Rock on longer!

Michael Hutchence (ex-lead singer of rock band INXS) once said, “Every actor I know wants to be a pop star”. In a celebrity-obsessed culture this may well be true and it probably goes well beyond the acting fraternity. The life of a rock star may not be for everyone, but for a lot of people it is a dream. Maybe not a well thought out dream, but still a dream. What about you? Look inside your soul and see whether, somewhere in there, there is a part of you that would love to be on stage in front of adoring fans, making outrageous demands to hotel staff, and screaming your half-baked (or perhaps totally cooked?) philosophy to the world. Whether it’s you or just someone you know, new research has some valuable advice to offer aspiring rock stars: join a band and you’ll live longer.

The life of a rock star is an unusual one and there are lots of different levels at which you can experience it. As Bono (U2) said, “As a rock star I have two instincts, I want to have fun and I want to change the world. I have a chance to do both.” The unfortunate thing about this noble instinct is that, as novelist Paul Theroux observed, “There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy Irish rock star in a cowboy hat, but I can’t think of one at the moment.”

Yes, it’s hard to ride the wave of rock fame, doing all that it takes to stay afloat as a living icon, and be taken seriously at the same time. Of course there are some rock stars who don’t attempt to be taken seriously. Alice Cooper said, “If you’re listening to a rock star to get your information on who to vote for you then you are a bigger moron than they are.” At the other, slightly more delusional, end of the scale you get comments like this one from Freddie Mercury (Queen), “I won’t be a rock star. I will be a legend.”

Still, as a rock star, whether you see yourself as changing the world, living a legend, or just being able to demand blue M&Ms at will, you share the same basic aspirations of all people: to live happily. While some may be content to die young and leave a good looking corpse, most also want to live a long and happy life and the evidence is now in and it shows that if you are a rock star and want to live a long life you should join a band, don’t go solo.

This was the finding of a new study that analysed data on almost 1500 American and European musicians between 1956 and 2006. In that half a century, 9.2 per cent of the subjects died. The researchers found that there was a significant difference in life expectancy between rock stars and the general population but that the difference disappeared 25 years after the rocker had achieved fame. Interestingly, those who were solo artists were twice as likely to die young as those who were members of a band. The researchers think that this might be because band members can offer each other support through the inevitably stressful early years of extreme fame.

It is further evidence that fame does not bring happiness; in fact, possibly the opposite is true. You need to be well prepared for it and be at peace with yourself to cope with the demands of fame. So being a rock star is a tough gig. Perhaps the final and insightful thought on what it means to be a rock star should be left to the Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, who said, “You gotta wear the right trousers if you want to be a rock star.” Maybe that’s as deep as the rock star experience goes.