I have had the same quote on my Facebook since I joined the social network. It is from one of the great wits of her time (and ours), Dorothy Parker, and I requote it here:
"If I should labor through daylight and dark,
Consecrate, valorous, serious, true,
Then on the world I may blazon my mark;
And what if I don't, and what if I do."
That is my take on life: all effort leads to the grave, success or fail, it doesn't really matter. That doesn't mean don't try, it means don't care. Something else, to paraphrase the Tao: do what you do and then step back.
What has this to do with rock music? Everything. This is what you need to do in rock music in 2011. Do your best and then forget about it because talent along, greatness alone, was NEVER ENOUGH AND NOW IT ISN'T NEARLY ENOUGH. The mix of abilities you need to get even to FUCKED Up's level of success is mind boggling; flip a coin, no go to a roulette wheel, those are your chances of making it.
A girl I know is going crazy because she hasn't had a boyfriend in so long and she wants one now and she is a pretty girl and is used to picking and choosing and she can't believe no one is interested. So this is what why.
1. She broke up with the boyfriend.
2. The first guy she went out with was going along fine but they had a dust up within the first three weeks and it went too far, too fast, and neither had enough invested to make it worth mending.
3. The next guy was a nasty piece of work and a mistake, didn't last a week.
4. The following guy ended up being a one night stand.
With me so far? Now watch this
5. It has been 3 months and the girl is getting antsy and
6. THEN NOTHING.
Weeks, months, nobody anywhere is interested. Why? Because she began to get too needy. Suddenly she wanted it and the more you won't something the less likely you are to get it.
What she has to do is what smart rock bands do: they do what they do and they allow the simply achievement of that to be its own reward. This isn't 1973 -we are no longer virgins to the experience. Wanna go to sleep at night as a rock and roll star?
And so what if you don't?
And so what if you do?