A little figure of speech that is handed down to every generation goes along the lines of this: “Didn’t time used to be simpler?” To some degree, yes, times were much simpler, but on the other hand, there are a good deal of things that have made the times simpler. So yes, agree to disagree, we don’t care, but one thing that has certainly become harder with technology is living a lifestyle that should go undocumented. Graham Nash once said this precisely about the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.
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The height of Graham Nash’s career was at the pinnacle of the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll era. While highly romanticized, the hedonistic times did surely leave some scars, and Nash, on several accounts, has attested to the wild times he lived through. In an interview with The Guardian, the interviewer said to Nash, “Your memoir is pure sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.” Nash then replied, “That’s what my life was. And is.”
Needless to say, this time, this romantic yet detrimental time, is long, long gone. There are a myriad of factors that led to the demise of this lifestyle and the acceptance of it, but to Graham Nash, it seemingly all comes down to two things: technology and privacy.
We All Make Mistakes, but those mistakes Might Be on Camera
In that same interview with The Guardian, Nash answered a question about whether musicians could live as he did in his heyday. He simply said, “I don’t think they can get away with it now because of social media.”
“There is no privacy anymore. And once it’s on the net, it will never leave the net. And that’s terrifying because we’ve all done incredibly stupid things,” he added. Nash is arguably right on the money with this comment, as there is no telling who is taping a certain scene that is possibly criminalizing.
Furthermore, audiences these days don’t seem so quick to laud and praise a musician for destroying a hotel room or getting arrested. Why is that such a bad thing? To some, yes; to others, no, but regardless, if it does happen, the celebrity in question should know that a video of it is out there somewhere.
So, long story short, can musicians of the current day live like Graham Nash and others? Sure. But they likely have to go to great lengths to keep it quiet.
Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images
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