The phrase it’s better to burn out than fade away has been
etched into our collective consciousness ever since Neil Young uttered it in
his great song “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)”. Many of our most popular artists/politicians/residents
of earth have decided to follow this advice willingly while others have accidently
stumbled into martyrdom (some via a ham sandwich). Today I would like to begin a two part series
on burning out and fading away. Today I
will discuss the pros and cons of burning out.
Pro: Going out a
number 1 has numerous perks. For one, you
become a mythical figure like a unicorn or James Dean. Shrines will be made at your grave. Your familiar haunts will house weary pilgrims
seeking to become one with their savior. Every story becomes a link in a larger chain about
how you were too great for this small, petty world. We failed you becomes the dominant narrative
rather than you did something stupid and died prematurely. You are no longer the popular creative
type/rich heiress/ice cream salesman who went too soon. You have ascended into the permanence of
legend simply due to misreading a warning label.
Con: Death. In my
opinion, dying is one of the worst things (if not the worst thing) that can
happen in life. If I had to choose
between dying a legend or living as a has-been for 30 years, I’ll take the 30
years of listening to “is that guy still around”. For me this surely beats being a universally
revered dead guy whose DEAD (just to clarify, I have an enormous fear of
death).
Pro: You never have a
fat Elvis stage. Nobody wants to see
their current sequined self juxtaposed next to their suave hip-shaking younger
self. It’s depressing for everybody
except for your mortal enemies and possibly your family (if you haven’t ruined
that by now you fat has-been). Dying
young ensures that you will stay pretty in the public’s eye (unless they see
the autopsy photos) and could get you on the cover of Rolling Stone as a sex symbol
(click on this link for more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/hes-hot-hes-sexy-hes-dead-rolling-stones-1981-jim-morrison-cover-story-20110701).
Con: Where was all
this good will when you were alive?
During your so called “legendary” existence every goddamn action garnered
backlash, criticism, and nasty Thomas Nash cartoons that people still don’t fully
understand. Why was it that a premature death
was the only way for this extraordinary civil right
leader/streetballer/glassmaker to get some proper recognition? Why if we gave them some credit during their
lifetime and didn’t lowball them, they would have achieved the honor of
appearing in my column about fading away (coming this Tuesday!).
Pro: People wondering what could have been is a lot better
than people asking what the hell happened.
When you die young, you become a symbol of untapped potential. How would Jimi Hendrix have changed or
adapted to the trends of the 70’s? What
would an RFK presidency entailed? What
if the flames didn’t cover Joan of Arc? These
questions are a lot more fun to ask than what ever happened to so and so, they
used to mean something.
Con: Death at an early age.
I cannot overstate this enough.
Being dead is on my list of things I don’t want to do, right next to
being in the immediate stages of dying.
So there’s that point again.
Above were a few pros and cons to burning out. Come Tuesday I will share the pros and cons
for fading away.
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