29 Musical Truths I Learned from "Almost Famous"

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen “Almost Famous”.

It’s one of those movies I can watch three times in a row, and it will still be just as enjoyable of an experience. My DVD copy is well-loved after being watched, shared and packed to watch on trips with the girls. (It gets flipped on in hotel rooms a lot during our pre-show prep when we’re following a tour…) I can pretty much quote the entire thing, start to finish – original theatrical release and extended director’s cut.

In short: it’s my all-time favorite movie. (That probably doesn’t surprise you.)

It also taught me a lot about what it really means to be a fan of music – and that it’s okay if you’re obsessed with the lyrics and melodies over the lead singer. This movie came out at a pivotal time in my journey as a music fan and helped me transition from teenybopper with Hanson posters plastered all over her wall to a girl who follows bands on tour for the love of the music, seeks out local bands and loves the music first and always.

Lately, I’ve been revisiting everything that gives me the musical feels as I reconnect with what music means to me these days, and “Almost Famous” is definitely at the top of that list.

I originally published this list in September 2015 to celebrate the film’s 15th anniversary. After watching the movie again recently, I couldn’t get it out of my head and decided it was time to reshare it.

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29 musical truths I learned from “Almost Famous”

Simon and Garfunkel is the poetry of drugs and promiscuous sex.
Sometimes the lyrics say more than you ever could.
If you listen to “Tommy” by The Who with a candle burning, you’ll see your entire future.
True music chooses you – it lives in your car or inside your headphones.
Jim Morrison is a drunken buffoon posing as a poet. (But The Guess Who had the courage to be drunken buffoons.)
If Lou’s doing Bowie and Bowie’s doing Lou…Lou’s still doing Lou.
You can’t make friends with the rock stars.
All you have to do is listen.
Groupies sleep with rock stars because they want to be near someone famous. Band-aids are there because of the music. They inspire the music. (Meaning band-aids are good groupies…but The Band-Aid wasn’t a very good blog name…)
Bands should always play for the fans, not the critics.
Rock ‘n roll is a lifestyle, a way of thinking and it can save the world.
What it all comes down to is that indefinable thing when someone catches something in your music – the buzz.
If you never take it seriously, you never get hurt. If you never get hurt, you always have fun. And if you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit your friends.
Never become a music writer and befriend those who will use you to further the big business desire of glorifying worthless rock stars.
Some of the people you meet on the road are really amazing people.
Lead singers work harder than anyone else on stage.
There is no song better for a road trip sing-along than “Tiny Dancer.”
When you’re out on the road with friends…you ARE home.
Being in a touring band = having compromised morals and throwing away brain cells like confetti.
If you think Mick Jagger is still going to be out there trying to be a rock star at age 50, you’re sadly mistaken.
Tour buses are the heart and soul of a band on tour.
The record companies will ruin rock ‘n roll and strangle everything we love about it.
If you’re not careful and cross the line to being just a groupie, the band manager will sell you off for $50 and a case of beer.
Being on the road is the circus – everyone’s trying to not go home. (Don’t get caught up in it.)
Most music fans – true fans – are too sweet for rock ‘n roll.
It’s bad form to start singing any Buddy Holly song during a rough plane ride…
Rock stars don’t see themselves the way they really are. (But then, maybe fans don’t either.)
Most people don’t know what it’s like to love some silly little piece of music or some band so much that it hurts.
What is there to love about music? To begin with, everything.