Rolling Stones

I used to think Elvis was cool. His style, his singing, the whole “King” package.

Then I learned how he was abusive, how he ripped off songs from people of color, how he fell to drugs just like all the rest.

I felt a bit sad. Until my best friend in high school picked up an acoustic guitar and introduced me to Johnny Cash, playing through his songs. He had his own demons, yet he seemed to overcome them rather than become them. I felt a bit better.

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I remember the first time I heard the Beatles. They sounded so different, somehow, and I was mesmerized.

Then I learned how they turned commerical, formed their own label, sued so many other small artists over a few familiar riffs, and became just another cold, corporate, proto-boy band.

I felt a bit sad. Until my partner introduced me to an entire forgotten catalog of 60′s progressive/psychedelic rock from bands I would jokingly refer to as “the flora and fauna mixups” - The Hollies, The Turtles, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Byrds, Captain Beyond, Country Joe and the Fish, The Moody Blues, and more. Suddenly the “different” sounds I had enjoyed became a much bigger landscape with so many roots. The bugs could keep their megastatus; I liked these little bands better.

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When I was little I honestly thought Michael Jackson was two different people - a young black man, who had died somehow, and an older white lady who had taken his place as a kind of “tribute” act.

Then I learned about...well, just everything. Michael Jackson just has so many issues.

I felt a bit sad. All that music and legendary pop beat, yet I couldn’t get behind the singer. Until my friends shifted me over to Prince - and how truly talented he was, not just at singing but at guitar. He had some crazy identity changes too, and definitely some rock star issues, but he remained himself through-and-through. I felt a bit better.

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There are many stars in the sky to follow at night. It’s not always the brightest ones you need to navigate; sometimes it’s that second one to the right, or the constellations formed by so many smaller ones, or the ones that burn out quickly but leave their trails for more to follow.