Rock Ramblings: Being a tortured artist shouldn’t validate one’s work

By Medicine Hat News on August 3, 2017.

Being a tortured artist should not validate one’s work.

There. I said it.

Over the past couple of years, rock fans have lived through Prince overdosing on drugs, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden hanging himself and most recently, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington meeting a similar fate.

Depression is a serious issue and no part of this column is aimed at downplaying that fact. What I find troubling though, is that sales of Linkin Park’s music soared by 5,000 per cent upon news of Chester’s passing. Cornell’s music saw increases of 2,400 per cent. Prince album sales increased by 16,000 per cent.

Artists and songwriters dedicate their lives to their craft; to tell us stories, create musical soundscapes and make us feel something. Why is it that we only take them seriously after tragedy? Why do we treat suicide like some sort of authenticator of artistic genius?

Van Gogh is largely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential painters of all time. He was prolific, too, creating more than 900 paintings in his life. Most of them received little or no acclaim until after he took his life. Nowadays a Van Gogh painting can fetch upwards of $100 million. Why weren’t art fans knocking down his door trying to buy his works?

It’s tragic that these artistic masterminds can live among us, completely unappreciated until after their passing. That said, there is a biological link between creativity and depression. A 2015 study found 25 per cent of creative people are more susceptible to bipolar disorder or schizophrenia due to their specific genes. Writers were 121 per cent more likely to live with bipolar disorder, and 50 per cent more likely to take their own lives.

Artists reach out for help all the time. Sadly, our society has a terrible habit of assuming that anyone who admits to “not being OK” is just begging for attention. Sometimes they are. Maybe most times they are. Until they aren’t.

Chester Bennington passed away and left us without even a farewell note. Perhaps there’s a reason. His band’s music was essentially seven albums worth of suicide notes. Chester was a depressed soul. His fans knew it. He knew it. His family knew it. A note from his son Tyler recently surfaced online. It read, “Dad, enjoy your rehearsal or whatever your (sic) doing today. Love life because it’s a ‘Castle of Glass’. Tyler.”

Life is indeed fragile. Let’s treat it that way. Let’s appreciate our artists while they are with us.