It's very well known that the foreign born permanent A list singer in a group is an a-hole. Some have even gone as far as to speculate that his activism is all just a front for how big of an egomaniac a-hole he really is. I would have considered this a hyperbolic statement until I heard this story. Even though it's from the beginning of his career it illustrates perfectly how bad he can be.
Just before the singer's band took off, they were recording next door to another band. The other band never quite reached the success the A lister's band did, but they would become known as pioneers not only in their genre but in modern music as a whole. All of you know them, or at least who they became. Let's call them The Others. Their lead singer, EP, had a distinctive quality to his voice which helped set them apart from other bands in their genre. He also had a medical condition which had recently been forcing the band to cancel dates, and suffered from severe depression.
At this point, The Others were more well known in their country than the future A lister's band, and the A lister was not a fan. During breaks in recording he would go into the next studio and berate EP in particular. This went on for several weeks, and he was absolutely unrelenting. He would call EP's voice unlistenable, saying that he hoped EP would die of his condition soon so he wouldn't have to hear him again. He blamed EP for his own mental health struggles, claiming he wasn't really depressed but sad that nobody liked him, not even his bandmates or his wife. This was the straw that broke EP's back, and our A lister got his desired effect when he committed suicide several days later.
Almost immediately after EP had been laid to rest, The Others reformed without him. The two core members we will call BM and TT. When the A lister heard about the reformation he went to BM's house and gloated about the death of EP, saying that he should be the new lead singer. BM understandably refused and threatened to call the police, but not before the A lister had what can only be described as a breakdown in which he began claiming he was EP. The harassment didn't stop there. He repeatedly telephoned both BM and TT begging to join The Others, one time telling TT that he would kill his elderly mother if he didn't let him join.
You read that right. Our A lister drove a singer he didn't like to suicide and then tried to bully the other members into letting him take his place in his band. This is not only significant because it illustrates how much of an a-hole he is, but because it changed the course of music history forever. Things would be even more different IF The Others had took him on.
Foreign born permanent A list singer: Bono
His band: U2
The Others: Joy Division/New Order
EP: Ian Curtis (epilepsy)
BM: Bernard Sumner
TT: Peter Hook
No comments:
Post a Comment