While I would not classify myself as a musician, I do very much enjoy the consumption of melody and verse. I love music that makes you think. There are some songs that are just plain compelling that way. One album just filled with such provocative goodness is Fantasies by Metric. They ask a great question:
“After all of this is gone
Who’d you rather be
The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?”
Of course you can interpret this several different ways, but I’m constantly struck with what seems to be a dramatic distinction between the two bands: The Rolling Stones are still going.
Both were British bands that struck it big in the USA. Both topped charts. Both played to sold-out stadiums. Screaming fans, problems with drugs, iconic celebrity status – both bands had it all. But the Beatles broke up, with John Lennon’s drama, in a blaze of glory. The Stones are pushing 60 (and look 100) and still performing with as much effort as they can muster.
Not only is there a cultural fascination with youth, but there is a fascination also with the beautiful tragedy expressed in “living hard and dying young.” I’ve talked to people who don’t know what they want to do next. I’d probably list myself among them. But there is a difference between not knowing or not planning for the future and living, with the full and serious expectation, to die before turning thirty or forty. It seems that people would rather be the Beatles – to go out in a blaze of glory.
It’s the Picture of Dorian Grey for our contemporary society. Rather than seeking to keep youth forever, we seem quite content to simply end the story when we are no longer young. Oscar Wilde envisioned the decay of an individual kept unnaturally young. Now we are ready to conclude before the onset of becoming naturally old.
I’ve been thinking about what it means to grow up. There seems to be several attitude and paradigm shifts that are absolutely vital and fundamentally positive.
Rather than the extended adolescence described in American society, growing up means understanding one’s trajectory and purpose in life. It means accepting responsibility for personal decisions and actions. It means being able to commit to something (relationships, passions, positions, and ideals) for the long haul. It does not mean losing a sense of adventure or wonder. It is looking at the world squarely and with levity. Seeing truth, pursuing it, and not being too jaded to enjoy oneself.
A good place to start is listening to Metric and deciding if you want the blaze-out or the slow and steady burn.
“Oh seriously, you’re gonna make mistakes, you’re young
Come on baby play me something
Like ‘Here Comes the Sun.’”