Would you rather be a great player or famous?

robgilmo

Some take fame really well and use it for a greater good (money helps here) like Bill (Bill and Ted) matrix whats his name, some let it go to their head and insist on rose petals being sprinkled on the floor as they walk up a red carpet.
So the question is, what kind of famous are/would you be?

darthed1981

robgilmo said:

Some take fame really well and use it for a greater good (money helps here) like Bill (Bill and Ted) matrix whats his name, some let it go to their head and insist on rose petals being sprinkled on the floor as they walk up a red carpet.
So the question is, what kind of famous are/would you be?

Oh definitely Keanu, he's super-cool.

allen

darthed1981 said:

You could do it differently?

My "Captain meets Ed" would be fun...

" You just bought this reissue murphy labs 355 from the shop and filled it with packets of columbian marching powder, then came in here, made Pete connect all the amps up, and played a G chord loud enough it out and out killed the guy who edits the videos... why did you do that?"

"Honestly Lee... I'm not entirely sure..."

If I could give this 5 lols I would.

guitars4you

I've always said the best job is to be the session guitar player for the likes of Madonna, Taylor Swift or who ever - Big world tours - Doing a job you like - But no one knows who you are, as such you can walk around, visit any street, bar, cafe etc without the hassle - Be recognised as a serious guitar player by those who choose you, but the public know nothing/little about you 

Blueingreen

I'd take worldly success v great artist but nobody knows it. Maybe I'm shallow.

As it happens I'm currently reading The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary, which is a study of a (fictional) artist in the "great artist but nobody knows" category.  Or sort of: he's had success and has some admirers, but he's still largely unknown and living a pretty desperate hand-to-mouth existence, involving debts and prison time.  For him it's clear: the only thing that matters is art, everything else is an irrelevance.  He vacillates wildly between thinking he's a genius on a par with the Old Masters and thinking his work is a series of failures, but either way art is an obsession he can't get away from.

It's a pretty convincing portrait of the type of person you'd need to be to put art ahead of everything else.  Part of me would like to be that guy, but I'm not and the truth is I'm glad I'm not.

Philly_Q

guitars4you said:

I've always said the best job is to be the session guitar player for the likes of Madonna, Taylor Swift or who ever - Big world tours - Doing a job you like - But no one knows who you are, as such you can walk around, visit any street, bar, cafe etc without the hassle - Be recognised as a serious guitar player by those who choose you, but the public know nothing/little about you 

Not necessarily playing music you like though.  But I guess if everything else about the job - money included - was good, it'd be OK.

guitarjack66

Whatever pays. Better to be lucky than good.

bluecat

More or less (A) just wish I could play better after all these years and knock out a few good songs. I am not wanting to be famous, it would be too much of a headache but a few extra bob would not go a miss.
Just to play as good as I aspire to would be nice.

distressed

I'd take modified A - songwriter that makes a decent living out of this.

slacker

D hobbyist who does bottom feeder gigs open mics church fetes and plays when they want and plays halo when they don't feel like it.

Sporky

B could be dangerous.

What if you were famous for being really, really terrible at something? Everywhere you went, people would point and laugh and mock you.

Ask me how I know.

InactiveX

Fame, fame, fatal fame
It can play hideous tricks on the brain
But still I'd rather be famous
Than righteous or holy, any day, any day, any day
But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled
Making Christmas cards with the mentally ill
I want to live and I want to love

I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of

Morrissey & Marr

Supportact

If I had been rich and famous I'm not sure it would have been the best thing for me. There's a high likelihood it would have ended in some kind of foolishness. I'm not sure it's all it's cracked up to be anyway.

The other option made me think of Franz Kafka. He wasn't a famous writer during his lifetime. He had a few things published but none of them were a hit, and he had to hold down a day job working for an insurance company to make money. When he died he left instructions to destroy his unpublished works. Fortunately the person he instructed disobeyed his wishes and some of those works are now considered classics. 

OilCityPickups

I just wanted to entertain people ... I don't actually think you have to be 'brilliant' to that ... just know what will get folk's motors running. 
This is the reason I'm about to go out live again after quite a few years, the addiction to folks jumping up and down, or dancing or just shouting or singing along is the best drug in the world. 

racefaceec90

being a great guitarist without a second thought. (which i will never be/ i aspire to being mediocre tbh ;-D

the thought of just being able to play music whatever you can think of/improvise just let it flow through you emotionally etc without having to think about it would be one of my ultimate wishes tbh.  

Svartmetall

Fame is a chimera, sought for its own sake only by empty vessels; I'll stick to just making the music I want to be able to hear as best I can, and let the universe make up its mind about the rest. 

scrumhalf

Mark Knopfler said something like "success is great but I cannot think of a single good thing about fame".

Given the absence of either in my musical endeavours, and the almost certain continued absence, I'll take his word for it. 

Kurtis

Paul McCartney? 

Lewy

The perfect blend for me would be a Tommy Tedesco/Louis Shelton type - a world class musician who could always create exactly the right part, execute it first take because it was as natural as talking, who’s playing was famous but who personally wasn’t. 

HAL9000

Neither. I’m not, and never will be, a virtuoso but can (just about) hold my own in a band or jam situation and I’m perfectly happy with that.