10 musicians who weren’t equipped for fame
It’s every artist’s dream to be a superstar. Even though it might seem like a far-off fantasy for most, the biggest stars have put their nose to the grind, trying to chase their dream of one day being mentioned in the same breath as their idols. While it’s written that way, musicians from acts like Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers were looking to sell a million copies as soon as they got the ball rolling.
Of course, with that level of success, the big checks from rolling in, and soon the biggest stars in the world were also made up of more than a few people who didn’t want fame. Although it’s probably not bad for artists to be recognised for their work, the mechanics that go into being one of the biggest stars in the world is much more daunting than most realise.
Without knowing it, many of these people have signed up for a lifetime’s supply of corporate bullshit that they didn’t want in the first place, causing them to either change their sound entirely or go in the opposite direction of what their fans wanted. Even though it could be considered career masochism, each artist did what they needed to do to preserve their sanity.
Not everyone came out in one piece, though, and the biggest stars in the world either went through a rough middle period trying to adjust to their fame or wound up as a casualty of the music industry. Regardless of how much adulation comes with being a famous face, there’s a difference between being good and being successful, and these artists had a problem making peace with both of those qualifiers.
10 musicians who weren’t equipped for fame:
10. Kendrick Lamar
In one of his most famous verses, Kendrick Lamar said he wanted to stomp out any competition on Big Sean’s ‘Control’. In just a few lines of text, Lamar went from being one of the best up-and-comers in the rap game to one of the greatest artists in the medium. Once everyone else began to catch on, though, Lamar started going through a strange metamorphosis.
Despite being heralded for creating one of the greatest hip-hop concept albums of the century with Good Kid Maad City, Lamar was uncomfortable with the spotlight he put on himself, thinking it interfered with the humble person he was trying to keep inside. Instead of opting out of the musical business, though, Lamar channelled every ounce of his insecurity into the music, painting a picture of what being famous means to him across To Pimp a Butterfly and Damn.
To this day, Lamar’s struggles with identity and the world around him are still different, using Mr Morale and the Big Steppers as a way to make peace with the conflicts that music has on his past and present relationships. Lamar may have called himself one of the greatest to ever do it, but he probably wasn’t looking for all of the baggage that came along with making that claim.
9. Trent Reznor – Nine Inch Nails
The origin of Nine Inch Nails began as just an exciting idea from Trent Reznor. Although the band was put together as a collective unit when touring for Pretty Hate Machine, the whole thing was Reznor’s brainchild, thinking that becoming a rock star would help satisfy the broken pieces inside him. When he realised he was still broken, the next handful of Nine Inch Nails albums would be about how far he had sunk.
Starting with the aptly titled Broken EP, Reznor went on the most vicious tirade in 1990s rock, making every offensive note he could on tracks like ‘Closer’ and ‘Big Man With a Gun’. While he had admitted to going a bit overboard in retrospect, every second of an album like The Downward Spiral was an extension of the pain he was still dealing with inside daily.
Since then, Reznor has finally been able to come off hard drugs and put himself back together, making the occasional music with Nine Inch Nails while also being committed to the role of a film composer. Reznor may be at peace, but he had to go through an entire mountain of emotional masochism to get there.
8. Fiona Apple
The amount of time it took for Fiona Apple to become one of the biggest stars in the world is staggering. Although most artists would slog it out for years before hitting on the right sound, Apple’s arrival with Tidal gave audiences the full package, spawning amazing tracks like ‘Criminal’ and ‘Shadowboxer’. Even in her teens, though, Apple realised the kind of charade that came with being in the music industry.
Coming off her smash hit album, Apple was never willing to play the game with journalists, often replying with cagey answers and speaking her mind about whatever was happening. One of the more infamous instances of her behaviour came during her acceptance speech at the MTV Awards, where she proclaimed to everyone watching her that the world the stars are living in was absolute bullshit.
From there, Apple continued doing things on her terms, only working on and off with her producers before making what she considered a decent project to get behind. While most artists have to deal with label pressure breathing down their necks daily, Apple is in the rare position where she will make new music when she wants to.
7. Ron Blair – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
The allure of being a rock star sounds like spending 24 hours a day in Candyland. Compared to the typical jobs that people take on every single day, the life of one of the biggest entertainers in the world feels like being a god amongst men, with everyone wanting a piece of what you can do. That kind of gig is also a fairly sleazy industry, though, and Ron Blair was starting to fall out of love with his dream when working with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers.
Having gone through an enormous lawsuit with the band and then dealing with all the suits looking for a piece of them, Blair wasn’t exactly happy with what life on the road was bringing. Combine that with being criticised for every bass line he played, and it didn’t take long for Blair to opt out, leaving the group in the early 1980s so that Howie Epstein could take over.
Though Blair felt fine after seeing them live, he got a second act. Once Epstein passed away, Blair returned to the band again after playing a handful of tracks on the album The Last DJ. While it seems impossible to get a gig in one of the most iconic bands in American history, Blair is one of the few people who can claim to have been in the Heartbreakers twice.
6. Neil Peart – Rush
One of the unspoken rules about the rock industry is that prog-rock bands aren’t supposed to get famous. Although acts like Pink Floyd may have been known for their gargantuan live shows, it was never about the photogenic faces that were mugging for the camera in interviews. Even though Rush was heralded as one of the most famous cult bands, Neil Peart was comfortable running away from fame.
