A Tale of Two (Kicked Out) Musicians

In his self-help book, The Subtle Art of not Giving a F***, Mark Manson describes two musicians who got kicked out of their music bands right when their unknown band was about to sign a record deal. This was a massive blow:

“Record contracts don’t exactly fall out the sky, especially for raucous, upstart metal bands.”

 

The first guy decided to form a new band, one he hoped would be so successful that his old band would “forever regret their decision”:

“He’d bathe in the tears of his betrayers, each tear wiped dry by a crisp, clean hundred-dollar bill.”

He formed a new band, one that went onto become legendary with him as the guitarist. The band would sell over 25 million albums. Its name? Megadeth. The guitarist’s name? Dave Mustaine.


So yes, Mustaine became hugely successful and rich. But not rich enough to “bathe in the tears of his betrayers”. Why not?

“The band he was kicked out of was Metallica, which has sold over 180 million albums worldwide.”

And so Mustaine still considered himself a failure!

“Despite all that he had accomplished, in his mind he would always be the guy who got kicked out of Metallica.”

 

A similar thing happened to another musician, Pete Best, who got kicked out of the Beatles, right before they became famous. Best’s story was nothing like Mustaine’s: he did not become a big musician, his projects failed, he even attempted suicide. And yet, Best ended up better than Mustaine. Huh? Looking back, Best said he met his wife after he was kicked out of the Beatles. And he’s happy with his wife and kids. Sure, he has no fame or adulation or millions of dollars, it was just that:

“His values changed.”

 

It’s a nice set of stories in a self-help book, and it’s also a spectacular example of John Milton’s famous line:

“The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”

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