Live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse?
Published: Fri, 07/03/15
I have been living on my own for a week or so while Venetia has been visiting her folks. So, as I have already said, been watching a popular music documentary on Youtube with my supper each evening. An indulgent waste of time or a useful education? Bit of both I guess, I do ration myself to one 45 minute episode a day and the whole subject does raise some very interesting questions about human nature. In a way rock and roll is a laboratory of human behaviour with carefully recorded responses to powerful stimuli. Basically ordinary people exposed to extremes of attention, money, adulation, success, disappointment and temptation. Yet the responses and resulting outcomes are so varied. Huey Lewis and the News were very successful during the 1980’s and are still touring today. Yet there has never been the slightest trouble for the band apart from coping with a decline in their popularity from the heyday. Huey just says that he
actually values his privacy and would rather be on the golf course or watching a ball game anyway.
On the other hand I could easily list a role call of early casualties who died of the ‘Rock and Roll Lifestyle’. Joplin, Hendrix, Moon, Bon Scott (of AC DC) barely made it into their 30s Elvis and Jim Morrison of the Doors died in their 40s and the list goes on.
The question which has been intriguing me is, how do some cope with fame and success and others do not? Of course it does not just apply to rock stars, the same basic questions apply to all of us. Why are some people successful and happy and others seem to really struggle with their lives? It is an eternal question and not an easy one to answer. The behind the music documentaries tell the stories and allow the participants to explain themselves in their own words. Some definitely have gained more personal insight than others and that is instructive too.
So what are the common factors that are responsible for why one person enjoys being a popular music success and seems to take it all in their stride and another is in rehab (or the grave) before 30 years of age?
It is tempting to blame the money, the record companies, the availability of drink and drugs, rejection of religion or even the embrace of satanic influences, the ‘pressure of fame and adulation’ (isn’t that what the bands wanted when they set out?) and so on and so on. But this is looking at the problem the wrong way around. I think it is much healthier to see what the factors are that seem to be significant in those who cope well all along.
With Americans there is a tendency to look for religious beliefs as the answer. Glen Campbell is an interesting case. Having been brought up in rural Texas his early image was as a clean cut all American boy, yet during the middle part of his life he developed quite a problem with drugs and alcohol. He never lost his religious faith but somehow it wasn’t enough to keep him from pretty self-destructive habits. He talks now about how grateful he is to God that he has been delivered from a path that was killing him but something changed first. As far as I know Elvis was always deeply religious but couldn’t actually pull himself together and break with the prescription drugs and eating disorders which eventually killed him. Beliefs alone can never be the whole answer and even the New Testament says so, there is a passage which says, ‘So you believe in God, Well good, but so do all the devils in hell and they quake at the thought.’
Underpinning beliefs has to be values, put it simply, we can all believe that drinking too much will destroy liver. Believing that is easy enough. The question is, do you value yourself enough to want to take care of your liver?
It was very clear from the episode about Huey Lewis that this man valued three things.
Firstly, Huey has an absolute loyalty to his band who were also his friends (he just refused point blank to change the line up even when the record companies pressurised him to do so). Secondly, he sees life as being about having fun doing what he loves, (which included plenty of time for his family and sport as well as performing). Thirdly, he knows that the fans make it possible and he always gives the best he can and treats them all as people he respects. (There are stories of when the band was at the height of its fame the security detail would smuggle the group into hotels by the back entrance to avoid the crowds. But once inside Huey would just make his way to the bar and spend time having a drink with the fans anyway.)
So what are your values? Dig deeper than what you think you believe and you will see where your real motivations come from.
regards
Graham
PS Going to be a busy week coming up, self-defence seminar and weapon training on Saturday, then Summer camp next week, pre-camp training Monday to Wednesday and Ivar is coming on Thursday. For those coming it is going to be a valuable learning and sharing experience. http://iceandfire.org/calendar.html