Our favorite cranky Canadian uncle, Glenn Fricker, has a new vlog entitled “Music Is Not A Meritocracy”. In the video, Glenn rants about how musical talent can matter very little if you’re trying to get noticed by the public at large.
Coming to terms with that can be a bit of a hard pill to shelve, especially for metal musicians. I mean, you might have spent your teenage years toiling away on your guitar in your bedroom, with only your virginity and social anxiety keeping you company. But some people put in half the practice, have friends, do regular teenager shit and turn out way more successful at music. Sounds kinda unjust huh? Well it turns out, no one really cares that you can speed pick ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ or can nail the sweep section of ‘Antithesis’.
Don’t believe me? Well old man Fricker has some hard truths for you.
lol’d @ “female privilege” tho. It sounds like something that would get discussed a lot on reddit.
I mostly, kinda, sorta agree with Glenn. Sure music is not a meritocracy in then sense of “the best players are the most successful”. However, I would argue that it is a meritocracy in terms of content quality, and how well you deliver something people actually want. It seems to me that the best songwriters or best business minds do still become the most successful. Regardless of their looks.
Also, looks don’t last. So being the best at something certainly isn’t gonna hurt. It’s just that being really good at your instrument is actually one of the least important factors in becoming successful (as Sergeant D has previously pointed out in this super insightful article).
Bon Jovi > Sacred Reich. IMO.
“Talented” musicians that object to less skillful players becoming undeservedly more successful are like nice-guys. Nice-guys complain about being friendzoned and whine about girls only dating assholes. When in reality the “nice-guys” are just clingy, insufferable dweebs. Girls don’t want creepy, passive-aggressive dudes and the public doesn’t want to be punished by your 16th-note mixolydian string skipping exercise over blast beats at 250bpm.
So, I dunno. Just don’t get bogged down in the minutiae of your instrument and expect it to equal success.
If you like curmudgeonly older gentlemen telling you what’s up, subscribe to Glenn Fricker’s Spectre Sound Studios Youtube channel.
john widmer / May 12, 2017 9:20 pm
Going into “nice guy bash” mode is quite cunty. I can smell beta male trying to appease feminists from a mile away in this article, when it was supposed to be about how showing slutty looking women sells in music videos and promotes bands far faster.
Making music is one thing. Making money is another. There’s a craft and then there’s business. Successful musicians are just successful businessmen, or paying someone in percentages to do crafty business for them.
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