FREE ESSAY ON ROCKED OUT

ROCKED OUT

Outline 
Thesis: The lifestyle of a professional musician is more difficult than glamorous. 
I. Introduction
II. The Hardships of being a professional pop musician.
A. The physical and mental rigors of being on tour.
1. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was stressed to the max.
2. When the GooGoo Dolls performed on tour with Everclear, the amount of performing they
did was ludicrous and very taxing. 
a. One night, John Reznick was forced to perform even though he had totally lost his
voice the night before.
B. The difficulties of dealing with record companies.
1. It is hard for groups to deal with the pressure of constantly having to produce new
and fresh material.
a. Van Halen had to go through several lead singers mainly because of the desires of the
record company. 
b. The Mamas and Papa's were a group back in the late 70's who were continually forced to
write new albums and eventually it compromised the sound of the band.
2. The dangers of record deals.
a. The Goo Goo Doll's almost lost every cent they made as musicians to their label Metal
Blade Records. 
C. The exposure to the dark side of the professional musicians world.
1. The murder of Tupac Shakur's was due to his exposure to marijuana.
2. Jimmi Hendrix's had a clean beginning, but ultimately was killed in a drug overdose;
his exposure to drugs was due to the amount of them to be found in the music industry. 
III. Conclusion
Rocked Out
Watching a rock band perform, hearing rumors about the ludicrously large salaries some
performers make and buying into all the propaganda associated with pop musicians leads
many to long for this same kind of fame and fortune. However it is unknown to most that
the lifestyles led by professional pop musicians are deceptively pleasant and glorified.
Being involved in such a career comes with more than its own share of stresses and
burdens. Such burdens include the physical and mental pressures of being on tour, the
ridiculous politics involved in dealing with the recording industry and the exposure to
the dark and sometimes fatal world of sex, drugs and alcohol. As Johnny Reznick of the
band The Goo Goo Dolls put it: "Being a professional rocker is a job just like any other"
(Reznick Interview). While it certainly can be rewarding, the work of a pop star is never
easy and always fraught with difficulty and risk.
Perhaps one of the most strenuous aspects of being a professional musician is the
unwelcome baggage that comes with being on tour. The website for the BLS Career 
Report Service (a federally funded service that attempts to provide information on
literally every known career) describes the tedious aspects of a rock musician's career
as 
such: "All musicians spend a lot time practicing, rehearsing and performing. This
requires a lot of travel. Musicians often perform at night and on weekends. All this can
be 
tiring" (BLS Report). This is a straightforward statement that clearly says being a
traveling musician can be tiring. The only problem with this statement is that it fails
to specify just how tiring a lot of travel can be. The stress and pressure caused by
being on the road causes many musicians to have nervous breakdowns and or turn to drug
use and substance abuse (Friedlander 72). Take the example of Brian Wilson, the producer
as well as musician for the Beach Boys. During the prime of the Beach Boys touring days
Brian was forced to stop touring with the group due to several nervous breakdowns caused
through overwork (Burt 16). Later Brian described the craziness of this period of life as
such: "I was running around jumping on jets from one city to another on one-night stands,
as well as producing, writing, arranging, singing, planning and teaching to the point
where I had no peace of mind. I had no time to sit down and think or even rest" (Burt
16). Another story of life on the road comes from Johnny Reznick. During the summer of
1998 The Goo Goo Dolls went on a national tour with the bands Everclear and Fastball. In
a personal interview Reznick discussed the difficulty of this time: "We played an average
of five shows a week for about seven months. Our routine for this period was literally
eat, sleep play." Within about four months of this tour performances had become such a
burden for [us] that they were no longer enjoyable and contractual agreement to play was
the only thing that kept the group going." In his interview, Reznick told a story
relating to the burdens of being forced to perform: "I remember one night we played at a
private club and my voice was totally gone, I could barely speak because I had been
singing six nights in a row. Robbie (our bass player) had to do all of the vocals for
that show and by the end of it he had lost his voice too. On top of it all, we were
scheduled to play again the next night at another small gig, but we just had to tell our
manager "no-way man."
It would seem that the bulk of frustration involved with being a musician is curbed when
the tours come to an end and the performers can finally return to their homes; however
the truth is that the troubles of being on the road are t exchanged with the troubles of
dealing with the recording studio. Groups like Van Halen underwent incredible struggles
under the pressures to continually release albums. This resulted in much tension between
the band members, including the coming and going of several lead singers (Friedlander
121). Other groups suffered from the burden of the recording studio as well. A group in
the late 70's called the Mamas and Papa's are one such example of this. Their music was
very popular when first released, as it sounded fresh and unique and while they were
creative people they were no geniuses; they couldn't cope with the endless demands on
them to make record after record. Yet they were expected to do so as long as the public
bought their albums. Eventually, they got to sounding stale and repetitive (Burt 37). 