Although Peart liked being one of the best drummers to ever live, his idea of fame was vastly different from what everyone else had in mind. Not wanting to go along with the usual star machine, Peart eventually channelled those feelings into ‘Limelight’, where he talked about the struggles of being an introverted person in an industry that thrives on extroverts.
Up until his death, Peart would be reluctant to anyone calling him one of the greatest drummers ever, often refusing any backstage interaction because of how embarrassed he would get. Though most of Peart’s issues may have been chalked up to shyness, the crowd cheering for them at the end of every Rush performance would be more than enough adulation for him.
5. Amy Winehouse
There’s a certain gamble that comes with being a throwback act. Even though nothing pays like nostalgia, there’s also little room to grow in the field when half of the material to draw from comes from decades before. Then again, Amy Winehouse would have been one of a kind in any generation, but the 21st-century version of the press would not be easy.
When she burst onto the scene with her massive album Back to Black, Winehouse would get hounded by the press about her personal life. Coupled with her rocky relationship with ex-partners, Winehouse would drown her sorrows with alcohol, known for partying too hard and giving the press a field day to work with anything she was involved in.
As the press relentlessly hounded her for what her life was all about, Winehouse would soon crack under the pressure, passing away of alcohol poisoning at 27. While there’s a certain responsibility that comes with being one of the biggest musicians in the world, no one deserves to go through the internal nightmare that Winehouse had been subjected to.
4. Bob Dylan
The entire premise of Bob Dylan‘s songs was about being more individualistic than everyone around you. Despite being the Everyman on tracks like ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’, Dylan quickly became the spokesman for the next generation of musicians, inspiring everyone from The Byrds to The Beatles to change their usual writing style. While no one could get away from Dylan’s music, they would never be able to see the real person hidden underneath those shades.
Never liking the adulation that came with fame, Dylan was cagey and often confrontational with reporters. Outside of the press junkets he was subjected to, Dylan would also go on various tirades against any type of press agent that wanted to know him personally, immortalising that slimy stripe of a person in the song ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’.
For all of the adulation he received, Dylan never failed to make brilliant pieces of art, creating one consecutive classic after another about dissecting what his role in society was supposed to be now that he was famous. Dylan’s way with words may have paid off for him in the long run, but his reputation as a songsmith gave him a spokesman role he never asked for.
3. Brian Wilson – The Beach Boys
More than a few musicians are looking to get into the game just to be famous. No matter how many times they might claim that it comes back to the music, it’s usually about putting the right notes together so they can be their generation’s latest pinup star. Every so often, though, people like Brian Wilson come along that just want to make the world a happier place.
Working alongside his brothers and cousin Mike Love in The Beach Boys, Wilson was known for making mini teenage symphonies out of traditional pop songs. Once the band started taking to the road during the mid-1960s, though, Wilson found himself unable to control the manufactured side of himself with the musician side, leading to a nervous breakdown on a flight between two gigs.
Instead of going back out on the road, Wilson turned the studio into a personal playground, creating what would become Pet Sounds out of working with The Wrecking Crew. He may have created one of the biggest acts in rock history, but in terms of his place in the story of rock and roll, The Beach Boys are the band, and Brian Wilson is the genius who wrote it all.
2. Syd Barrett – Pink Floyd
The beginnings of Pink Floyd didn’t necessarily belong in the world of prog-rock. Coming from the psychedelic period in the late 1960s, the band’s first incarnation with Syd Barrett began as a crazy art-rock band playing warped songs about space like ‘See Emily Play’ and ‘Astronomy Domine’. However, Barrett began to crack up behind the scenes almost immediately after getting famous.
Due to the effects of the psychedelic drugs he was taking, Barrett became the main casualty of the group, as his mind slowly deteriorated in front of his bandmates. From forgetting song lyrics to struggling to hold his guitar pick correctly, Barrett was unfit to continue with the band, leading to them drafting in David Gilmour to provide a handful of guitar parts for the album A Saucerful of Secrets.
Nothing would stop Barrett’s spiral, eventually being asked to leave the band after production finished. Although he may have left the group, the spirit of Barrett never left the rest of the band, writing songs about the warnings of the industry and creating an entire album in tribute to Barrett’s memory for Wish You Were Here. While Floyd may have been on the rise since Barrett’s departure, life would never be the same after they saw what the rock and roll lifestyle could do to someone.
1. Kurt Cobain – Nirvana
The entire trajectory of Kurt Cobain was a beautiful contradiction. Although he may have wanted to be part of one of the biggest bands in the world, he was still an indie nerd who loved the idea of being in an underground outfit forever. No one can have both, and Cobain was thrown for a loop when Nirvana went from hometown heroes to one of the biggest musical phenomena since The Beatles.
With the release of Nevermind, Cobain was quickly heralded as one of the kings of the next rock movement, which quickly turned into an albatross around his neck. Almost as a way to shake off any potential hangers-on, Cobain deliberately made the album In Utero to be more uncommercial than their previous effort, only for people to flock to the songs anyway because of the band name on the CD.
While Cobain was able to make peace with a few aspects of fame, his ongoing depression and drug dependency continued to spiral until 1994, when he was found dead in Seattle after shooting himself. Although rock and roll has always been about the larger-than-life aspects that come with the music business, Kurt Cobain may have been the one person too honest to compromise his vision.
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