Motivation
I went to this Metallica art exhibit last night. And although I had a fascinating conversation with Bob Rock wherein he told the story of his manager, Bruce Allen, imploring him to check out Michael Buble, ("You’re gonna want to leave, just give it THREE SONGS!") and how this led him to doing half of Buble’s last two albums the highlight was the freewheeling dinner after the show.
Sitting around a seemingly endless rectangular table at a Japanese restaurant I became engaged with one Brian Bumbery, who told me he was wearing his ten dollar Uniqlo jeans and this devolved into a conversation about mileage runs, Brian’s got Premier Executive 100k status on United, and suddenly we were best friends. To the point where I got Brian’s backstory. How he went from broken home to becoming the publicist for Metallica, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, My Chemical Romance… A journey from paying half his salary to live in a tiny apartment with his significant other to planning this gallery event we just attended.
After Brian was gone, standing on the sidewalk I asked the assembled multitude if Brian was any good. THE BEST! HE’S RELENTLESS! NOT THAT HE’S OVERBEARING, HE JUST CONVINCES OUTLETS THAT HIS BANDS DESERVE THE COVER!
And it was after listening to Brian’s life story that Mike Dirnt chipped in with tales from his own, interactions with his estranged dad and his decision to wash cars instead of having a paper route.
He was in second grade, maybe it was third, Mike wasn’t sure. And he went to stay at a friend’s house but was warned his buddy would be getting up early, leaving to deposit papers on doorsteps around the neighborhood. And Mike just couldn’t understand it, all this torture for sixty bucks a month.
So Mike went into business for himself. Washing cars. He’d knock on neighbors’ doors, point to where he lived, and said he was washing cars for a buck. He didn’t want the high rent vehicles, he wasn’t interested in those worried about their cars getting scratched, but those who truly had dirty vehicles.
And Mike ended up making sixty bucks a WEEKEND!
Which he mostly blew on candy and the like, but he needed the money, he had none.
Is it any wonder that Brian Bumbery and Mike Dirnt became successful? People just see the end result, they’ve got no idea of the hard work it takes to truly establish yourself. Or they think shortcuts work. Sure, there are exceptions, like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, then again their overnight television success was preceded by years of slogging in obscurity.
It’s so hard to make it. We’re exposed to only the successes, not the failures. But these people NEEDED to make it. Not only for the notoriety, but frequently purely to exist, they had no backstop, no one to call to pay the bills.
That’s the American way.
And isn’t it interesting that despite those from good families getting great educations who end up wealthy as a result of inheritance or financial/professional jobs, the true innovations come from those highly motivated, who risked it all.
