Most of us have heard of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (if you haven't google them they have plenty of excellent songs)
One of the most successful and consistent of bands in the league, the peppers have managed to win 6 Grammy awards, 2 of there albums were placed on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest albums of all Time. The band was also inducted to the Rock n Roll hall of fame in 2012. One can Easily say that they are Whales of Rock n Roll. (Easily...get it?)
Success for the Peppers was not made overnight though. We will now briefly examine their story and see what lessons us steemers can learn from them.
1983 The Red Hot Chili Peppers Birth
In 1983 Anthony Kiedes (lead singer) and his best friend Flea (bassist) started the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Their first album was titled after the bands name. Despite their original and innovative sound, the album was unsuccessful and failed to meet expectations with only 300,000 sales (back then there was no YouTube no Spotify and no illegal downloading so 300,000 was considered very low sales)
In 1985 the peppers along with new guitarist and best friend of Kiedes and Flea, Hillel Slovak, composed their second album titled Freaky Styley. Despite having a new producer (George Clinton) the bands second album again failed to meet sales expectations and also failed to garner any mainstream recognition or to appear on the BILLBOARD 200. Anthony (the lead singer) began to use heroin even heavier which negatively affected his artistic ability. eventually the band fired him.
Anthony Kiedes did not let these series of events to cause him to quit. With the help of his mother he went to a drug rehabilitation and managed to write the song Fight Like A Brave. In 1987 the band released their third album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. The album was much more successful than their two previous albums reaching number 148 on the BILLBOARD 200. The band had attempted to get Rick Rubin (a very good producer) to produce their album but he rejected them.
LESSONS LEARNED FOR STEEMERS
In the same way that Anthony Kiedes did not let the fact that he got fired from the band, his addiction to drugs or the fact that the band failed to meet expectations to discourage him or to quit....we should not let our seemingly failed expectations on Steemit to cause us to quit. On the contrary....we should take advantage of these predicaments and allow them to mold us into becoming better bloggers....better commenters and better steemers. Anthony seeked help from his mother and the drug rehabilitation program, we should also seek advice form fellow steemers...perhaps Dolphins or those who have had successful blogs. Many steemers like @beyondbitcoin @cryptoctopus and many others have posted blogs on how to be successful on Steemit.
Death of a band member and later Success of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
In 1988 Hillel Slovak the bands lead guitarist passed away on a heroin over dose. The band nearly decided to quit but managed to pull through the loss of their friend and finish what they started.
In 1989 after several attempts to get in contact with Rick Rubin...the producer finally agreed to produce the bands next album Mothers Milk. Earlier that year the band were introduced to a young but skilled guitarist named John Fruciante.
On August 16 1989 the band released their 4th studio album titled Mothers Milk. The album was a success selling over 500,000 units and peaked number 52 on the charts but failed to land on the U.K charts.
The bands next album titled Blood Sugar Sex Magik was released in 1991 to critical acclaim selling 12,000,000 copies and landing them their first MTV nomination and first grammy win for "Give It Away". (One can't help but to think of a minnow suddenly becoming a dolphin when hearing this part of the Peppers success)
Frusciante eventually decides to leave the band after several heated arguments with Anthony because he could not handle the fame and attention from the bands sudden success.
LESSONS LEARNED FOR STEEMERS
The Peppers were consistent in their attempts to get creative producer Rick Rubin to produce there album...they did not give up or judge him as arrogant for declining them but continued to ask him to produce their album.
Are you a minnow or a dolphin and have failed to get the attention of a whale to comment or like one of your posts? DO NOT GIVE UP. Be consistent with your persistence and this will push you to step up your game and eventually get the attention of a whale.
Dave Navarro One Hot Minute and the Return of a Jedi
With the departure of John Frusciante the Peppers hired former Jane's Addiction lead guitarist Dave Navarro. The band released One Hot Minute. Although less tangible to music critics the album managed to sell 8,000,000 copies. Elaborating on the fact on how Frusciante departure and Anthony's addiction to drugs had an impact on the creative process of the album Anthony said "John had been a true anomaly when it came to song writing. He made it even easier than Hillel to create music, even though I'd known Hillel for years. I just figured that was how all guitar players were, that you showed them your lyrics and sang a little bit and the next thing you knew you had a song. That didn't happen right off the bat with Dave."
Here Anthony admits that he took his musical relationship with John Frusciante for granted.
In 1998 Navarro left the Peppers. On the verge of breaking up Anthony and Flea decided to ask John Frusciante to rejoin the band. Through sobs John said to them that 'nothing would make him happier"
LESSONS LEARNED FOR STEEMERS
Anthony regretted that he took his relationship with John Frusciante for granted and this impacted his creativity in a negative way
Steemit offers a revolutionary new concept of compensating their users with real money. Something Reddit, Facebook and Instagram have not done. DO NOT TAKE THESE THINGS FOR GRANTED
If we start to look for fault in Steemit it will negatively affect our blogs motivations and ideas. Stay positive and positive things will happen
Change of Style and Further Success
With the return of John Frusciante to the Peppers, the band managed to release 3 critically acclaimed new albums Californication, By the Way and Stadium Arcadium. One of these albums "Stadium Arcadium" was even nominated for a Album Of The Year Grammy award!
John Frusciante ended up leaving the band again, this time in good terms starting his solo career.
Since then the Peppers have managed to stay on the charts by constantly changing their style but maintaining the original sound of their roots releasing 2 more albums I'm With You and The Getaway with long time friend and collaborator Josh Klinghoffer replacing Frusciante as lead guitarist.
LESSONS LEARNED FOR STEEMER
The Peppers constantly changed their style to avoid becoming old news. In the same way steemers, continue to be original yet innovative with your blogs avoiding becoming old news in the steemit community.
TO SUM IT UP
- DO NOT ALLOW SEEMINGLY FAILED EXPECTATIONS TO CAUSE YOU TO QUIT. ON THE CONTRARY ALLOW THESE TO BE YOUR FUEL TO STEP UP YOUR GAME
- BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR ATTEMPTS IN TRYING TO GET THE ATTENTION OF THE BIG FISH. IN THIS WAY YOU WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE STEEMIT COMMUNI
- DO NOT TAKE STEEMIT FOR GRANTED. BE GRATEFUL THAT SUCH A COMMUNITY EXISTS
- EVOLVE YOUR STYLE ON STEEMIT BUT AT THE SAME TIME MAINTAINYOUR ORIGINALITY
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR TIME