The Score Magazine - Archive April 2009 issue! | Page 34

Appetite for

Destruction

Vijay Iyer

Oliver Stone once remarked that every new generation needs someone to go out on the edge for them. During the‘ 60s when rock‘ n’ roll excess was properly born with the hippy counterculture, rock stars could be found queuing up at the edge of the abyss; their senses totalled by a drug intake that often verged on the heroic. Many of these‘ 60s hedonists like Hendrix, Morrison and Brian Jones failed to last the assault course. Others, like Eric Clapton, reformed and settled down in country mansions, emerging once a year for cozy month-long residencies at the Albert Hall. By the early‘ 70s, the counterculture had floundered but a whole new chapter of rock‘ n’ roll excess had opened up, best epitomized by Led Zeppelin who set a seemingly unattainable standard of mindless depravity for the rock bands that followed them; including sex with sharks, chopping up hotel rooms with samurai swords and the cultivation of whacking great drug habits.“ It’ s like a stag party that never ends,” commented Jimmy Page on the band’ s dissolute lifestyle. But, eventually, the stag party did wind itself up. By the start of the‘ 80s, Led Zep and many of their contemporaries had given up the ghost and an era of drug fuelled decadence was at an end. It was to be succeeded by a period of reform where charity events, raised awareness and body consciousness became the new rage. Rock‘ n’ roll had finally buried its coke spoon in the back garden and discovered within itself, a conscience. Like Joplin and Morrison, there are other music legends that have been immortalized through their songs. Kurt Cobain and Ian Curtis, both young and musically gifted, were at the peak of their careers when they decided to end their lives. Cobain with his band Nirvana are remembered for introducing the“ grunge sound.” For his part, Curtis and the rest of Joy Division had left a legacy through the song Love will Tear Us Apart. Despite the appearance of“ having it all”, these artists were unhappy and tortured psychologically and emotionally. Even with all their external success and public acclaim, Cobain shot himself and Curtis committed suicide by hanging. What made them that way? Self-destructive people are aware of their faults. They can be self-critical of their work and often think that they are not good enough, creative enough or smart