BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
Growing up sucks. Being young and in the moment is great, but being forced to reflect back and think of all the stuff between the Point A’s to Point B’s can be a little disconcerting. Things just change. You look back and something’s are just not the same. Movies that you used to love aren’t as great as you remembered. The bands you liked aren’t quite as amazing and impactful as they were at another point in your life. Certain hobbies go to the wayside as each year passes. You evolve, you grow, and you become a new person over and over again.
Sometimes you outgrow your heroes.
That’s where old age and “maturity” kick in. The things that mattered to you yesterday won’t matter tomorrow so just make today the best day possible. I’m not writing here to get all existential and hippy-dippy. I’m just looking at this whole transition with gloomy eyes.
It sucks when you have that moment where you not only realize that your hero is human but come to terms with the fact that they’re kind of lame, kind of hypocritical, and mostly all hype. It sucks. When you’re a kid you look up to cartoon characters, super heroes, athletes, and things like that. Slowly and surely, they all either get outgrown or they eventually let you down.
For me personally, there are a few that stand out. The first that comes to mind is Michael Jordan. I was a Bulls fan at the perfect age and moment to experience the man’s magical basketball playing skills. He is easily the best of all time. The problem is that despite his skillset, he’s not all that of an amazing person. He doesn’t seem to be all that charismatic now and in retrospect always had a boring personality. He entertained me on the court for years, but other than that not so much. Even though the movie Space Jam was good, Jordan was still really wooden and monotone in his acting. He would also go on to make annoying Hanes commercials, overprice his shoes, grow a Hitler mustache, and let’s face it… scandal galore! The rumor that he didn’t “retire and go to baseball” for that season and a half, it’s said he “might have been” suspended on the DL by the league for gambling. Sadly, it makes sense but I hope I’m wrong.
Then there’s Shawn Michaels, the greatest professional wrestler of all time. He was so damn cool when I was a kid. He rocked his weird leather outfits, his mullet, and still put on the best matches of anyone EVER. As he got older he got lamer. I know he’s now a religious man, which is perfectly fine, but he’s gotten lame. He looks weaker and smaller, his mic skills are predictable, his promos are like broken records, and his act is just tired. He over sells on the mic and in the ring, which looks ridiculous when you’re not backing up the bumps with the same intensity and magic as he did in the mid-90s. He stopped having that controversial edge he used to have. His rebellious “anything can happen” personality disappeared and was replaced with a wholesome, contrived, and dorky old man. I’m always going to say he’s my favorite of all time because he is, but the problem is when he shows up on RAW with a lot of camouflage on just to cut some kind of overly-serious promo that’ll only help Triple H get over whatever he’s doing at the time. That’s not the Shawn Michaels I cried with when he achieved his ‘boyhood dream’.
And the final “outgrown hero” of mine I’ll ramble about today is Trent Reznor. Don’t get it twisted; Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails is my favorite “band” of all time. The music, lyrics, and visuals are always going to be part of my very being. The only tattoo I’ve ever seriously considered getting has always been the classic NIN boxed logo. I’m been a huge supporter of everything Trent has put out. The problem is that I’ve simply drifted away from things. I missed the latest Lollapalooza show and he won’t be around Chicago anytime soon so I’m not all that excited about the recent work. The stuff that was put out as “internet only releases” didn’t feel as impactful to my life as I would have hoped. I don’t know what it is, but things have really changed. He’s still taking risks and making great music, but there seems to be a bit of a substance problem. The problem here is that it lacks substance. Outside of like three or four songs, I’ve not been really engaged in new NIN in years. This latest release is good, but the fact that it’s on a major label irks me. The music is in my ears and that’s all that matters, but I’m rubbed the wrong way here. What it feels like, and I REALLY REALLY hope I’m wrong and full of shit here, is that Trent put the new album out on the label because it’s the same label that put out his and his wife’s project “How to Destroy Angels”. It almost seems like a “you wash my hand, I’ll wash yours” type of thing. That just doesn’t sit right with me after all these years of Trent telling his fans and the world that the era of labels are over, how to self release, and all of that stuff. This isn’t the only reason of my drift apart from NIN. It’s just the most recent thing that made me go “Hey! Wait a minute!”
And that’s what happens. You get that “Hey! Wait a minute!” moment sometimes and things make less sense. Those connects are lost. I still appreciate Jordan, Michaels, and Reznor and would possibly cry like a little girl in their presence, but it’s through different eyes, older eyes.
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