The Five Stages of Rock: Stage 2

Stage 2: Mr. Sensitive Pony Tail Man.

   In my early 20's I was basically a teenager with money. Then at 25-27 I hit the first ever introspective period of my life. That led to my late 20's which I basically ruined with my preoccupation over the fact that 30 was fast approaching. 

 

  Thats a very rare picture of me in my early 20's. Rocking my "Mr. Sensitive Pony Tail Man," Look.

  Turning 18 was like life playing a cruel joke on you. You're old enough to vote, die for your country, buy cigarettes, win the lottery, go to certain non-alcohol serving titty bars, but not old enough to buy booze. 

   In my early 20's I traded hanging out at the mall, for hanging out at the bar - almost nightly, and then showing up to work everyday extremely hungover. Lots of house parties, concerts and clubs. 

   But not dance, top 40, rap friggin clubs. I'm talking more like industrial/rock clubs. Places that you would hear everything from Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails to more industrial, techno-ish stuff. Crowds of all rockers and goths. 

   My musical tastes underwent a drastic change. Metal gave way to Grunge, and as a guitarist this marked a fundamental change in the way I approached music and guitar playing. 

   Heavy Metal had been about how fast you can play, how many scales and modes do you know, how long can you guitar solo for and how many riffs can you fit into one song. And there were only two looks. Either you had long hair and looked like a sissy or you had long hair and looked like a psychotic drifter.

   When Nirvana released Nevermind in 1992, it shared the Billboard Top Ten  with the likes of Garth Brooks, Michael Jackson, Michael Bolton and MC. Hammer. 

   The first time I heard Nirvana, I didn't know what to make of it. It was the kind of confusion I imagine you would have meeting an alien civilization. There were no guitar solos, and the guitar was out of tune. As far as the vocals go, the earth shattering highs that you heard in most of the metal bands was obviously missing. Kurt Cobain was dressed more like a vagrant panhandler than a rock musician. From a guitarists point of view, the music was so simple and it was so damn heavy. I can't tell you how many nights I spent listening to Nevermind over and over again, playing along to the songs with an almost anger over how easy they were. 

   "These songs are so fucking simple, why couldn't I have thought of this?"

     

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   The 90's was a great decade for rock music. I don't think the 90's have been given the proper credit they deserve, but I think time will eventually show this to be true. 

   So as my cassettes turned into cd's my music collection became filled with other innovators like Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Alice in Chains and many others.

 

 After a while the 'newness' of grunge rock wore off and then it became a scene just as ridiculous as the whole metal scene had been before.

Boy You Said It Family Guy!

   Just like Metal, which was cool, developed Hair Metal which was totally lame - Grunge which was cool developed this horrible caricature of itself which was also totally lame. Just like Family Guy said, you had this barrage of what I call 'low singers' you know your Dave Mathews, and Creeds, and Rob Thomases of the world . 

   So What Does All This Shit Have to do with Stage 2? 

Ok so just in case I wandered too far off topic, let me explain

   Grunge came along and (at least at first, when it was still new) showed people that you didn't have to fit into a certain stereotype if you wanna frigging rock out hard. You don't have to look or sound a certain way. Grunge was that weird kid in the back of class that nobody talked to, that wore ratty clothes and never combed his hair. 

   Once I saw Kurt Cobain, and the grunge movement show the world that, you should never conform to what others are doing, and its totally cool to be yourself, musically, artistically, personally - That was the day I decided to do the same. 

   My teens were spent desperately trying to fit in, and find an identity for myself...My twenties began with me realizing how futile that is. You can't find an identity for yourself, because "yourself" is the identity. The sooner you accept yourself, your life, your present circumstances, the sooner you can actually start living your life instead of just surviving thru it. 

   Some people never get past that, and spend the rest of their lives always trying in vain to "find themselves" always trying to please other people

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But You Don't Have to Take My Word For It

 Listen to these Other Famous Successful Graduates of Stage 2

“Don’t die with your music still inside you. Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul. Listen to that inner voice, and don’t get to the end of your life and say, ‘What if my whole life has been wrong?” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary - Steve Jobs

Next time on Guitardedblog.com - The Five Stages of Rock: Stage 3