HERE'S WHAT I THINK
Is it better to burn out or fade away?
In a world where our pop culture icons typically either leave us too soon or stick around far, far too long, which method do you prefer?
This is an extension of the classic Beatles vs Rolling Stones argument, but not limited to the same time period of time they both made music. Do you prefer the Beatles with their short career that was almost always at the top of their game or would you rather the Stone with their questionable career moves over the years but who have a much larger and more diverse catalogue?
Television is the same... didn't Xfiles go on for about 2 seasons too long? Didn't Twin Peaks end too quickly? I know Northern Exposure did it just right, but just right doesn't count in this argument, monkeybrains.
Heath Ledger obviously comes to mind as a recent example and Christian Slater tickles me as the opposite, he had a great career and sort of faded away and then he came back and made you forget he was once intriguing.
And Nirvana vs Pearl Jam mucks up the argument even more. Nirvana obviously had a huge impact on music, bigger than Pearl Jam in Kurt Cobain's short life, but Pearl Jam continues to innovate and challenge its fans. Is the bigger package better than the short revolution?
Supporting burning out for the sake of this argument does not support dying young, so please don't try to take that angle. For the sake of the argument think of it as quitting while you are ahead.
YOUR TURN!
Is it better to burn out or fade away?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byI like the burn
Gandree says:
Might depend on the music but there are very few old men I would like to see hanging on to their bell bottoms.
Posted May 02, 2008
ElvisTCB says:
Burn out baby!!
James Dean did it right! Elvis? not so right. The whole ?bathroom thing? is very embarrassing. I still think about how much cooler his legacy would be if he had crashed and died on that helicopter ride into the Aloha from Hawaii concert!
Paul Newman is a good example of someone fading away. It's sad to see him fade to dust slowly every few years when he shows up in a movie. He should have found a classic way to off himself right after Cool Hand Luke!
As for myself, I am getting a little long in the tooth. Unless a good round of cancer comes my way soon, I will probably need to go ahead and start a list of interesting ways to burn out.
Posted March 25, 2008
famousmortimer says:
Wow, that was a brain fart. In the post below this one I say the blog is at blogspot, it's not, it's at wordpress. famousmortimer.wordpress.com Sorry =)
Posted March 24, 2008
famousmortimer says:
After some soul searching on the issue I am going to go with burn out. I don't think that Nirvana Nevermind would be as important as it is if the band was still around making inferior music. While it's sad to me that I will never hear a new nirvana song, i take solace in the fact that everything that exists is top notch. And The Rolling Stones touring at the age of 95 makes me kinda queezy.
Also, I blogged about this concept at famousmortimer.blogspot.com check it out if you are bored and like reading long winded ramblings of stick figure with a balloon. The blog itself is all about HMB in general, I just started on it but it will be updated daily, I promise :)
Posted March 24, 2008
JaguarJulie says:
Gosh, I find this easy to answer as I'd rather BURN out! "I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant flame than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." --Jack London
Posted March 24, 2008
Watch it slowly fade away
LePoochie says:
When I was young I would have said burn out, but now I'm groovin' along on the fade...
Posted August 21, 2008
Ed Blaylock says:
This is a tough one. The Stones were before my time, but I really enjoyed seeing their "farewell" tour several years ago.
I'd kill to see Led Zepplin if they do actually put a tour together, so I have to go with fading away.
Posted March 26, 2008
Steve Stifano says:
Slow Burn, Slow Burn all up in my azz!
I love the hacks that keep knocking around purely because they know they can skate on nostalgia. This goes with anyone; MJ-taking 20 jumpers in order to sink a game winner(psyke! thanks for ruining the moment Kobe!) in a meaningless All-Star Game, George Lucas and his endless "promising" of a return to smaller more intimate, intellectual films to only to toss them in the drawer after realizing the world needs another Star Wars property because his hideous children want a Veyron on sweet 16 or the countless "classic" music that only sticks around because of people aching to remember the night they finger fucked a girl in a camaro.
And it's all awesome, because when you aren't looking at these things with a revisionist hindsight you get to see the idiotic nature of them and the people who worship "THEM" for the assholes they are.
Personally though, if I had my choice I'd burn out, I plan on getting aids by 30 anyway.
Posted March 25, 2008
Jeff says:
OMG! Is that guy for real about wanting to get cancer or make a list of ways to kill himself??
He needs some serious psychological help.
I am sticking around on this planet for as long as I possibly can. If anybody comes to pull the plug on me, they are going to have to pry it from my cold dead hand.
Posted March 25, 2008
steve ross says:
Of course nobody wants to ride a gradient of relative significance to obscurity to oblivion (or worse , ridicule); no one desires to "overstay their welcome," be it figuratively or literally. This is human nature. Legitimacy, tact, and (for the purposes of the premise you provide), artistic integrity are of great historical importance.
But more time does provide more opportunity. Beethoven didn't hang it up when he began losing his hearing. After a sixteen year hiatus, Celtic Frost put out Monotheist. And these are just two silly examples drawn from music. There are many more media, many more cultural perspectives on the necessity and value of art that we can worm ourselves into should we continue this tack.
But, as I see it, even if as one sits and gathers mold, one observes. An accretion of belief, desire, and experience builds up and around the individual and informs novel thoughts, acts, ideas -- or at at least this is the potential. If inertia can be derived, then good -- the wake left behind is for contemporaneous sensibilities to measure and value. Not for its creator.
A people's pallet is not fixed. A creative instinct should never be stymied.
Posted March 24, 2008
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