The Fred Durst Theory

This is a classic Polonius theory, and it's one that partially spurred the revival of the blog. Fred Durst is the lead singer of Limp Bizket, a fun if artistically void rap metal act that had a string of hits the late 90s. Now, I'm no snob, and I enjoy loud dumb party rock as much as the next guy, but the song "Nookie" has always made me wonder: is there some subtext here we're all missing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q72gvldxoA

In this song, Fred announces that he did it all for the Nookie. Now, the first 50 listens or so I assumed this was just a bragging party song, in which the singer shares with us his success with the ladies due to his art.

After a while, I began to wonder if instead of bragging, was Fred confessing? Meaning, what if he realized he was creating superficial schlock, but really was doing it all for groupies and money? In one artistically honest moment, he shares the horror of a life wasted chasing success. It would be a powerful thing, right?

The first question is, does that make the song High Art? If so, does it make his entire catalog also art, for without that, he could not have the mistakes to lament.

Probably not. It's probably roughly what it sounds like, but wouldn't the world be more interesting if it were true?

Managing Bitterness

It's very easy to become bitter. It's a slight difference from being jaded or cynical, as the former is a fairly value neutral description of a person that's experienced a lot of negative things, while the latter merely stands for the idea that human nature, particularly in power, tends to run to self interest. Bitterness, IMO, is the tendency to react to prior negative experiences by rejecting the possibility of later positive ones. Meaning, once one girl breaks up with you, a bitter man acts as if he'll never be happy in a relationship again. The jaded man simply realizes that break ups are part of life, sighs and moves on; while the cynical man wonders if relationships can exist for any reason other than self gratification by the two partners, and once that is exhausted by one or the other, they will simply discard their former partner.