The Frail Egos of Musicians

Sgt Fury 2018, ltr - Malky (the Muffin), John, Paul. Photo: Nick Holder.

One of the things people forget, when moaning about musicians behaving oddly, particularly when it comes to preciousness and egos, is that we do have odd egos. We regularly stand up in front of a bunch of strangers and attempt to play, with a minimum of bum notes and errors, songs that we have spent a fair while writing, arranging, and rehearsing in the hope that people don't throw bottles at us. To do that without melting into a puddle of weepiness absolutely requires a certain minimum level of arrogance and egotistic tendencies.

Just remember that next time you want to rail against someone like Bono, or Axl Rose, or any other of the multitude of musicians and performers that behave in ways out of kilter. Music is in our blood, and getting up in front of people to perform it often requires us to be arses from time to time.