Categories: LifeMusic

Also Known as the Ten Commandments of High School

Photocopied list: "The Ten Commandments of Rock and Roll - 1. Suck up to the top cats / 2. Do not express independent opinions / 3. Do not work for common interest, only factional interests / 4. If there's nothing to complain about, dig up some old gripe / 5. Do not respect property or persons other than band property or persons / 6. Make devastating judgements on persons and situations without adequate information / 7. Discourage and confound personal, technical or creative projects / 8. Single out absent persons for intense criticism / 9. Remember that anything you don't understand is trying to fuck with you / 10. Destroy yourself physically and morally and insist that all true brothers do likewise as an expression of unity"Photocopied list: "The Ten Commandments of Rock and Roll - 1. Suck up to the top cats / 2. Do not express independent opinions / 3. Do not work for common interest, only factional interests / 4. If there's nothing to complain about, dig up some old gripe / 5. Do not respect property or persons other than band property or persons / 6. Make devastating judgements on persons and situations without adequate information / 7. Discourage and confound personal, technical or creative projects / 8. Single out absent persons for intense criticism / 9. Remember that anything you don't understand is trying to fuck with you / 10. Destroy yourself physically and morally and insist that all true brothers do likewise as an expression of unity"

A reader named Simon sent this photo to Boing Boing, saying that he took this picture of the Ten Commandments of Rock and Roll while visiting an old roadie’s house, as he regaled him with stories of working with The Who and Iron Maiden.

They could just as easily be the Ten Commandments of High School. Or the Ten Commandments of the Working World, since the working world is often like high school, just with more money.

I much prefer Henry Rollins’ rules for live rock musicians:

"Listen to the stage manager and get onstage when they tell you to. No one has the time for your rock star bullshit. None of the techs backstage care if you're David Bowie or the milkman. / When you act like a jerk, they are completely unimpressed with the infantile display that you might think comes with your dubious status. / They were there hours before you, building the stage, and they will be there hours after you leave, tearing it down. They should get your salary, and you should get theirs. -- Henry Rollins""Listen to the stage manager and get onstage when they tell you to. No one has the time for your rock star bullshit. None of the techs backstage care if you're David Bowie or the milkman. / When you act like a jerk, they are completely unimpressed with the infantile display that you might think comes with your dubious status. / They were there hours before you, building the stage, and they will be there hours after you leave, tearing it down. They should get your salary, and you should get theirs. -- Henry Rollins"

Joey deVilla

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Joey deVilla
Tags: etiquetterock and/or roll
15 years ago

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