Listening to classic rock radio has taught me some valuable life lessons. For example, a few weeks ago, I got in the car, and turned on the radio just as the riff from "China Grove" was playing. This is the riff that opens the song, but it also plays in the middle, and my buzz was killed when I realized that I wasn't going to hear all of China Grove, I was just going to hear the last chorus and the vamp out. But just as it was ending, Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain," which in my opinion is an even more awesome song, came on. The lesson? Even if something is ending or didn't last as long as you wanted it to, something with an even higher degree of ass-kickerry is right around the corner.
But the latest and most important lesson I've learned from classic rock radio actually came from a new song that they still somehow have dubbed "classic rock" simply because it's by an older artist who definitely... has the bulk of his career behind him, shall we say. Although he is now 60, Tom Petty, with the aid of his trusty Heartbreakers, has released a new album. I would in no way have any problem with this album if it weren't for the album's biggest single, "I Should Have Known It."
Everyone says "it sounds like Zeppelin!" Big, heavy, bluesy guitar riffs, a plodding beat with loud cymbals and a heavy snare, and tortured, broken vocals, sounds awesome and Zeppelin-esque, don't it?
Except that it's Tom Petty, and not Robert Plant.
Tom Petty is a great singer and a great musician, but for all his talent Tom Petty is really only good at sounding like Tom Petty. And on "I Should Have Known It," it seems as though he's trying to sound like something he's not. The instrumentals kick ass, and he has the attitude right, but it just doesn't work. Tom Petty just isn't the kind of singer who handles that kind of vocal line well, and the song falls flat as a result. (Yes, I realize I am constantly referring to Tom Petty by his full name. I feel like he's one of those people who should always be referred to by their full name, because he's not monumental enough to be just "Tom" and just calling him "Petty" sounds weird. Get used to it.)
So, what does it mean that Tom Petty made a song that he shouldn't have made because singing it just doesn't suit him well? Does it mean he's any less of a musician or a performer or that it detracts from any of the other albums he's made? Does this cause him to unmake Full Moon Fever? Not at all.
I want to be able to do everything, and if I can't, or am not good at something, I feel like it's almost a character flaw, something that's wrong with me. I want to be able to be good at everything, which is just plain impossible. And I feel like everyone else is good at more things than I am.
But some people just aren't good at certain things, and these same people excel at other things. You probably suck at way more things than you are good at. My problem is that I want to not suck at anything and be good at everything, and it kills me, literally damages my self-image, when I can't do something. This is not healthy.
One of my best friends called me out on this, and I sort of realized what was wrong with me, but to be honest, for all of her verbally slapping me upside the head with my own stupidity, it didn't really congeal in my mind until I heard "I Should Have Known It" (and hated it) playing on the radio the next day. Sometimes, people just aren't good at certain things, but that doesn't detract from what they can do, and more importantly, who you are as a person. Because chances are, you're amazing, even if you can't sing a Zeppelin-esque blues/play soccer/play video games/dance/run fast/jump high/talk good/meet people/blow your nose/get out of bed/do whatever very well.
So if you're reading this, and you know me, this is my apology (kind of lame, I know) for the way I've been acting as of late, and I'm sorry I had to learn my lesson from Tom Petty instead of from you guys. I'm learning to accept what I can't do. Because there are so many things I can't do.
