I filed this piece under happiness because, if you’re older (40 or above), and you make your own music, you need to know this in order to be happy.
Many guitarists start playing in their teens sometime and dream of “making it,” meaning making a career in a successful band. The odds of that have always been lottery high, unless of course you play covers or play in a tribute band, but that’s not usually what teens dream of. I wanted to play guitar in a band like KISS or Rush. My first (and only) band did original music that leaned toward prog rock. Obviously that went nowhere.
One day you wake up and you’re 40. Or 50. Or 60, 70, 80. The “dream is dead.” You’ve had your career, but not in Rush. You’re a teacher, a computer programmer, a bus driver, a doctor, whatever. But you still want to write songs.
If that’s you, you’ve outlasted 95% of the rest of the kids you knew in high school who played an instrument.
So write your songs. But to record them, you either need to be tech-inclined or know someone who is and is willing to record you. You need to program drums, but down bass lines, all that stuff. Now you’re really elite – almost no one at your age still makes music like that.
The reason is that, as we get older, music gets less important in our lives… unless it’s in our blood and we don’t have a choice. The wonderful thing is that you can now use tech to make and share your own music to the world, for relatively not much money. So you do. And your friends and family say “Why aren’t you famous? This is better than what’s on the radio.”
But that’s a low bar, isn’t it? And also… it might be possible that your best upbeat song might be popular on radio if given a chance, but the second anyone realizes the music was made by some 59 year old dude in his bedroom, the fun would end. And it’s more likely that you’re making music that sounds like what was on the radio when you were 18.
Young people listen to radio and they don’t want something that sounds like what their parents liked – they need to find their own music they like. And it’s always been that way. And that’s impossible to stop. Right?
Kate Bush just ended up in the Spotify Top 20 with “Running Up That Hill,” a song from the 80s. Huh? It was featured on Stranger Things. It sort of proves that under the right conditions when people are open, they’ll like or dislike a song based on what they think of the song, without regard for who sang it… and when. Right?
Yes… but it’s doubtful that young people will be running out to scour Kate Bush’s catalog. It’s today’s pop song, and tomorrow’s forgotten track. The young people won’t want more of that.
As I’ve written about previously, there are genres where they don’t care about your age, like Bluegrass, Jazz, the Blues, and… um… there may be more. Polka, that’s another one. I guess Prog Rock has become that, depending on what KIND of Prog Rock.
The key to happiness is to understand that there is no hope for popularity for your music if you are old. Once you give that up and make music just for YOU, you’ll be much happier. And if your music is amazing, it’s not impossible that you might be able to gain an audience. You might even be able to make money. But unless you’re in an “old person” genre, you’re not going to be able to quit your job. But you can make exactly the kind of music you want to make. And if that’s not what makes you happy, you’re doing it wrong.
