Journal Entry #8

The writer, David Pattie, is trying to research the topic of authenticity in rock music. This started with Pattie getting into a disagreement with Ritchey. Towards the end of the argument, Ritchey took a razor blade and cut "4 Real" into his arm. Although many rock bands show off self-mutilation, Ritchey took it a step further than most, maybe to prove that he was authentic. Pattie uses his personal experience with Ritchey to start off his research. To back up his case, he uses an essay written by Richard Dyer about constructed authenticity and what Bono said about embracing irony. Also, Bono believes that musicians look towards their music for validation on authenticity. This would mean that music is the truth that everyone in the business is looking for. Pattie also uses what has happened in rock history to help support the discussion on authenticity. He notes that authenticity is not "fixed," which means it can change. This has been seen to be true, by me at least, with a lot of underground bands that became mainstream. Fans of the bands previously get angered when they change to please the masses and sometimes stop being fans. Many have argued that the bands are no longer authentic. I can understand what they are saying, especially if they change their music. But, people change throughout life, so that may not necessarily mean that all of a sudden the artist is no longer "authentic." Many people try to establish authenticity by proving creativity. Also, most people like being reassured by others validity. This could also be correlated with honesty. It all depends on how a person defines authentic. Some may say it means being unique, and then would try to be their own person with no outside influence. This, of course, is close to impossible. To be truly unique with no outside help is hard, people tend to be impressionable. But, if you were to define authentic as real, people would want outside input to help verify that they are, in fact, authentic. This could come in the form of compliments or how people generally think of you. It isn't too difficult to find out how people think, as long as you look.