I have an album in the works at the moment and am looking for suggestions on how to obtain a cult following. Iwas reading the Morrissey/Smiths Appreciation Thread and thought that would totally be a fun thing to do.
I basically write dark love songs that are highly classically influenced. I think of it as a light form of classical with some flamenco and other influences thrown in. So what can I do to get an instant cult following (with or without the added water)?
Get caught in public having sex with John Waters
Discover and overdose on your own designer drug a year after your album has been released
Make sure the Enquirer keeps discussing sightings of you after your demise
Get parodied on Saturday Night Live
Drop geeky references into all your songs (worked for Weezer).
Wear stupid make-up (Kiss)
Get mysteriously shot in a gang war (2Pac, Biggie)
Considering all this, the best way to go would be to groom a persona that alienates most of the population but makes a small part feel like you know them intimately. Hmm… which, I guess is the definition of a cult following.
Hmmm. Ok, so let’s say I am a singer songwriter playing light classical styled music on my guitar and singing. So, I should wear something distinctive (ie, the Kiss makeup reference…), have sex with John Waters publicly (I think I’ll pass on that, he is grody), add geek references into my songs, and then design drugs that kill me during a gang war(I don’t think so on that either).
I think the Enquirer and SNL things are an after effect of being a cult icon. I don’t think I could convince them to do things like that to me before I become a cult icon. It is the chicken and egg scenario there for me.
So let’s try to relate it to me.
I play love songs. I am not in great shape or really that great looking, but that doesn’t seem to be important to cult icons (ie, Jerry Garcia).
Let’s try to rephrase some of the things from earlier that I will need.
So, I should modify my songs enough so that they also have a psychadelic sound to them. That can easily be accomplished with effects but it isn’t exactly what I am looking for. I could dress in very old fashioned formal wear. Not a zoot suit or anything like that but perhaps a tuxedo with tails (an old fashioned one…maybe cobwebs could be added for effect), a formal top hat, and perhaps a cape or hooded cloak of some kind. I could shave my facial hair into devilish pointed chin pubes. Then I can sing about alienation and the disaffectedness of people on a personal level (hey! I already do some of that) with a hint of hope. Now I just have to convince people to do lots of drugs while they are listening to me and perform some type of mind control. Or better yet, right songs to hypnosis scripts.
Make sure the cd has good liner notes.
Another Moz fan chiming in…
Some favs that haven’t been listed yet…
Asleep
Golden Lights
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Some Girls are Bigger then Others
and of course…the song he did on the Kilborn Show…The First of the Gang to die…bloody brilliant!
“you have never been in love…until you’ve seen sunlight thrown…over smashed human bone…”
Oh, and nurture a mysterious air. Refuse all interviews (once you’re big enough not to need the publicity too much). The wacky formal wear is good. An even better (but very risky) idea is to make your live performances few and far between.
The problem is that a failed attempt to obtain a cult following tends result in no popularity at all. It’s a fine line to walk.
Four words: Be an absolute prick.
Cult heroes aren’t chosen on the basis of how nice they are.