I wrote this for my English class if anyone would like to take a stab at reading it!
http://tinyurl.com/yjb2hlg Keep Pushin? For Fortune and Fame
?Welcome to the jungle / we got fun and games / we got everything you want / honey, we know the names? declared William Bruce Rose Jr., better known to the world as none other than Axl Rose. Being 13 years old those lines seemed to resonate deeper in my life than anything I had ever heard. In fact I would and I am going as far as to say that the record the song is on cultured and shaped my life into what it is today; A semi-professional guitarist who at 19 has managed to be a part of a very serious local band, and now joining another one who is on the path to success beyond our city. But to fully understand the scope of the impact this album had we must take a step back a little bit earlier in my life.
I had been listening to music that did not stimulate me much, whatever you found on the pop stations or the hits stations. It involved guitar but it was never prominent in the overall sound, the lyrical content was bland and generic. In the grand scheme of things these where cookie cutter bands tailor made to suit both me and my peers. My uncle came over one July afternoon and heard me listening to a band that he was not too fond of, ?Really Omar?? he said. I had nothing much to say back I mean, what WAS I to say? ? You know what I?ll cut you a deal, I?ll take you to Best Buy right now to buy a CD player if I pick the CD, I can guarantee you will love it? , and as far as I was concerned a free CD and CD player couldn?t be beat. So we drove to the nearest Best Buy and I grabbed a player and he returned with an album whose cover is almost as iconic as the band; black background with a metallic cross and 5 skulls resembling each member on it, needless to say I was intrigued at the least. We got into the car and he opened the CD and much to my dismay it was just a solid silver CD with a track list, as opposed to the colorful vibrant artwork I had seen on CDs that I had been made in my decade. But what came out of those car speakers changed my life in ways that most people cannot fathom. It opens with a very heavy and raunchy guitar sound with the entire onslaught of the band?s sound joining in short after, and then an instantly recognizable voice sings those ever-so famous lyrics. We drove around and did something I had never done before; we listened to an entire album from start to finish, all 53:50 minutes of it. It was at this point in my life that I knew exactly what I wanted to be. You may call it na?ve, you may call it clich?, you could even call it childish but I want to be a Rock star.
I had formed an addiction to this band, Guns N? Roses, and soon formed an addiction to the entire Rock N? Roll sub-culture. It was at this time when I decided to buy my first guitar, grow my hair out, and take the steps needed to become a musician. I had never been so overcome with anything in my life; I spent hours and days in my room just playing record after record emulating my favorite artists. Not only? had the music changed me, but the image had as well. The first time I ?watched the ?Paradise City? (also off the Appetite for Destruction record) video I saw thousands upon thousands of fans screaming and yearning for 5 guys on stage. One of them being the lead guitarist; Slash, he epitomized everything about being a guitarist. The top hat, the cigarette in mouth, Les Paul guitar, tight black jeans, cut off shirt and bandanna. It simply DID NOT get any cooler than that to me. I knew even at that age I was going to do everything to get there, I did not care what anyone said I could and I would do that. It was around this time that I had just entered High School, and while many kids my age where trying to ?figure? themselves out I knew exactly who I was and where I was going.
At this point I was 15 years old and had been playing guitar for awhile it was naturally time to find a band. I began to assemble a rock n? roll outfit that Houston was not ready for, my best friends on guitar and bass, and a drummer who became dear to us. We were like brothers; we were just like Guns N? Roses in my head, just a couple of kids playing loud music with a dream. We did not just stop at the garage; we had way too much aspiration to do so. We played show after show after show, and by god people loved it. It was here that I even furthered my plans of Rockstardom. There is an entire world of bands and musicians going on in our very own city that many people tended to not even know about. It became my duty to make people aware about music, especially mine. Every weekend was an adventure for me, playing guitar on-stage had literally defined me. Everyone knew me as the ?rocker? guy, the guy ?in a band? and I loved it, I would never have it
any other way.
My band played shows all over Houston and Austin for the better part of 5 years, it was an experience I would never trade for the world. It had seemed that I went from being a 12 year old kid in awe of Slash to an 18 year old guitar player who went on stage and played his heart out like all his dear idols. Upon encountering various people, it seems they like to generalize rock musicians into specific stereotypes. We have all heard them, stupid, junkie, lazy, dirty, childish and the like. But being a musician has taught me leaps and bounds about myself. First, I had to learn my instrument which can be a very frustrating and tedious process. I forced myself to have patience and endurance to not only understand the guitar but be able to express my thoughts on the six strings. After you learn the instrument comes the immense stress and work that being in a working band entails. As young as we were we had to present ourselves in a very professional manner to book shows and recording sessions, as many people are weary of working with 15 year old kids. Balancing schedules as far as rehearsing, writing, and shows can also be a very difficult process. Not to mention on top of all of this we still had the task of developing and mastering songs to play. I began to learn so much about what being a ?rockstar? is all about, and I fell in love with it more each and every day.
Being a bit older now I reflect back and I cannot help but be proud of myself. I do not know many people my age who can say that they have successful marketed themselves and been a part of a local movement. I?m not claiming to be any better than anyone else, as I do encourage everyone to go out and be a part of something. But I am alluding to something bigger than that, a single record launched my musical career, inspired me to want to be something, and taught me that music and life are about being completely true to whom you are and where you have come from. My values as a person are rooted in this bands? message, they never appeared to be anything other than who they were. This is something that as a teenager can be very valuable, especially in today?s social life. As I said before I saw so many people doing things that everyone else was doing, dressing like others, acting like others, talking like others merely for their social acceptance. It was this band who taught me that I being who I am is what makes me unique, that I should never downplay anything about me. This is something that can catch many others off-guard, because they don?t expect what they get as per my appearance. I began to really understand the importance of individualism from Guns N? Roses. As I got further into their career and began to decipher Axl Rose?s intricate lyrics and sense of storytelling I also understood the importance of intelligence. I wanted to be able to tell a masterful story through a song, I wanted to be able to write a moving piece of literature, and to do this it meant commanding a very powerful sense on English skills. Which is quite honestly where I draw my passion for English, in fact it is where I draw my love for learning in general. I relate everything I learn to music; historical events, judicial laws, books, poems, all of this knowledge I can use to benefit my songs. After all music is about substance it must contain some sort of cultural or social relevance.
So here I am, a kid born in 1991, telling the world that I learned the value of intelligence, individualism, perseverance and responsibility from a record that all but came out half a decade before I even existed. It is hard for many to wrap their head around; to really grasp that one rock band truly altered my life to such an extent. Sometimes it is very easy to forget that this adventure I call life all began with five guys in one band from a city in California in the late 1980?s. I listen to a song off of Appetite for Destruction daily and it is very hard for me to envision a life without it. The record and their guitarist molded me into not only the musician I am today but the person. It is very rare that you can look back in your life and pinpoint one exact instance in which you had become a changed person, when you realized what you where put on earth for. But for me that moment is very easily identified, that day that I picked up the record was in fact the day that changed my life forever.
I have always managed to keep my eyes set on my goals, and my ultimate aspiration of being a famous musician. In fact just recently my uncle came up to me and asked, ?I told you I?d guarantee it? and while no one else understood, I knew exactly what he was saying. My Les Paul in hand, Tight black jeans with fitted Led Zeppelin tee and of course the half-stack amp blaring behind me, I told I could never thank Him, Axl Rose, Steven Adler, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin and Slash in a manner for them to truly know how thankful I was for them.
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