Musings on Rock Stardom
**Normally I'm not a YouTube person, but for this post, I've added some videos so you can listen to the music I'm talking about. Most of it, you may know, but it's fun to listen to it while you're reading about it.**
Last night Mike and I went out for dinner and Maroon 5's catchy "Moves like Jagger"
came on the house stereo. That started a conversation about rock stardom and the concept of being a rock star. He told me that it never fails that at least once a year he had to explain to a student or two that no matter how awesome a rapper was, or how hard they managed to party, they still wanted to "party like a rock star". Even Lil Wayne, deep down, wanted to be Mic Jagger. In recent years, no single artist has been banned from an entire chain of hotels, nor have there been rumors of trying to remodel one's hotel room with a chainsaw. No one has managed to drive a Ferrari into a hotel swimming pool, no one has made national news with their rock star party attitude.
Even rock stars want to be rock stars. Since the beginning of rock stardom, artists and bands have sung songs hoping that simply singing about their love of the rock star lifestyle would help them catapult into the upper stratosphere of the music world. When I was young, I remember my dad playing Dr. Hook's "Cover of the Rolling Stone"
... which, while silly, mostly talks about how awesome it would would be to be a rock star. I remember thinking the song was really embarrassing when I was young. The mention of a girl named "Cocaine Katie" seemed almost obscene, but now, in looking back, I realize it's not as bad as I once thought it was.
Then, as the years go on and the rocking becomes harder - the hair bands get into it and Twisted Sister throws their hat into the ring with "I wanna rock".
This came to mind because it's used in the show "Rock of Ages", which, by the way, is awesome. (this music video is entertaining on multiple levels, watch it if you have a few minutes). I find this funny, because in looking back on it, hair bands were notorious for rocking and being the true definition of a rock star. Despite this, these guys wanted to spell it out and make sure that everyone KNEW that they wanted to be rock stars.
And my final entry in the "I want to be a rock star" category - is actually Nickelback's song "Rockstar"
in which the chorus says over and over "I wanna be a rock star". Not only is this hilarious because they, at this point in their careers, can truly be considered rock stars - they've sold millions of albums world wide, but they add an extra layer of it in the video. For those of you that haven't seen it, or don't feel like watching it, it's simply a series of people lip synching the lyrics to the song. Good enough, right? Because "we all want to be a big rock star", as the song says. But, they up the ante by throwing in a few actual rock stars (Kid Rock, Gene Simmons, etc) claiming that they too, want to be rock stars.
Ok, so, honestly, this post was about as useless as they come... but I think it's just funny how we all think of "rock stars" - and how even the rock stars want to be bigger than they are. So - does any one else know of any "I want to be a rock star" songs? If I get enough, I'm defiantly making a playlist!
Last night Mike and I went out for dinner and Maroon 5's catchy "Moves like Jagger"
came on the house stereo. That started a conversation about rock stardom and the concept of being a rock star. He told me that it never fails that at least once a year he had to explain to a student or two that no matter how awesome a rapper was, or how hard they managed to party, they still wanted to "party like a rock star". Even Lil Wayne, deep down, wanted to be Mic Jagger. In recent years, no single artist has been banned from an entire chain of hotels, nor have there been rumors of trying to remodel one's hotel room with a chainsaw. No one has managed to drive a Ferrari into a hotel swimming pool, no one has made national news with their rock star party attitude.
Even rock stars want to be rock stars. Since the beginning of rock stardom, artists and bands have sung songs hoping that simply singing about their love of the rock star lifestyle would help them catapult into the upper stratosphere of the music world. When I was young, I remember my dad playing Dr. Hook's "Cover of the Rolling Stone"
Then, as the years go on and the rocking becomes harder - the hair bands get into it and Twisted Sister throws their hat into the ring with "I wanna rock".
And my final entry in the "I want to be a rock star" category - is actually Nickelback's song "Rockstar"
Ok, so, honestly, this post was about as useless as they come... but I think it's just funny how we all think of "rock stars" - and how even the rock stars want to be bigger than they are. So - does any one else know of any "I want to be a rock star" songs? If I get enough, I'm defiantly making a playlist!
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