So, I feel like I need to preface this by saying that I love artists, musicians and people who are doing everything they can to keep their creative side alive. I just feel like there are some people out in the big, wide world being artsy and being completely pretentious about it.
I had the opportunity to see Mumford and Sons last night, and while my view of them was pretty limited, I can tell you that they were amazing. They are so good, it hurts. I don't want anything I saw to take away from how fantastic they are and how much I can't wait to buy their next album, buy their next concert ticket and buy into their image.
I was lounging today, and catching up on a stack of magazines, one of which was Spin. I picked it up because I wanted to read more about Mumford and Sons, and I have to say that I'm actually kind of glad I didn't read the article about them before I saw them last night, because I don't think I would have been able to look at them in quite the same light. After I finished the article, I flipped through the rest of the magazine, and stumbled upon a short article about an up and coming band called Young the Giant, and after skimming the first few paragraphs, I felt equally irked.
Front men from both bands blathered on about how they just want to play music, it's all a bit of fun, they aren't looking to be famous, they aren't really all that cool, etc., etc.
My response: Okay, so why am I payin' ya?
As someone who wishes I could turn my love of writing into a paying career, I'm not cool enough to say that I just like to string words together for the sheer joy of how they look on a computer screen, and I totally don't care if nothing else ever happens. It's a little like having a first date with the guy you've been drooling over in a freshman English class for months, sleeping with him the first night, and then saying you aren't hoping it becomes a relationship. I'm going to call bullshit on such pretentious nonsense.
I remember the first time I saw my name in print when I got an article in my school newspaper in eighth grade. It was like someone gave me a million dollars. If someone actually gave me a million dollars, I'm pretty sure I would feel the same way. And then I would go shopping for shoes, concert tickets and CDs--an important distinction to make between the two situations.
So why is it that people who create for a living somehow feel like they have to project the image that they don't want anything for it, especially when those of us who buy their music, their books, their art or tickets to their shows, are sometimes smart enough to see through that image? It reminds me of Val Kilmer's character in the movie "The Saint." Simon Templar specifically tailored his persona at any given moment to what he knew the person he was acting to would most respond to.
People who read the dreamy words about how Marcus Mumford wants to become a farmer and raise pigs, and believe it are being sold something--it's called a fiction, and it's up to them to read between the lines, or not. Sure, when I look at them, I don't see The Backstreet Boys, N'Sync or The Spice Girls, but they are no less styled, packaged and distributed just because they cut the collars off their shirts and wear scuffed up boots. If you watch the movie that inspired the music they play, "O Brother Where Art Thou?" it's not hard to guess where their stylist found the band's fashion inspiration. And I'm sorry, friends, even these folksy chaps have a stylist. Their clothes go with their music, just as sure as the meat dress goes with Lady Gaga's. While Gaga punches you in the face with her packaging, Mumford and Sons quietly comes up from behind you and smacks you with a frying pan--it is made of cast iron, of course, because that's the style.
I know I probably sound angry about whole thing. I'm not. I'm just frustrated that good, solid artists seem to feel the only way they can be taken seriously is to try to pass their careers off as hobbies. If you are an artist earning a living from what you love to do, that's something to be proud of and thankful for, not something to be ashamed of.
I don't have any doubt that Mumford and Sons have worked their asses off to become as polished at writing, playing and producing their music as they are. Last night, I barely got to see them because the crowd was so big and the venue not very conducive to someone 5'3" being able to see. Luckily, I only paid $30 for my ticket. If they continue to work as hard as they say they are not, someday, I will get to see them in a venue with stadium seating and I will pay at least twice what I paid to hear them last night.
So, Mumford and Sons, Young the Giant, and anyone else who's in there--"Come out of your cave...."
http://youtu.be/3KkUeRPjc-Y
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