I had the (mis)fortune of seeing Ke$ha on SNL last night, and it made me wonder: did her guitarist as a child hope to someday play mindless riffs that could barely be heard over synthesized bleeps and bloops while wearing a silver jumpsuit and space helmet? Somehow, I cannot imagine this being the case. My problem is not that he is a sideman or accompanist; the Band (Bob Dylan) and the Eagles (Linda Ronstadt) did so quite effectively, but they were essentially playing the same kind of music that they would choose to write themselves. Nor do I claim that hip-hop and rock & roll are mutually exclusive, having seen The Roots meld the two so well. But this performance was in no way synergistic.
My thought is that a lover of electro-pop and rap music would never choose to pick up the guitar, but would instead practice scratching records, mixing samples, singing, etc. The kinds of interests that would entice someone to learn to play guitar are exactly those that the music of Ke$ha repudiates. So does that guitarist actually love his work, or has he resigned himself to the fact that he will never be respected by his peers and accepted this as a way to monetize his talents? What about all of the instrumentalists supporting boy bands, pop divas, or American Idols? Have any of them ever gone on to successful careers of their own? Am I just closed-minded when it comes to musical genres?
It strikes me that you might ask the same question about the members of the house band on SNL and other late-night television shows? Most of those guys are jazz musicians who took an opportunity for a steady paycheck. They have to play commercially-acceptable music on these shows, but it does not seem quite so antithetical to their art. Certainly, members of these bands such as Michael Brecker, Lou Marini, Doc Severinsen, and Branford Marsalis have had acclaimed careers outside of those bands.
For most musicians, especially those who grow up playing jazz, being a studio musician or playing on one of the few working big bands (I would classify all the late night bands to be this) IS having a career of relative acclaim. Just getting a job is challenging, so the vast majority teach. Actually being able to play your instrument for a living is so rare that anyone who does so has to be considered very successful. Certainly those who play in ‘good’ bands like the late night bands are extremely successful and acclaimed by their peers, and most if not all do other work on the side, appearing on recordings and what not.
-Ryan
Comment by Michaluk — April 18, 2010 @ 11:55 pm
One of our semi-regular contributors pointed out to me that they did not dream of writing Point-Of-Sale software, which is what they do, but that it pays the bills. I wish to explain why this is not quite the same thing. My dream is to teach computer science or a related field at a college or university. (So far, my attempts to land such a job in my immediate geographical area have been unsuccessful, but that is a topic for another post.) If I cannot find such a position, I would be happy enough as a researcher at an industrial or government organization, a software developer, database administrator, or a high-school teacher. If I somehow found myself unqualified for any of those careers or many others, I think I could lead a contented life while stocking shelves in a grocery store for a living. In that case, I would compartmentalize my life into shelf-stocking, which is purely for financial purposes, and my family, hobbies, etc from which I derive my self-worth.
There is however, a job that I could not do and maintain my self-respect. If I took a job with a full schedule of teaching supposedly college-level students how to browse the web and use Microsoft Office year after year, I do not think I would be able to separate it out as “just a job”. That is close enough to what I actually want to do to be a mockery of everything I have worked for and believe in. In my imagination, playing guitar in a band like Ke$ha’s is a similar scenario.
Comment by chadhogg — April 19, 2010 @ 12:58 pm