Fight to be a Rock Star, or Just Who You Really Are?

You are absolutely positive that if you could just get the right break, your band would be the biggest in the world…  You’re getting bigger turnouts at the local shows, you got a whole bunch of Facebook friends (is this important?) there’s even been more hot chicks around who are even starting to wear your T-shirts…  So how come you can’t make it any ‘further’?  What are you doing wrong? Will you ever get to ‘the top’?

Van Halen had the right attitude from day one. I enlarged their message, shown at the the bottom of this flyer from approx. 1977.

Well, for starters what exactly is ‘the top’?  Undoubtedly most musicians would define this as sold out shows, selling a lot a lot of records, (sorry…CD’s) limousines and again a lot of chicks, parties and autograph signing.  But, if you are doing well in the bars, why have you convinced yourself that this is not yet SUCCESS?  Like 100% of musicians you are going to spend most of your career hitting your head against the wall trying to ‘make it’, when maybe you already have and you just don’t realize it. How do you know that you’re not EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE?

Don’t be mad if you feel ‘stuck’…maybe this is a hidden blessing in disguise. Of course you always THINK you should be at this mega-success level, but realistically…you just don’t know anything about it. How can you? Who has told you? (WATCH THIS PROOF.) Maybe you are in the clubs because no matter what you might think, you’re just not ready to be at the next level.

ANYTHING can be seen out our window at any given time; from changing weather to changing trends. One thing for sure, IT DOESN'T LAST!

Will you ever be? That’s impossible to predict…so don’t speculate on it, you’ll never sleep again. There is a very unique window of time which I like to refer to as THE TREND WINDOW in which you may, or may not be visible.  This is something that will never be up to you.  It’s up to the fans…  Fans become fans because of their emotional attachment to your art at any given moment in time…  It’s not rational, it’s not logical, and no matter how hard you try you will never be able to predict WHEN it may be, or WHAT will be seen in it.

You feel like because YOU’RE ready, the WORLD should be ready too…Don’t get me wrong, but if they DO put you up on that pedestal so you can be seen in the trend window for a little while…it IS an amazing rush, an exhilarating ego-stroking that most people will of course never experience.  But you need to ask yourself this honest question: are we truly living for this spiritual connection to our creativity, or trying to win some popularity contest?

American Idol: Contestants sacrifice extremely dramatic - but brief - popularity spikes, then must try to accept the lifetime moniker of "FORMER.'

The concept of ‘American Idol’ is based on the old concept of a harmless talent show. Harmless, because the participants didn’t bet their future on it. But, the show is so over glamourized that kids can’t process it for what it actually is beneath all the smoke and mirrors. As Dr. Patricia Baszczuk described it in my documentary, “a panel of individuals that we have put up on a pedestal, that have somehow acquired this ability to determine your worth”.  And sadly, almost every single American Idol is now battling an addiction problem because they cannot accept that they are no longer the flavor of the month.

DON'T TAKE TOMORROW FOR GRANTED, WHEN ALL WE HAVE IS TODAY, AND BE THANKFUL...While performing on stage Darrell Abbott was shot and killed by a 'fan'.

Instead of constantly trying to run to the top of the hill, STOP…take a breather, look at the landscape and exhale.  Remember you don’t know what’s at the top of the hill anyway.  Make the word ACCEPTANCE part of your life.  There’s a reason you can’t change some things…it’s simply because they ARE meant to be the exactly the way they are.  Embrace and appreciate the things that you do have because remember no matter how you DO define success, it is never guaranteed, and it WILL never stay at the same level.

Working hard today will stack the odds in your favor for tomorrow, but remember tomorrow is just a theory…and that’s just a fact!  Stay motivated; keep a positive attitude, work hard and persevere.  But, you MUST be able to accept the things that you cannot change, be courageous enough to change the things that you can, and wise enough to know the difference.

THERE IS A SOLUTION.

Please help make it happen.

PROBLEMS CAN’T BE SOLVED WHEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM.

About the Author

Skates Rat Skates is a filmmaker, writer and musician. He is most widely known as a pioneer of D.I.Y. musicians, director of music documentaries and his contributions to the thrash metal genre as composer and founding drummer of Overkill.
Rat Skates