In many ways it's more of a loss for those that are the end listener. I'm sure most of us, at one time or another, dream of hitting the big time, those that do make it, either buy luck or phenomenal skill make huge sacrifices in controlling their lives and suffer when going out in public, everybody wants a piece of them, meaning their time.
Many of us, like myself, love the music and play what we want, we grow and move in and out of genres at our whim, we are playing and the audience is right there, those that chose to come up to us are welcome to and are either musicians themselves or really love music and it has very little to do with any kind of fame or curiosities along those lines, the recording star is playing what their fans want to hear, some of them are almost locked into their heyday, how boring and tired that must be. I play tunes I've played since I started performing, but they are songs I love and enjoy, not some lame assed tune that a bunch of frenzied fans demand.
Chuck Berry wrote some of the greatest tunes in Rock and Roll, an honest to God Godfather of the genre, did you know that the only song he wrote that went to #1 was a lame assed piece title "My Dig A Ling" no wonder he has such a bad attitude.
I ran into my buddy Albert after he came off a long road trip, he wants the big time and has worked extremely hard to get where he is, he was telling me how it was so much easier and more fun when he was a side man for Junior Wells, my proportion of envy is really low compared to my gratitude that it's not me. Many of the greats don't suffer this way but they keep a low profile and it can still be a chore to play private citizen when that feeling strikes. If Albert asked me to go on tour with him I would, even if only as a guitar tech, maybe one of the reasons I'm a bass player is the built in obscurity that comes with that position, but I would be done and could walk away. It's hard work, and an extremely hard life.
A huge plus is my band and I can choose to play any of the greatest tunes ever written and not be chained to some lame assed tune we wrote 40 years ago that's so dated and never really stood on it's own as a classic piece.
Music is a huge part of my life, I even listen to it from time to time, I play every day, I started a band in 1965 and have maybe 5 or 6 years since then that I haven't, even then I played. I've had three traumatic accidents that severely affected my hands and arms, that took a good amount of time to get back to where I was, music wise. But I have other interests and the time and resources to enjoy exploring them, not being able to do that and grow in what for me is a natural direction, would be the sacrifice.
What's that one tune, Thank God for un-answered prayers "o) bingo.
