Jacob Slichter: So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star

Because I am a drummer, because I am a dork, and because I am thought to be a bit too old to be playing in mediocre bands.

The book is funny and self-deprecating, and is an interesting document about the music industry. Not because he's an industry insider, quite the opposite: he starts out admitting that he was naive, and he shares his learning process.

It's interesting to see him notice stuff like, "Hey wait a minute. Being in a lavish video is cool at first, but then you start realizing that all this expense is coming out of OUR recoupable budget."

Some of it is a little fawning (it was great working with Bob Clearmountain, blah blah blah) but serves as a nice substitute for actually being in a one-hit-wonder band.

Oddly, the book undercuts its title to a surprising degree. It's a cautionary tale more than a fantasy-fulfillment vehicle. It made me feel at peace with not being a rock star, because you see how much of a crapshoot success is, and how close to random is the process by which some bands get famous while others languish. My response to the picture of the industry given in the book is kinda like: "Gee, now I REALLY don't want these guys' approval. I used to think it was possibly just sour grapes."

And let's not be too hard on Semisonic. Yeah, they flamed out really quickly, and never duplicated the success of "Closing Time," but they got more success than most people ever get. And they weren't a temporary or artificial phenomenon, rather a group of local bar heroes who had a combination of luck and a moderately catchy tune.

it was I V II IV

and though it was overplayed and treacly and sounded kind of like the result of an equation that started "ed kowalczyk minus kurt cobain equals..." and though everybody knows that equation yields a negative number, it was an inescapably great and catchy song. bubblegum works in strange ways.

I'm not sure I'd use "pitfalls" w.r.t Semisonic; they certainly got their music out in front of a lot more people than most of us ever will. And not quite "pointless" either--more like capricious, or fickle.

I only wish that he had been part of a band that I actually *liked*.

Rival Creation Myths

(And my thanks, Mr. F.C.Cuz)

Oddly, the book undercuts its title to a surprising degree
Mad P, surely you see the irony in the title, which I daresay was already there in the song of that name?

Ken L.--how DID you miss the ubiquitous hit single? It was, like, everywhere!

(but I guess you could make that very case for Semisonic)

Aidin Vaziri, SF Chronicle: Since you quit the band you've been writing poetry and keeping an online diary. When did you turn into a 14-year-old girl?

Billy Corgan: I don't know.

Anyhow, I squirmed a lot through Schlicter's book. I just felt so bad for these guys.

Because they're lame and have suburban haircuts? Because they became hugely famous for approximately 17 minutes and then vanished? Because you think their music sucks? Because their label promoted them wrong, and if they'd chosen different singles or focused on a different radio niche they might have had a more sustainable career? Because they'll forever be associated with just that one song, which they'll be doomed to hear in elevators for the rest of their lives? Because they'll go down in musical history as the answer to a 90s trivia question?

I personally can't feel sorry for them; they played on SNL and at Glastonbury. And their story isn't a VH1 Behind the Music-esque "they went too far, too quickly; then came their nightmare descent into booze and drugs and groupie sex."

I mean, he says that "Closing Time" is about having a baby. How non-punk rock is that?

Jenn, You feel sorry for them because you never understood what Bob Dylan meant when he said "'There's no success like failure / And failure's no success at all'"

All this isn't to say I don't think they were luck; they definitely were. Yet, where I might revel in Creed's failure, Semisonic...
they were sad. That's all. Sad.

'Momentarily mainstream' is a strange way to categorize The Pumpkins.

And Jenn, I don't find it all that sad -- at least not for Slichter. He's got a popular book and can do speaking tours for a while, maybe some magazine pieces. He said on the radio that while he was in the band he did about as well as most of his friends with regular jobs, and contrary to what people say, he's not actually "in debt" to the record company. Artists don't actually have to pay that money back, it just comes out of any hypothetical future sales.

Anyhow, I suppose everyone can have their own reactions to the book, but I stand by mine. It made me horribly depressed about the music industry and particularly the thought that maybe this will happen to a band I really love.

And Ken, I just meant, well, look at the discussions on ILM alone. People have more than a passing knowledge of these topics and I assumed the same of you. Semisonic seemed completely clueless.

All these backthreads I have to read!

It's all about drink and drugs and promiscuity and bad behavior and loud music. Very refreshing.

i didn't read the book, but how clueless could they have been? two-thirds of the group were veterans of another major-label band.