| Mike Lay via Beautiful Decay |
One of the things I often talk about when I'm defensively justifying the life choices I made wasting my twenties playing in a band and wasting the rest of my life writing about other people's bands, is how the grass always seems greener on the other side. Most of my friends from high school and college have stable, "normal" lives, make more money than I do, have kids, houses, etc... the whole bullshit deal. Me on the other hand, I get to go to all the concerts and bars I want for free, stay up past my bed time, don't have to report to the money factory every morning, and get to wear much tighter jeans than they do. Um, call it a tie?
Maybe not, says Metal Sucks, where Sergeant D (go read his blog Stuff You Will Hate) recently posted a 100% spot on and hilarious break down of who the real winner is in this situation called Being In a Band is for Losers. It tracks the points in time in which the coolness of being in a band overshadows the ridiculousness of it as related to the life of a normal guy, including periods like this:
E: Nesting phase (age 32)
By this point, the game is essentially over. Band guy is still doing the musician thing, only he’s getting older and the crowds aren’t. He’s literally twice as old as the people who listen to his music, he’ll go to prison if he touches any of their groupies, and his non-musician friends stopped going to his shows because they’d feel guilty leaving their kids home alone on a weeknight. They all think he’s a good guy, but when his name comes up they just shake their heads in sympathy and wonder when he’s growing to grow up. Band guy’s coolness has completely evaporated, and at this point he is pretty much on par with all the other broke, dirty guys who beg college students for their spare change. His normal friends are too bummed out to laugh at him; he’s more of an object of pity than ridicule.
Ooof. Funny because it's true. I mean sad because it's true. Both actually.
Go read the rest over there. You're probably at work though, so just make sure your boss isn't looking over your shoulder the entire time cracking the whip. I'll be here laying on the floor at my apartment all day trying to decide which show I'm going to tonight. There's like seven different things going on. Sometimes it's just tough sorting through them all, even when I know they're inevitably going to turn out to be shitty.
And hey, it could be worse, band dudes. At least you're not a DJ. Or a blogger.
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12 comments:
The real punchline is that during most of my 20s I was neither in a band NOR being a productive "normal guy." I spent my time writing graffiti, ATTENDING shows, and working various dead end jobs-- so I didn't get laid OR make any money.
feelsbadman
- Sergeant D
That is tragic. At least you didn't end being a lot more successful writing about other people's bands instead of being in one yourself, like me, and every single other music journalist in the world.
Getting laid is pretty gay when you think about it isn't it?
Thinking about it now.brb.
I think the key is to be in a band that makes enough money that it's actually like a real job. Is that hard to do?
Paul Driscoll says TGN is still going to blow up one of these days.
Sweet!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZTTcR4LrV8&feature=player_embedded
I have no problem with that.
Still beats drawing pictures on the internet.
See! Grass is ALWAYS greener.
I wasn't cool when I was IN a band. How's that for FAIL
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