While I am waiting for the noodles in my mac & cheese to cook, I am watching That Thing You Do! on Netflix. I love this movie! It’s the story of a 1-hit-wonder band called “The Wonders” and stars Tom Hanks with a great supporting cast.
The movie accurately portrays the prospects of making it big in the music biz as purely a combination of timing and luck. That is, talent is secondary – a fact that is made aparent by the glut of pop stars puking in our ears at any given moment with their unartistic, cavity-inducing ear candy. No offense to you pop stars out there. There certainly is something to making successful pop music…but it is more machine than art. I stand firm in the belief that any band, if played enough on MTV at the right time, will sell 1 million records. When that corporate buzz machine gets kicking, there ain’t no stoppin’ it.
I would be lying if I said that my disdain for the music biz wasn’t partly due to jealousy. Surely, I would have sold out long ago if fame had offered its ugly hand. It would be quite an adventure to have millions of fans, wouldn’t it?
But, fame has not arrived at my door…yet. So I plug along. And, hey – It’s not that bad!
