Anyone think they should have tried harder to "make it"?

[quadperson]

I was in a high school garage band and it was hard to score gigs even for free. One time, we were "accepted" to play at the Ethnic Festival. I was working at the radio station and the prick I worked for wouldn't even cover me for a couple hours. He said I could go but I wouldn't have a job. I needed the job. I decided then that I probably didn't have what it takes if I couldn't walk away from a minimum wage job all in the name of rock 'n roll.

[Rsmacker]

yea, that's about it. A dry pair of undies and I'm a happy man.

You're a lucky man too, mine are wringing wet.

Wanna know why?

Do ya?

Go on....!

[Rsmacker]

I think that has less to do with their socio-economic background and more to do with what they are prepared to give up to make it. Plenty of bands left their home towns to head to "mecca" (wherever that may be) and had to room together because they couldn't afford anything more, partly because it was all about the band, all their time was spent rehearsing or trying to get gigs and making it big was their fulltime occupation. Getting a regular job wasn't in their reckoning. Not all of them came from shitty backgrounds.

And think of all the other budding Nikki Sixx's out there that didn't make it, after living like a scum-sucking shit muncher for years. Imagine being one of those people, finally giving it up and going home, I bet their "What if...?" daydreams are far worse than ours, they might have been just a few more weeks of living like a pikey away from Megastardom. They might have lived like a tramp for all that time, for NOTHING.

Anyway, it has nowt to do with talent, or sacrifice, if you aren't in the right place at the right time. Would anyone sign Motley Crue if they were from Leicester, England? Would they sign Motley Crue today in Hollywood? I doubt it on both counts.
It's about selling your soul to someone who knows the right people (because you and I almost certainly don't), a Brian Epstein/Malcolm Mclaren/Col Tom Parker/even Simon fucking Cowell, and banking on him doing absolutely 100% to get you there. Not 99% and then lose interest when a better option comes along, leaving you high and dry.

Even then, what's "making it"? Only making enough cash to be able to put out subsequent shit LPs that don't sell cuts it for me, living in a big mansion, money safe in the bank, no matter what shite I release after my "Appetite for Destruction" moment. Very few people "make it" to that level of security.

Think of those poor cunts out there nowadays after their little taste of fame back in the 80s/90s, scrabbling away, trying to keep their name heard above all the newer, better, cooler bands that appear every day. How can they keep being relevant, when they are getting podgy, their hair is falling out, and they still think that a pink spandex jumpsuit looks cool? How do they stay hungry when people they employ tell them that they are brilliant, that the new LP's great, but then jump ship 6 months later, leaving them to find they are passe, yesterday's news, but they still have to produce something that pays for the upkeep of their new studio and big house in the country? Tough.

You know that all their rivals can't wait to see them fail, to laugh at them and remind them of the Spinal Tap moment when the chicks run past them to get to the young gun who's playing the Enormodome.

That must be hard, harder than never making it, trying to avoid being back at home one day and some smug cunt coming in and saying "My my, look how the mighty have fallen, what's the Rock Star doing back here in Shit-town? Need a proper job at last then? Not so cool now, are you Grandpa? Well, we have a vacancy for a bog cleaner, that's all you are qualified to do, your CV appears to be empty between the ages of 18 and 29. Loser!"

Me, bitter and twisted because I never made it? Meh, not me.
Besides, I doubt I'd be good at deep-throating cocks, and I suspect that's a requirement sometimes. Just ask Steven Adler.

[Grandturk]

Just leave it to Rsmacker to give us all the stiff, hard and long truth.

[markD]

there is a lot to "swallow" in what rsmacker wrote. for me, "making it" is multi-leveled. in some ways, i feel that i have made it because i get to play cool shows on a regular basis. my "musical dream" was to be a band like fates warning. still have a day job but get to put out records and do little tours. i never wanted to be iron maiden. mentally, i would not be able to handle it.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

No. I made my choice, music to me is a hobby, something I do for fun. Doing it for work makes it... Work. And that takes all the fun out of it.

[atomic charvel guy]

that's a great question Cliff. seriously, it is. I really had the doing drugs part of it down cold, but still i did not make it. i really put in the time to perfect that end of it, I guess i didn't pay enough attention to writing good enough songs-lol

[daisp]

Every day, but then reality sets in after my first cup of coffee

[rjohnstone]

I've always played for the fun of it.
I've done the band routine many times and there was always at least one dumb fuck in the band who had stars in his eyes.
Those are the bands that never lasted long.
Reality hits them like a ton of bricks and they simply fall apart.

I've played with a couple of bands where everyone was on the same page from a life perspective.
Good day jobs, families, etc. Those were fun to be in.
They too didn't last long because we all knew that our real lives would always come first.

I always thought that if I were in a band that "made it", it would be by pure fucking luck because I sure as hell wasn't looking for it.

[Gartron]

my band were so shite we really should have tried less to make it!

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I always thought that if I were in a band that "made it", it would be by pure fucking luck because I sure as hell wasn't looking for it.

Like you'd be playing some battle of the bands thing and Bruce Dickinson would be there and he'd be like "You guys... You guys are going to open for us on our farewell tour."

[rjohnstone]

Never played any battle of the bands myself.
Most of the ones I've ever been to were rigged beyond belief. One to the point of being outright obvious.

I remember running sound for one many years ago and the promoter told me who needed to sound good that night and who did not.
The winner was already decided before anyone showed up.

[VitaminG]

Like you'd be playing some battle of the bands thing and Bruce Dickinson would be there and he'd be like "You guys... You guys are going to open for us on our farewell tour."

that's how I've tried to establish my modelling career. Just waiting for someone to notice me walking down the street.

[Nimitz]

[atomic charvel guy]

G,
didn't you get my last PM? i got you the modeling gig up in North Hollywood!!
Read your fukkin' PM's!! (It's in the valley, it's a very innocent porn shoot. and it's straight, don't worry)