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"Be not afraid of greatness..."
So, today I stumbled on this quote from Taylor Hanson, back in 1997, when he was only fourteen.
"Alot of teen bands are criticized for being fake. But they are not hated. I think we are hated because it scares people that we could be real."
I was amazed that, at the age of fourteen, he was able to articulate exactly what the world's problem with them was. And this is the same problem they have with Hanson today. They're scared of how REAL they are.
The world is fake. We all know this to be true. The fact that Hanson can be so young, and so talented, and not be a music industry gimic with major label execs behind the scenes pulling the strings, has frightened the general public for eleven years. So the world will hate them, because people hate what they don't understand.
But why resort to hating people who are undeniably talented. Why be afraid of greatness? When guys hate them is it because Hanson is a threat to their masculinity or something equally asinine and juvenile? Or is it because we know that they have something we don't.
We were never that successful at their age. The world doesn't really have a precedent for an 18-year-old record label CEO who actually OWNS the label with his two brothers who are both under the age of 25. Or an 11-year-old with a Grammy nomination for his songwriting. The world didn't have a precedent in 1997 for three cute little brothers who actually COULD play the heck out of their instruments and take the world by storm doing it. We don't understand it. Is that what scares us?
I could write an entire book about what Hanson means to me, and some days I wonder if that's not the best idea I've ever had. Maybe the only people who would read it would be those people who are as crazy as I am. Those who brand their skin with huge circular symbols to prove it, those who spend ridiculous amount of money to see their favorite band 5,10,15+ times a year. Because they know what I know. We have seen true greatness. And we are not afraid.
pensive"Alot of teen bands are criticized for being fake. But they are not hated. I think we are hated because it scares people that we could be real."
I was amazed that, at the age of fourteen, he was able to articulate exactly what the world's problem with them was. And this is the same problem they have with Hanson today. They're scared of how REAL they are.
The world is fake. We all know this to be true. The fact that Hanson can be so young, and so talented, and not be a music industry gimic with major label execs behind the scenes pulling the strings, has frightened the general public for eleven years. So the world will hate them, because people hate what they don't understand.
But why resort to hating people who are undeniably talented. Why be afraid of greatness? When guys hate them is it because Hanson is a threat to their masculinity or something equally asinine and juvenile? Or is it because we know that they have something we don't.
We were never that successful at their age. The world doesn't really have a precedent for an 18-year-old record label CEO who actually OWNS the label with his two brothers who are both under the age of 25. Or an 11-year-old with a Grammy nomination for his songwriting. The world didn't have a precedent in 1997 for three cute little brothers who actually COULD play the heck out of their instruments and take the world by storm doing it. We don't understand it. Is that what scares us?
I could write an entire book about what Hanson means to me, and some days I wonder if that's not the best idea I've ever had. Maybe the only people who would read it would be those people who are as crazy as I am. Those who brand their skin with huge circular symbols to prove it, those who spend ridiculous amount of money to see their favorite band 5,10,15+ times a year. Because they know what I know. We have seen true greatness. And we are not afraid.
