THE ARTISITIC ONUS OF THE ROCK STAR

Hi Y'all:

Some of you know this about me, some don't. My all-time dream job was to be a rock star. I'm sure there are alot of people out there who aspire to the same thing. Just look at the amount of people who try out for American Idol.

Now, most men I know that enjoy sports, have had dreams of becoming professional athletes. How nice would it be to be a pro 1st Baseman, pro Wide Receiver, or pro Power Forward? How cool would it be to be competeing on the pro tour with Tiger Woods, or to be starting in the first 3 rows at Daytona? What does this have to do with being a rock star? Only this....did you know, when polled, that most or all professional athletes dream about being rock stars? Many of them, because of financial ability, are able to chase that dream. Like Allen Iverson or Ron Artest getting into Rap and music Producing. Or the 3 guys from the PGA who had a touring band a few years ago. Or even John McEnroe who used to play guitar professionally.

See? Everyone would love to be able to stand in front of 100, or 10,000, or 50,000 people and strum a power chord on their Gibson Les Paul and whip a crowd into a frenzy, singing along with your songs. Thousands of people with their fists in the air, banging their head to the rhythm, lighting their lighters for your Encore, groupies throwing themselves at you, First-Class travel, equipment endorsement deals, etc.......

So, what, exactly, is the Artisitic Onus of the Rock Star? Just this: Usually a new band pours their hearts and souls into the composing and mastering of their first album. Let's say it is luke-warmly received by the public and the band gets to open for a big-name band. Let's say the album is a big hit (like in the cases of Boston, Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Seal) and is on the charts for more than a year (like Clarkson's). At this point the band may still be an opener, or in Clarkson and Seal's cases, they may become the Headliner. Great. Money. Fame. All of this from bringing the world's most loved thing, music, to the masses.

The Onus is that album number 2 is due out w/in 6 months or a year, and the artist has to create the same quality album in a much shorter amount of time. It took Boston 7 years to write their first album. It took Seal a number of years to create his first album. Both of them were then pressured to write and produce another huge-hit album in a fraction of the time.

I wish I had persevered and stuck with guitar lessons, or was blessed with the talent to create music with an instrument. How great would it be to see and hear people screaming for your music...your ideas? But as they say, you've got to pay the piper sometimes. The rock star has to pay by creating more and more music. Can the new album top the last one in sales? Can it top it with the Critics? Can it top it with the fans?

I remember back in the early 80's, one of my favorite bands, Iron Maiden, surprised Hard Rock/Metal fans with their first 2 albums. Their songs were different, they had a unique sound, they were scary, and they were fun. They got a new singer for the 3rd album and absolutely blew the fans away with their album, Number of the Beast. This was the last time Iron Maiden ever opened for another band on tour. After their next album, Piece of Mind, they became the outright Gods of Metal. Each of their ensuing albums they sold more, embarked on bigger and bigger World tours, with more and more equipment, to the point of bringing the band to exhaustion from all of the travelling. Interspersed with all of this touring was the weight of having to write new music that would appeal to the fans so they could sell out more tours, etc.......

It's no wonder why many Rock Stars drank copious amounts and got hooked on serious drugs. One or two bad albums and you're forgotten faster than Huey Lewis and the News. Hopefully as a professional musician, you will always have new and fresh ideas with which to create new songs. But I'm sure, especially with the way tastes in Society change, that pleasing people with every release gets to be more and more difficult. How many thousands of songs have been thrown in the garbage because they weren't commercial enough for one group, or because they didn't have enough integrity for other groups?

Bands like AC/DC (one of my all-time favorites) have put out 15 or 20 albums that sound the same. They have the same 3-chord formula, don't stray from the path too much, lyrically, and except for Highway to Hell, Back In Black and For Those About to Rock....., have been mediocre sellers. This band's popularity has always been because of its live shows.

Progressive bands like Pink Floyd and Genesis of the 70's, right up to bands like Dream Theater and Spock's Beard of the 90's and the 2000's have never sold alot of albums(except for Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall), despite the vast amount of talent in the band. They all stuck to their guns and let integrity of music out-weigh commercialism (though Genesis became a vehicle for Phil Collins' solo Pop career).

My point: Although I am hugely jealous of talented musicians and have always aspired to be one, I have always wondered about how great the weight of creating new music...something unique, must be. I suppose all artists of one kind or another must feel the same way. "Your last creation was a HUUUUGE success. But what have you done for me lately?"

Think about it. You know LEN IS RIGHT.

I am,
Len Tollerton