Rock Star Credibility

We expect our rock stars to stand apart from the crowd. To have some degree of mystery which draws us towards them with a desire to become involved in their cool, isolated world. We don't really want to see them greeting everyone in the room, shaking their hands and asking them if they enjoyed their performance. They should be skulking around in the shadows, perhaps surrounded by a tight group of friends who shoot daggers at anyone foolish enough to think that they too can become part of their elite circle of chic.

Most artists seem more than happy to play up to this expectation. When you see them at a gig, they don't come off stage and relax in the bar with you. They leave via side of stage, whisked away to a green room or tour bus, perhaps only a few lucky fans (girls) with them. We like this because it allows our imaginations to play. Based on the very little amount of actual knowledge we have on these rock stars, we create entire personalities for them. We can only imagine that after leaving that gig, they threw party in a hotel room, surrounded by models and other socialites. When everyone around them has indulged a little too much, they will probably retire to a quiet balcony where they will woo a young lady, perhaps by playing them song on a beat up acoustic guitar. I can't imagine they turn in for the night as they are driven to the next destination on the tour.

But what about when local musicians start morphing into these mysterious enigmas? When the guy who used to serve you in the local pub and went to school with your younger sister now starts wearing sunglasses and a coat inside. Any attempt to converse with them will be met with some kind of sneer or grunt because they feel now that their status as local band member deems them too cool to share information with you.

You will never see this band of theirs perform and when asked, said band member will probably just tell you they have been in London and are working on their album. Of course everyone you know will have heard of them, but they too will never have seen them play and will struggle to recall listening to a track or two of theirs on myspace.

We don't really like that so much do we.

So when is it OK to become a complete shit? How many records must I sell before I can stop talking to people who aren't as cool as me? When can I wear sunglasses in doors?