Quote:
Originally Posted by Walleris
(Post 1221043)
... I have my own standards for what I consider a good performance from Jon and Richie...
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In your previous post you said the real reasons Jon and Richie suck today is that Richie never learned to manage his lifestyle and Jon never learned to maintain his instrument. I won't argue that, although those reasons would
also share the same underlying cause, i.e., they made mistakes. It happens. Sometimes it happens over and over again. You can call it a lack of self-discipline, or irresponsibility, or just not giving a damn. At this moment in history, it doesn't matter what you call it because neither you nor they can change the past.
Richie can't go back and undrink the alcohol or unmake the choices he made. Jon can't unsmoke the cigarettes he smoked or re-sing all the notes he sang improperly because he didn't use a better technique. What's done is done. All they can do now is avoid making more poor choices.
This isn't meant to challenge your right to have your own standards of performance from Jon and Richie. That's entirely your prerogative. But I will say this: If your standards are based on how much better Jon and Richie could be if they had never made mistakes in the past, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed with them from now on. No matter how much people bitch about it, they can't unscramble an egg. The best they can do at this point is turn it into an omelet. :)
I also agree that needing someone in order to be your best doesn't qualify as 'a reason to suck' - if by 'reason' you mean 'a justification for' or ' an excuse'. I'm not excusing past (or current) behaviors. But I still think that needing someone
can be 'a reason to suck' when 'reason' is defined as 'a trigger' or 'a precipitating factor'. I've seen depression, insecurity, and stress (just to mention a few side-effects that can result from unexpected change) cause too many brilliant people to self-destruct or turn in less than their best performances. And while it's true that Jon's vocal issues and Richie's erratic performances have been problematic for years, the sudden and rapid decline in both since April 2013 is too coincidental for me to believe that it wasn't caused by the split.
When I said 'the best' I didn't mean the best they have ever been or the best they would be in a perfect world. I meant the best they can be at this point in their lives, warts and all. Because, frankly, that's the only realistic expectation we can have. And in my opinion, the odds of either of them achieving a personal best increase exponentially when they are working together instead of separately.
Given what we know about the current state of affairs, I may be reaching for the stars, too. But at least this is a choice they could make in the present. It's something they
can change without having the ability to travel through time for a do-over.
