‘… prog rock giant Fish, as he delivered his farewell masterpiece Weltschmerz, acclaimed as one of the finest albums of his storied career… I’m never going to be playing stadiums or arenas again. And I definitely don’t want to be on the chicken-in-a-basket circuit..”
I knew Fish as the lead singer of Marillion in the 1980s, and this is a modern middle-aged version of a Henry Rollins 1980s ‘not selling out’ story I posted last week on Facebook.
5 years ago I finished my epic classic XaW Files: Beyond Humanity, bringing an end to my fantasy fiction writing… on its peak as far as I was concerned, burnt out from the 202 chapters/episodes. It was an introspective arty book, so I didn’t expect it to become a best seller; Pink Floyd said they wouldn’t have become successful nowadays!
I never reached the Fishy salmon heights of stadiums, being more of a coelacanth; rarely seen dinosaur down deep below. If a celebrity such as David Walliams or Russell Brand (I still liked him when writing the second of the trilogy Werewolf of Oz; he was an inspirational critic, like Banksy in art and Sacha Baron Cohen in conceptual comedy; but went against him when he started acting like a cult leader sexual philosopher with his Revolution book, but he’s still popular with the ‘ethical left’; who also support materialistic money orientated rappers!: Glastonbury ‘hippies’ seem to have sold out and given up on the environment!) had released XaW Files I think it would have received the plaudits Fish has received for Weltschmerz, but it’s remained a coelacanth cult classic!
Going halfway against its natural liberal leftie woke readership, keeping to the greenYgrey ethos; being most inspired by the original 1950s-1970s counterculture, but trying to support my working-class/underclass demographic (who mostly don’t appreciate such books); didn’t help, but that was also keeping in line with the punk in me; like Henry Rollins and Fish in the two recent examples.
I’ve enjoyed some bands I hadn’t seen before on the ‘greatest hits’ circuit in recent years; inspiring the gYg rock n’ roll hall of fame; and caught up with some again; and it gives musicians like Heavy Pettin’ a livin’; couldn’t resist a little wordplay parody; and audiences entertainment; so I’m ‘greenYgrey’ about that too!!
mistYmuse 