Where did the smiles go? (part 3)

After some criticism on the negative tone of my previous two posts on "Where did the smiles go?" I decided to comment on the media and fan pressure most groups and singers are. First of all, I should make my self as clear as possible that despite the fact that I see money as the greatest evil of all times, I do admit that it is more than necessary, especially if you want to be successful. The thing is that money should be used for music, not music used for the mere sake of making more money, otherwise you just turn into the next sell-out counting every album sold and bursting into tears every time your album drops with a position on Billboard, for instance.

Being a star surely is not as wonderful as it looks from the distance of a tabloid and it definitely takes more than just pretentious smiling and theatrical waving in order to keep up to the impossibly high expectations of your fan base. In fact fame is a heavy burden which requires more than the average sacrifices and sometimes on your way to prosperity and stardom you have to drop out some of your positivism in order to make more space for all the puke that is about to be thrown in your face. Some time ago there was a case with an obsessive fan of Björk, who was in such painful affection and adoration for her that wanted to kill her. Luckily he never managed to accomplish his grim desire. Which brings me to the murder of John Lennon, who became a victim of a man's uncontrollable nature of violence. Having in my mind all of these and many more examples of people violating one's personal life in any way, it is not that difficult to understand the rather mediocre social interaction on behalf of most stars.

Have you ever given a thought on why you are always searched before you can enter a concert venue. Perhaps, many would never think of doing anything bad to their beloved singers or bands, but truly there are people who can do harm. People that are so fanatical that are capable of anything: from going on stage to hug someone to taking a gun out of a pocket and shooing someone right in the bull's eyes. There is an Enigma song "I love you...I'll kill you" and this title perfectly matches the extent of someone's affection. I do not say that there are hordes of crazed fans ready to kill their beloved singer, but one should always keep a decent distance from his audience and never forget that danger lurks around every concert.

The media pressure to follow