Written by: Zach Hammer, The Reserve Clause
Let’s be honest, the thought of most rock stars sends images of womanizing, drug abuse and bad attitudes rifling through our minds. But you know what? That’s exactly the way that I want to think of rock stars. I like to picture them swilling Jack Daniels, holding interviews and not knowing what the hell they’re talking about and referencing musical inspiration that makes us feel like we’re definitely not the cool kid. For every any man rocker like Springsteen, you’ve got the weird, Patti Smith and the self-obsessed, Don Henley. In today’s day and age, for every Jason Mraz you’ve got people like Julian Casablancas.
Julian Casablancas was born and bred to be a pretentious you know what. He was born into a wealthy Upper East Side of New York family who spent his childhood summering in the Hamptons and spending his Prep School days somewhere in Switzerland. I know what you’re thinking; of course Switzerland is the best place in the world to harness your internal punk rocker and revolt.
“You know what I’m going to do mom and dad? I’m going to take my trust fund and shove it right up you’re a—!”
Sure, maybe he didn’t really say that, but that’s the way I picture it going down. What he really did was take his family money and invest it into one of the biggest bands in the world—the Strokes. Great band, even cooler member names, terrible attitudes, rock stars.
I remember hearing about the Strokes prior to “Is This It” being released. I remember seeing their first video for “Last Night” and thinking that these look like kids who were born with a recording contract. Well, I wasn’t far off and to make matters worse, they believed in the same entitlement. Casablancas frolicked around Manhattan with all of the hottest models, wearing boots with way too many straps and buckles, sipping his $9 coffee and laughing about the previous night’s conversation about people walking their pet turtles.
When I really need to know if this person is a classic jerk, I want to know if they smoke cigs? Casablancas passes this question with flying colors. I’ve never seen him without a cigarette in his hand. I think I even saw him on Letterman blowing smoke rings with Paul and Dave. It was pretty impressive. If it was still legal for Marlboro to put humans on their cigarette ads, Casablancas would probably have the most lucrative promotional contract in the history. So much so that Don Draper would slam nine bottles of scotch in an average work day just because he didn’t come up with it first.
Here’s the thing about Casablancas—he gets it. The NBA has “the secret”, the NFL has “team first” and MLB has…wait…uhh…”The Steroid Era”? I don’t know, but what I do know is that any time I see him on TV or whatever media outlet, I always think to myself, “Man, this guy is a total jerk. I don’t have time to sit here and watch this”. But then, like always, I sit there and watch the performance and when he’s finished I realize how much he gets it. He may make his band mates send him musical track copies so that he can record his parts in private, but dammit he knows how to rock. He’s captivating. He may not move one inch on stage, but he has style.
I can appreciate rock stars. I know that they work extremely hard on their craft. I also know that it isn’t easy to juggle nine different models at one time. However, that’s not Casablancas. He’s a married, family man. Maybe he wanted to record his lyrics in private because he wanted to spend more time with his family? Who am I to judge? So long as he continues to put out incredible, highly anticipated music then I will not complain. I just hope that I don’t see him on a casual stroll with his baby, walking their new pet turtle. That may push me over the edge.
You don’t think that Julian Casablancas is the biggest a-hole in the room? Then tell me who you think it is in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter (@leonardhambone).
I'm not as familiar with Julian as you are, but it sounds like a good case as far as today's crop goes.
ReplyDeletePersonally, Axl Rose is always the first name that pops into my mind when thinking of quintessential rock stars. From his hard parting/living to his disrespect for his fans and hotels, right down to the deranged diva he's become.
Also, I think Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes deserves an honorable mention.