This article is a continuation of our April 2nd post:
Why people automatically have the reaction of disgust when a band they love gets lots of attention is warranted and expected, if you think about it logically. The connotation with massive success for musicians is along the lines of changing who you are to meet that “mainstream audience” and ultimately letting the ‘suck beast’ out of the cage. And at a quick glance, it would appear history has taught us that this is always true. But I don’t think a quick glance gives a correct and adequate portrayal in many cases about a bands artistic success. Not every band actually sucks in my opinion when they get big, and I truly wonder how much of our dislike for our favorite bands getting big really comes out of an knee jerk, elitist exclusionary reaction, or simply some kind of mob-mentality that we unknowingly project on to each other that stems from an almost superstitious belief that success = suck. Bands can rise and fall, and have albums that resonate with us, or make us slap our foreheads. Bloc Party, for example is a band who’s first two albums I love, but they quickly lost me as they began a spiral of repetitive mimicry in the next two releases. Then bam: this last year they released ‘Four’ which is one of my favorite albums of theirs to date ,and made me forget about the craptastic, uninspired, directionless attempt at an album they released prior (if that sounds harsh, wait til you hear me talk about Coldplay).
Long story short,I challenge you to actually think some of this through step by step from a bands perspective and it may change your mind on the subject.
Also, I am crazy curious to hear what you other musicians or music fans have to say, so please feel free to reply to this blog post with your own thoughts or answers, however long, short, or opposite to my point of view they may be, and I will gladly re-post them for everyone to read. Just to get that potentially kicked off, here are some comments from my post on Facebook when I shared the video there:
“Very interesting points. It’s sad that artists/musicians have to go through things like this to uphold an image or stature, especially the ones that just want to keep making art for the love of it. We need money to keep making music, but we’re not allowed to take money if it’s not from a reputable source..it’s a vicious cycle. Luckily i don’t make any money from music, so i don’t have to think about it too much!" - Jonathan Posadas, vocalist/guitarist of Case in Theory
“Most musicians worry too much about their image and not enough about impact/reach. If you truly believe in your music and think your music is worth listening to, then getting paid to have it listened to by millions is a no-brainer." - Cody Martin, guitarist of Brolly
“I thought I was gonna get mad but they’re making some good points and some of the stuff they say, which is the reality of the music bizz is funny as fuck! I’m not upset or hella for what they are saying. Funny stuff though." - Sahab , solo musician and Milli Vanilli Scholar
Invest In Quality Music,
-Nik