We expect artists to be consistently insane. I learned a long time ago that the persona of the insane artist is a relatively new one. And that appealed to my cynicism against poseur artists. Today, however, I might be having a change of heart. We've always kept art, and therefore artists around to express our darker feelings. It's just in earlier eras (in our culture, in recent history) artists had to hide the raw aspects of their insanities like the rest of us do now.
These thoughts came when reflecting on how rigid our expectations are of rock bands. Once the band has established the prevailing mood of its music it seems hard for them to break out of it, assuming they even try. Also, perhaps related, I think of the requirement for front men to be "crazy". Whether it's ecstasy or agony we want jean clad prancing shamanism all the way.
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