Crazy as bat shit

The Music we listen to speaks to us all in different ways. This is a fantastic thing in many respects because some of the people that make it are not really on the same plain of normality as we like to think we are. Not that there is such a thing as normal really, but we all believe that while we are different and hence special, we operate within the upper and lower boundries of a general social norm.

This is not the case for some of the artists that have inspired us over the years. Some of them are just plain out there. They have gone to places mentally that we we do not dare and in some cases if it wasn't for the fact that they produce artistic content that inspires us they would quite probably be held in facilities to keep them 'safe', or us at any rate.

The most obvious of these is of course Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd, who quite famously and publically lost his mind. There are many stories as to how this might have happened and still more about recent sightings of this chap (although he sadly passed on in 2006). Let's start though with what he produced, here is Interstellar Overdrive

I think that is a great song. Sorry about the video, but it seems EMI don't want the content on youtube. Which seems a little unfair as most of us have at least one Floyd album anyway. If you listen to the music and you know that the writer lost a tenuous grasp on reality then it is very easy to make the link. The music is fractured and has a chaotic feeling to it, which goes some way to providing a sound track to what we think is insanity. It is worth noting though that the other guys in the band didn't lose their grasp on reality. Syd, however - crazy as bat shit. I read a story whereby it was claimed that his housemates put LSD into his coffee or tea every morning and in the end his brain just gave up. Hope those guys sleep well at night.

It seems that Maynard from Tool is also somewhere out there. Not in the same loss of reality that Syd had, but a belief in the things currently thought to exist on the very fringes of reality. I say currently because we don't really know do we. Maybe it isn't rubbish, but he is in fact a prophet and the only holder of the truth. It does remain to be proven however. Much of Tool's music, less A Perfect Circle, deals with the idea of alien contact and the effects it has on the humans. Take this from 10 000 days:

I put the lyrics in because , well, otherwise the full impact isn't there is it? Although I agree it is a terrible recording. Now, you know that I think of Tool as one of the best bands I have heard ( I have heard a fair bit of music even if I say so myself). I really love their music and continually come back to it to ground myself in what is possible musically. But wow. What the fuck is that all about? How do you even come up with those lyrics? I think that perhaps the less sanitised version of how it is possible must be from personal experience. Which is a little disquieting really isn't it? If you told that story, the one told in the song, to people in an ordinary setting, they would bascially put you down as someone in need of help.

Now I am not saying Maynard needs help. What I am saying is that this, and many other Tool songs deal lyrically with what is considered to be on the very fringes of sanity. But despite my hero worship of Tool, even I have to admit that Maynard is as crazy as bat shit. Long may it last if it continues to give us that kind of great music.

As we all know though, insanity takes many guises, some less apparent than others. One person i think we can all agree sits on the thin edge of sanity most of the time is Courtney Love. Her band Hole made some great music. Where so much of Female rock pop is somewhat insipid, have you listened to Paramore or Avril Lavigne?? Courtney at least put herself in the music they produced, take this for example:

But Courtney is just not on the same plane of reality that we like to think we are is she? She displays much of what would be described as paranoid delusion syndromes. Now like most people on the edge of sanity, she is extremely intelligent, so is able to come across as vaguely sane because she is generally smarter than her accusers. But really, the drugs, stolen cars, the fight over money with her daughter, her constant need for media attention... Did you see the music awards where they were interviewing Madonna and Courtney decided to jump on set and try to take over the interview? Crazy as a coconut. . .

No story of the loss of sanity would be complete without a good news story to end with. In Brian Wilson we appear to have one. Well for now at least, it seems Brian has returned to us all here on this plane of reality for a while. But it was very clear thoughout the 70s and much of the 80s that he wasn't with us anymore. Never really a particularly strong mental character, he finally went over the edge during the smile sessions which were the follow up to the master piece that is Pet Sounds. Here is a song that was salvaged from these sessions:

It is one of those things that Beach Boys fans have lamented over the years. That is a great song. The idea that there was more in that head that couldn't come out is a sad loss for us all. Basically Brian, as I said before, somewhat mentally fragile, secumbed to the drugs and alcohol abuse and lost it. He hid in his room for years.. Not literally, but he certainly wasn't publically seen for huge stretches at a time. It wasn't helped by having a guy as a minder who tried to keep him in this place for his own gain.

He came back to us though. He eventaully released the Smile album, but to be honest it had lost some of it's lustre. I think it is because so much of it is about timing. If the album had been released in the late 60s we would probably still be talking about it as a great of all time. It is a bit of an oddity now. I firmly believe that although the songs are there , the genius that would have taken the songs to the next level in the recording studio has left us.

The point of today's post is that sometimes the edge of sanity, whatever edge it may be, allows people to produce something uniquley special. Sometimes it doesn't. Were Hole ever a great band? No not really, but they were interesting for a couple of albums. So not all forms of insanity produce true artistic statements, but the ones that do, we should pay a lot of attention to because they might just be the last things we get from these geniuses.

let's hope not though . . .