| The Psychology of Jim Steinman's Missing Songs | |
|
Posted by: |
John_Galt (g_brandon_martin@ureach.com) 08:06 pm UTC 06/15/09 |
| In a thread or two below there was a discussion of the absense of new songs from Jim Steinman in the last decade or two. Smeg wrote that the absense of any evidence that Jim is still writing new material means that there are not new songs waiting to be released and that there may never be new songs. Pudding countered that "A storyteller doesn't just stop telling stories, a painter doesn't just stop painting and I'm certain Jim as a songwriter doesn't just stop writing songs. The songs he has might be crap or incomplete but I reckon he's got some." Pudding also stated that he doesn't feel comfortable concluding that there is an absense of songs based on an absense of evidence at this point. I don't know whether Smeg or Pudding is correct, but the conversation did make me think a bit about the phenomenon of writers and artists who I've admired who simply stopped creating new works relatively early in their lives after having acheived success. As many of you know, I've been impressed with Ayn Rand's novels since I was in high school. Why didn't Rand write another novel after Atlas Shrugged was published? Atlas Shrugged was a great novel -- and it's fun watching people rediscover it today -- but fans waited throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s for a follow-up that never materialized. By all accounts, she managed only to brainstorm rough notes for an adventure genre novel during the 30 or so years between the publication of Atlas and her death. I think novelist Harper Lee of To Kill A Mockingbird fame was a similar example, but there are many others who become legends in their own time and began to live in the past tense. I'd be interested in hearing what others think of the psychology or causes for this kind of "writer's block" as it may or may not apply to Jim Steinman. Some Objectivist scholars have noted that shortly after publication of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand was prescribed a weight-reduction drug that we now know today has been linked to severe depression. She remained on the drug until her death in 1982. Likewise, Steinman has had health problems recently including a stroke that some say could limit his ability to physically play the piano like he used to. My speculation, however, is that physical concerns are not the primary cause. Jim and Rand and other living legends stop producing because there is a conflict between their persona and previous art and their person today. Jim became a legend for writing bombastic, over-the-top, rock opera songs in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There's definetely a feel and philosophy that we expect from a Steinman song. It's not just that we think of Jim as a certain person, it's that Jim's work and style are defined by the characteristics of his great works. My thought is that the motivation and catalyst for truly great art may come from growing or shifting. We've all discovered newer perspectives and changed our minds about things. I wouldn't be interested in the first girl I "fell in love with" today... and my metaphysics grow a little fuzzier every day. The problem for living legends is that artistically they remain intellectually locked into a previously awesome state while personally they grow or change into someone else. The result is that they literally have to stop writing or rip off who they once were in order to be consistent with the art they understand to be great and that others expect from them. Rand's nonfiction started to repeat itself over the years, the same metaphors, the same catch-phrases, the same subjects. Jim recycles lyrics almost like a Steinmaniac eager to imitate the great songwriter Jim Steinman. Ultimately, though, every Steinmaniac who tries to write a song like Jim thinks they've captured the magic for a second until reality sets in and they realize that they haven't written a Steinman song, they've written a song like a Steinman song, and there is a great distance between a Steinman song and a song like a Steinman song. If Jim writes songs today, he may be writing songs that are like Steinman songs or he may not write songs knowing that if he did, he'd be getting pale imitations of greatness. This is a particularly difficult problem because it's hard to simply say, "I was the Bat Out of Hell guy, but now I'm going to go in a different direction more in touch with who I am today and do great and important work allowing who I am to inform that work." That's hard because most artists have the benefit of who they were and who they are. Anyone who tries to shut out the past as a songwriter operates from a decided disadvantage, I think. Anyway, I think if there is some kind of physical or mental block or difficulty needlessly making songwriting difficult for Jim someone ought to do something about it. We may not have Jim for all that long and a great songwriter is a terrible thing to waste. As limited support for my speculation and hope for the future, I'll say that Jim's two best recent works are What Part of My Body Hurts the Most and We're Still the Children We Once Were... and they are both songs that seem to come from a different place than the Steinman tunes we've all grown to love. That's particularly true of WStCWOW. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts or insights into why Jim hasn't been able to match the prolific output we saw during his college years and the late 1970s and early 1980s. Jim: If you read this, I understand that it sucks to have people psychologize about you. It's obnoxious and a little condescending. But, everyone here understands I don't really know you and that these thoughts about the psychology of living legends who don't continue to create often reveals more about the person analyzing than the person being analyzed. Still, damn it, we'd love to here new songs and psychologize less. -=John Galt=- | |
| URL: | http://www.dailyuprising.com |
| reply | | |
| Previous: | Tanz in Oberhausen - Macahan 08:12 pm UTC 06/16/09 |
| Next: | re: The Psychology of Jim Steinman's Missing Songs - Pudding 01:47 am UTC 06/16/09 |
| Thread: |
|