then it’s too late, way too late.
It all fades after a time, as it must.
This is a point where I have to face a world that just isn’t going the way I want it to go. The Band just isn’t the darlings we once were. Sales drop off. There’s a new band that everyone is talking about. The money just didn’t keep rolling in like everyone said it would. Disappointments start coming faster. Life gets increasingly complicated. And then the pain-killing properties of booze and drugs fit right in. It’s a lethal combination and the attrition rate is high. Just check out the long list of dead and damaged rock and film stars. It’s all so predictable and it can go on for years.
The damage is mostly done in relationships. People who started out as best friends end up with life-long resentments that distort the whole course of their lives. Family units are splintered and no one ever talks about any of it. It becomes the pink elephant in the room that no one recognizes.
Bitterness, regret and blaming everyone else for your failures become the dominant themes.
I’ve seen a couple of episodes of the current VH-1 TV show about reuniting bands from the ‘80s. Jools Holland and Nino Bettencourt, were so resolute against re-upping that it’s hard for an average person to understand. These are deep-seated feelings; they spring from deep in the soul. These folks have a pain about their pasts that they refuse to bring into today. They just can’t go there.
I can identify with them. For years I couldn’t watch MTV without getting angry. I was filled with resentment for everyone I ever knew in the music business. I didn’t know that I was the author of all my troubles.
There is an antidote for the damage and it’s in living today, not in yesterday. It’s also in finally growing up. Ultimately doing your art is the reward of your efforts. Not as the means to greater self-glorification. Keeping the horse in front of the cart makes it easier on the horse and you can carry a heavier load. You can actually do better work than when you were younger. Art is not tied to youth. Skill and craft are acquired over years of work. Art is something you do for life. Not till you hit the big time.
If you want to be a musician, then do it with all your heart. Study music and learn how to protect yourself in business. Because if you don’t, you will not be able to maintain a career. If you want to be a filmmaker, write your story and make your movie. If you want to be a painter or dancer or start a company or whatever it is that turns you on. Do it with commitment and passion. Go for it whole-heartedly, give it all you got. But don’t expect fame to fix you. It can’t. I have not seen many who have benefited as people from it.
There’s nothing wrong with money and recognition as long as it doesn’t come first.
I believe the best we can do as artists (and as people, too) is making a contribution to the world, whatever it may be. That’s something that matters.
Wayne
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