While being pressured to record is draining and difficult for bands to deal with, the
greatest struggle many groups encounter are seemingly crooked record deals. One of the
best examples I found of a bogus record deal involves The Goo Goo Dolls and the first
record company they signed a contract with: Metal Blade Records. As the eloquent
Johnny Reznick told me, "Record companies, recording contracts and record deals are
Satan!" This statement is justified by all the abuse that The Goo Goo Dolls were put
through by Metal Blade (a division of Time Warner). The company literally took advantage
of the young trio by offering them a contract that seemed sound but was actually
incredibly ambiguous so as to direct the bulk of the bands profits to the label. After
several tours, three albums and very little profit the Goo Goo Dolls hired a lawyer to
examine their contract and see what could be done about generating more revenue. Close
scrutiny of their contract revealed that Metal Blade Records was taking in 94% of the Goo
Goo Doll's profit (Reznick Interview). This was an outrage to the band and resulted in
severe animosity between the group and their label. The band of course wanted nothing
more to do with Metal Blade but they were under contract to produce three more records
before they could leave. This resulted in a heated lawsuit and eventually the band was
able to record with a different division of Time Warner. Unfortunately the group is still
in debt to Metal Blade and portions of their profits are still forfeited to the
corporation. 
While touring and recording are stressful and sometimes seemingly impossible for bands to
deal with there is an even greater risks faced by professional musicians: exposure to the
dark side of the music industry or "sex, drugs and alcohol" (Howard 237). Due to the
pressures of the lifestyle as well as the accessibility, many musicians turn to and
become addicted to substance. The LivingLight News website talks about the harsh exposure
to drugs and booze that many young pop stars undergo and how it leads to addiction and
often death. Tragic examples of this are Tupac Shakur and Jimmi Hendrix
Tupac was a young rapper who found himself in almost overnight success. He partied so
much and was so exposed to marijuana that he became a hardcore dealer and in the end he
was brutally murdered over drug issues (Alexander 169). There is also the infamous case
of Jimmi Hendrix, perhaps one of the most talented guitarists of all time who met his end
at a tragic young age due to drug overdose. As Jimmi's father put it, "The world of rock
and roll introduced my son to the fast-paced and dangerous world of drugs and alcohol.
The madness that exists in this realm was the catalyst that started my sons downward
spiral and eventually brought him to his death" (Hendrix 76).
It is unfortunate that the life of professional pop musicians is such a harsh one. When
the lifestyle is looked at on a surface level, it can seem very glamorous and alluring
and while there certainly is a thrilling side to the profession it definitely comes with
a price. Tours and record deals can quickly go from being enjoyable to incredibly taxing
situations to have to deal with and the perils of drug and alcohol abuse are constantly
lurking in the shadows. The life of a professional musician indeed has its brighter
moments; it can sometimes prove to be an extremely rewarding endeavor. Ascending to the
ranks of those bands that become adored by the millions is usually the greatest
achievement of ones life. It is unfortunate for those that do attempt the climb to the
coveted "top" that slopes are often much more slippery than they appear. 
Bibliography
Works Cited
Alexander, Frank and Cuda, Heidi Siegmund. Got' Your Back. New York: St. Martin's 
Press 1998.
BLS Career Information. Rock Star. 1 Jan 2000. 3 Nov 2000. 
(http://stats.bls.gov/k12/text/mus_001.html).
Burt, Rob and North, Patsy. West Coast Story. New Jersey: Chartwell Books, 1977.
Friedlander, Paul. Rock and Roll: A Social History. Boulder: Westview Press, 1996.
Hendrix, James, A. My Son Jimmi. Seattle: Aljas Enterprises 1999. 
Howard, Jay, R and Streck, John, M. Apostles of Rock. Lexington: The University Press 
Kentucky, 1999.
"LivingLight News." From Rock'n Roll to the Rock of Christ. 3 August, 2000. 3 Nov, 
2000. (http://www.livinglightnews.org/vrock.shtml)
Reznick, John. Personal Interview. 4 Nov. 2000.
Rockin' with the worst of the. 3 August, 2000. 3 Nov, 2000. 
(http://www.livinglightnews.org/worstrock.shtml) 
Valle, Jocelyn. The Eraserheads are Better Musicians and Persons.11 July, 1999. 3 Nov, 
2000. (http://www.inquirer.net/saturday/may2001wkl/spc_3.html)