Rock 'N' Roll Has Destroyed Us All
Back in the day, it was fine to grow up and be a teacher, or a construction worker, or a doctor. Rock stars have ruined all of that. I'm convinced that ever since the late 50s, a sizable portion of the world's youth has embarked upon hopelessly deluded and bitter lives due to the notion that they could be rock stars.
It used to be that if someone was famous, they had to do something relatively hard. Becoming the "next Benny Goodman" wasn't an option. All of that changed when rock and roll music came along with its three chords and a lot of shaking. Now almost anyone with a little talent could practice for about a week or so, and play the same three chords, and be exactly the same as Elvis, Buddy Holly, etc...
This situation was made far worse by the "rock star as tortured artist" phenomenon. We have Bob Dylan and John Lennon to blame for that. Ever since the mid-60s, introspective and depressed young males around the world have envisioned themselves as the "next John Lennon" or God forbid the "next Donovan".
Then came the 70s rock star such as Robert Plant. And with it came openness about groupies and orgies. And then punk came along to make rock music even easier and dumber. Jesus Christ, learn a few a chords, scream a bit, and get tons of poon? "Really? Its that easy?! Well to hell with math then!"
Being a rock star became a career option. Of course, being a rock star is not exactly like learning a trade. First of all, there is actually very little demand for rock stars. Secondly, rock stars are random and very attractive; facts ignored by 98% of Sam Ash customers. Consequently, millions (I'll bet) of young people have spent their lives fruitlessly aspiring to be rock stars, and then living out the rest of their lives as bitter old men, angry that they were never discovered and appreciated, and that idiots like Scott Stapp and Fred Durst are banging porn stars and giving long interviews in Rolling Stone espousing all of their political opinions.
Labels: music
1 Comments:
I don't think "back in the day" ever existed. A significant part of our population has always looked for the easy path to fame and fortune. Europeans didn't come to the Americas searching for hard work and responsibility, they came searching for cities of gold, fountains of youth, etc.
In just about any decade of U.S. history, you can find some people trying to get rich and famous without effort, or at least by means other than working a 9-to-5 job. Thousands of people rushed to California and then Alaska with the thought that a couple of months digging would set them up for life. Before the Great Depression, a lot of people thought stock investments would make everyone millionaires. In both cases, it worked for about the same percentage as the rock and roll industry did.
In the 1950s, the land development scam came into its own. People bought lots unseen in Florida and California and were convinced their "investments" would make them millionaires within a few years.
All of these things took place against a backdrop of millions of people living ordinary lives, working jobs, raising kids, etc. Looking at today, the colleges and trade schools haven't emptied. I rub elbows daily with twenty-somethings who are working jobs, getting married, raising kids. The idea that an entire generation is struggling to be a rock star seems extremely far fetched.
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