All human

[brightly_lit]

I had a rough night a couple of nights ago; it was really hard to get to sleep. For hours after we were done going through the box, I took comfort in the things I usually take comfort in, when I need it: fandom, pictures and articles about my favorite artists, etc., which led me to this excellent essay written by the lead singer of Fall Out Boy, and serves as a fantastic reminder of why success as an artist/writer/musician would SUUUUUUCK, so it's just fine that nobody reads my books. Well, I wish a few people, who would really enjoy and/or benefit from reading them would and would talk about it (that essay points that out, too, how easy it is to get hate when you share your work, and how hard it is to get any damn appreciation, even if you supposedly have lots of 'fans'--what is that?!), but fame? Fuuuuuck that.

As I read the essay and looked at other, related articles and interviews and pictures, I was reminded anew that we are all human. The people I most admire in the world get fat, have health problems, get hate, have low self-esteem, suffer from depression. It's okay. We're all the same. So thanks, all you famous people who shared your failures and downfalls and hardships as well as your successes. Thanks for not hiding your humanity, however hard that may have been. It makes it easier for the rest of us to be human, too.

Comments

[kalliel]

That's such an intense essay; thank you for linking it! I don't know anything about Fall Out Boy or anyone in it (except that I like their music, and so does my sister), but I do think about what it would take to be a public figure like that. And I feel like it would be especially rough to be a public musician, because musical tastes shift so, so rapidly and the kinds of music out there vary so much (e.g. singers who get pitched songs, singers/bands who write their own songs, etc.), and 99% of the world doesn't know a thing about music beyond what sounds they (think) they like and what they think they don't--and I count myself among them, though if pressed I could probably spot memorize the circle of fifths again, lol. I definitely don't have what it takes to live that life, for sure. Because you'd have to be able to take so much shit from so many places and somehow 1) keep loving the thing you do, 2) stay classy, and 3) keep doing the thing you do. Even if so many people will feel justified in telling you that you will never make anything as good as what you made before (and then proceed to make even broader value judgments about you based on this assertion). That's horrible.

[brightly_lit]

RIGHT????? I could go on at great length about that essay. Beyond that countless sentiments therein seem like something I could have (and in some cases, have) written myself, and that he's an astonishingly talented and incisive writer imo, I was also astonished to learn Folie A Deux was critically panned (?!?!?) and also hated by the fans.

I already knew a lot of people didn't like anything AFTER Folie A Deux, and I guess I've seen some people say they liked everything before it and not it, but s_c and I started with FOB's most recent albums and have been working backward from there, and Folie A Deux is my very favorite. I like it considerably better than their previous albums so far (not that I've had much chance to listen to the earlier ones; we just got them), and although there are some really amazing songs on their most recent albums, Folie A Deux has a passion and burst of creativity and all-in feeling that are the qualities that imo come together to make something extraordinary.

I CAN'T BELIEVE critics, at least, wouldn't have liked it, because (okay, the lyrics are pretty bad in some places; I saw Wentz say he was on drugs while writing, and alas, it shows) the music, the arrangements, the performances, the production, and especially the vocal lines and Patrick Stump's delivery, seem to me the making of an album that'll go down in history as one of the greats--truly, one of the best records of all time. In fact, until I read this essay, as I listened along, I fully assumed the only reason it didn't get massive radio play was because they use off-color language/concepts so freely.

But of course it seems almost universally true that the greatest art is unappreciated when first shared with the public, even if that's cold comfort. Still though, going to his show to hate? Paying for a freakin' ticket just to tell someone they suck??? Wtf?! Plus, people really need to get over this notion that people who've had a hit are billionaires. Maybe once upon a time, but nowadays even a pretty successful band often only makes a slightly-better-than-decent living.

I think a big part of the hate problem is the modern age, how artists can be in direct contact with their fans, whereas in the old days, it was possible to remain somewhat shielded from what people were saying about you. I'm not sure ANYONE can take the kind of abuse public figures are subjected to so frequently. I so don't have what it takes to live that kind of life, either! How, indeed, would you keep loving it?

And ... I did go on at great length about that essay. tl;dr--yes, I totally agree! :-) <3 <3 Thanks for reading and commenting, bb. I'm so glad you enjoyed that essay as much as I did! I admire and appreciate his raw honesty; that's my favorite, when someone does that. When YOU do it, too! Maybe I've been doing a little too much of that myself, lately, but I guess I feel like if I so value it in others, I should try to offer the same.

[kalliel]

I looked the album up on Wikipedia, to see what songs were even on it (I'm definitely one of the casual listeners he mentions). The only one I've heard from that album is "I Don't Care" but I like that one! And I do think I like their music that's come afterward more than what they started with, though I don't mind their older songs I've heard, either. What I think is kind of sad, though, is that at least according to Wikipedia, the album got pretty good critical reviews! 4/5 stars, some As, a B. Which makes me think that the bad reviews (and bad "fan" reactions) must have been much, much louder, so the point they'd drown anything else out. :(

[brightly_lit]

Yeah, "I Don't Care" is awesome. :->

Aw, sad that he seemed to hear more bad stuff than good. I'm relieved the critical reception was better than he seemed to think--it would have been so wrong if it wasn't.

[cuddyclothes]

Thanks for this! I'll track down the essay.

Being in show biz for a long time, I look at the people whose work had my stomach in knots with career-envy. Most of them have either left the scene or are doing less interesting work. Time is a great equalizer, especially when you are a lover of schadenfreude.

Oh, dear, I think I just personified that essay!