Show Biz Kids.....
 

It's a line from a Steely Dan track:

Show biz kids making movies of themselves
You know they don't give a f**k about anybody else

I was reminded of it by Chula's recent championing of Taxman, and elphenor's reply:-

The Taxman lyrics are a bit snarky, and the song was inspired by GH learning that some Beatles income was being taxed at 95 pence in the pound. They came out with 5 pence in their own pocket, so his annoyance is understandable, but ultimately I agree with elphenor; don't bleat to me about your hard life, show biz kids.

I wonder who are the biggest ingrates, who let their discontent about stardom spill over into their songs - and how sympathetic do you feel towards their complaints?

Prince sure did bitch a lot about being a rockstar and then his music got boring.

Metallica war against downloading and their music has sucked for a long time

Neil Young with this bud's for you or whatever that was. He keeps making good music.

^ Thanks, Occult H. I didn't know that Prince was a grumbler too.

Van Morrison has a reputation as a rather unhappy soul, and on this album he berates us across a couple of songs about his hard deal as a musician:-

......

How much sympathy do I have? Quite a lot, because the songs are so good, and in the first one at least, he ties his rock-star disenchantment back to a general existential malaise that any of us might feel. The stinging invective about the music business is saved for the second song...

Roger Waters spit on fans and then made the wall about how alienating life as a rockstar is

I had another damnit

Rush kind of bitches about it in limelight

Lol yeah kind of Wizard of Oz level disillusionment there.

^ Yeah, he's a good example. I saw him once doing Pros and Cons of Hitch-hiking and he obviously felt obliged to do at least some old Floyd classics. One slow song started up, (maybe Fat Old Sun ) and the audience started clapping along, until Big Bad Rodge suddenly stopped the song dead. There was this weird silence as he walked to the mike and said, "You know, it would really be much nicer if you didn't do that." Then he started the song over, while we all sat there like schoolboys who'd been told off. You could've heard a pin drop, as they say!

That's so odd that you have first-hand experience of that, cos I read a review of another concert (or maybe the same one, though I doubt it) where the reviewer said that during the song "If" (I don't know it, unless it's the Bread classic?) a guy started whistling and Waters said "Don't whistle, mate. It'd be better without the whistling." Jesus. Come to a Roger Waters concert but do not under any circumstances show that you enjoy it and for Christ's sake do not participate in any way! Hard to see him doing a Freddy Mercury "way-hay-hay-hay" singalong thing, isn't it?

On another note, this song from Fish of Marillion, from his fourth solo album, whining about fame and its hollowness, always kind of pissed me off.