Rock Stars: Wanted Dead or Alive
December 13, 2006 by Jo Minor
Rock Stars. A lot can be said about these chosen, almost demigod-like people - we can marvel at how they splurge their seemingly endless riches, we can ridicule their notoriously dangerous and carefree way of life - but at the end of the day, these are the individuals that we, the people, have chosen - directly or otherwise - to be our heroes.
With the recent emergence of the outrageously-pretentious reality TV show Rock Star, the world is led to believe by the people behind the screen that these spoilt, wannabe youngsters are next in line to inherit the golden throne of Rock Stardom. And by “worldâ€, I mean people who think real rock ‘n roll heroes are made in television shows.
Oh boy…
I’ve grown up listening to true rock ‘n roll the day I stopped drinking milk from bottles. Queen, Dire Straits and The Scorpions at first; then Bon Jovi, Guns ‘N Roses and Thrash Metal legends Kreator later on - this informal education, from the ages of six to nine, via my uncle’s old cassette tapes set me up for a lifetime of great, rockin’ music. In high school I started experimenting with all sorts of different styles of rock - Alt and Modern Rock was at the top of my list back then. I also started playing guitar during that time so I began listening to a lot of virtuoso guitarists (Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, mostly).
Then came college, and I walked into campus life knowing I had a piece of my musical puzzle missing. Thankfully, file sharing via our on-campus intranet was rampant so I managed to get my hands on some Heavy Metal - and the rest, as they say, is history.
I dedicated my entire life to Heavy Metal. Needless to say, I made the transition from acoustic guitar to electric guitar and as a result of hours of playing along to the likes of Rage Against The Machine (not Metal, so to speak but Tom Morello is a great disciple of Heavy Metal guitar riffing) and slowly moving on to Slayer and Black Sabbath. Word got around that I was a kickass guitarist, and it’s amazing how people think musicians are made overnight.
Rock Star: INXS and Rock Star: Supernova hasn’t made it any easier.
It takes a lot of hard work, perseverance and dedication to your art. Spending a few weeks in a mansion while being fed with promises of instant riches and glory doesn’t. Every great rock band starts from the bottom up - even Guns ‘N Roses was once a garage band. Metallica used to live in their rehearsal rooms in their early days. Most Heavy Metal musicians still have their day jobs, just to make a decent living.
The problem is that the concept of rock ‘n roll has changed drastically over the years. Kids listening to manufactured bands on MTV get the idea that playing music in a band is a sure-fire way of making tons of money - when it’s the other way around. First, you have to understand what you want to do in a band; the questions are endless even at this stage:
Do I play an instrument, or do I sing?
If I sing, will I need lessons to improve my vocals?
Where do I find skillful band mates?
What genre or style of music do we play?
Should we do covers or start writing our original material?
That would take months, even years, to figure out. Trust me - I’m facing these problems even now.
Then you think of recording a demo, or an EP. No, that isn’t the same as an album. Your band might see the fruition of an album much later, and even so, how sure are you its gonna sell a million copies?
For the real musicians out there who know how hard it is to make music - keep it up. We need real rock stars, especially in a country where a selected group of manufactured rock bands are enjoying the lion’s share of resources and support from the media, especially the record companies and television stations.
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