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The Lifestyle
of a Rock Star
Interviewer:
Around the world young people are spending
unbelievable sums of money to listen to rock music.
“Forbes Magazine” claims that at least fifty rock
stars have incomes of between two million and six
million dollars per year. Today we’ll discuss the
lifestyle of rock stars with the person who knows
all about it, MTV producer Jack Jackson.
Jack Jackson: “It doesn’t make
sense,” says Johnny Mathis, one of the older music
millionaires, who made a million dollars a year
when he was most popular, in the 1950s. “Performers
aren’t worth this kind of money. In fact, nobody
is.” But the rock stars’ admirers seem to disagree.
Those who love rock music spend about two billion
dollars a year for records. They pay 150 million
to see rock stars in person.
Interviewer: Some observers think
the customers are buying more than music.
Jack Jackson: Absolutely. Rock
music has a special appeal because no real training
is needed to produce it. There is no gulf between
the audience and the performer. Every boy and girl
in the audience thinks, “I could sing like that.”
So rock has become a new kind of religion, a new
form of worship. Young people are glad to pay to
worship a rock star because it is a way of worshipping
themselves.
Interviewer: Luck is a key word
for explaining the success of many. In 1972 one
of the luckiest was Don McLean, who wrote and sang
“American Pie.” Mc Lean earned more than a million
dollars from recordings of “American Pie.”
Jack Jackson: Well, records provide
only part of a star’s income. Around the world young
listeners soon want to see the star in movies, on
television, and in person.
Neil Young, who performs in torn blue jeans, sometimes
sings to an audience of 10,000, each of whom has
paid at least fifteen dollars for a ticket. After
paying expenses, Young leaves with about $120,000
in his pocket at the end of an evening.
Interviewer: How do the rock stars
use their money? What do they do when the money
starts pouring in like water?
Jack Jackson: Most young stars
simply throw their money around. England’s Elton
John gave someone a $38,000 Rolls-Royce automobile
and bought himself a $5,000 pair of eyeglasses that
light up and spell E-L-TO-N. He also bought himself
two cars, “one for each foot.” In the end, a rock
star’s life is unrewarding. After two or three years
riches and fame are gone. Left with his memories,
and his tax problems, the lonely ex-performer spends
his remaining years trying to impress strangers.
New stars have arrived to take his place.