So on the left you have Rusty Cooley, Meshuggah, and I can't place the other two. On the right you have Wally, Exodus, Testament, and Machine Head. All of the bands on the right made their money before the advent of the internet, or at least before the music bubble popped. All of the bands on the left (save Rusty, I think) didn't.
What the fuck does this poster even mean? Is it saying that old school metal bands made more money because there wasn't the internet, and that because of the internet the bands on the left didn't? Is Jeff torn between the two? Is he looking at the left even though he belongs on the right?
Is the middle text part speaking for all in the picture, or referencing only one of the two sides? Machine Head makes like 200k per show on tour with Metallica, so that doesn't add up.
It seems to me that whoever made this is pissed off that the world is becoming flatter for musicians, the playing field is leveling, and that just because you can play well doesn't automatically mean you're gonna be a rich and famous rock star. It seems to me that the person who made this is a money-hungry, bitter, old fart who is past his prime and is getting long in the tooth and will never achieve his dreams. Boo hoo. Music shouldn't have a hierarchy, and if you left it up to most of the snobby dick musicians today, we'd have to worship the ground they walk on. Well, fuck that and fuck them.
If you want to get rich, you should've gone to Wall Street. If you want to get famous, you should film yourself fucking a celebrity and put the sex tape on TMZ. If you want to be both by playing music, you need to invent a time machine and go back to the 70's and 80's, where most of the music aside from the greats was fucking terrible, but due to lack of technology they threw money at you like crazy. It reminds me of the lower-class Republicans who consistently vote Republican even though their own party consistently works AGAINST them, all because they hope that one day they'll be wealthy one day...and of course, that day never comes. A little less idealism and a little more realism would go a long way in the music industry.
Art is not a profession, it's a way of life. Only the extremely lucky or extremely talented can live off of their craft. For the rest of us there are day jobs...and that's exactly how it should be.
