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I have been a huge fan of nick drake's music even though he died 15 years before I was born, and I read the autobiography and watched at least 2 of them on the internet. There's a controversy around whether he intentionally killed himself or just desperately took too much of the medication, but it's undisputed that he had serious problems with how he felt and lack of fame nearing the end of his life.
The thing I don't get about him feeling bad about his lack of fame is that he still did have lots of fans and people who encouraged him musically. Maybe he expected too much from people, but if that was the case, can't you just reason it's the fault of music listeners? Sometimes music fans develop intense fanaticism for music that isn't nearly as sophisticated as nick drake's.
I was just wondering because I'm overall disappointed with how mediocre my music even though i have put a pretty huge amount of effort into it over the course of my life. Do you think maybe Nick Drake smoked too much weed? When I smoke weed, I tend to get really depressed and more self conscious than usual.
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if you've got anxiety or depression it's not always easy to see the positives in yourself. there's countless musicians that have made sublime music and comitted suicide before people realised just how good their work was. ian curtis comes to mind
Go read up on depression and anxiety. Doesn't matter the fame or talent.
Ask Kurt Cobain or Ian Curtis. (Hint: you can’t)
...and Elliott Smith and Mark Linkous.
And Scott Hutchison
I’m not convinced Elliott wasn’t murdered but at this point we’ll never know. Equally tragic either way. Love Sparklehorse too
I had an ex who was convinced he was murdered as well. I guess I've never put much thought into it, but it could very well be.
Plato's cave.
Please note; I am not saying I am famous/talented/noteworthy in any way, nor am I comparing myself to Nick Drake. This is simply anecdotal info based on my own experiences.
A little over 15ish years ago I was a working musician in Toronto, Canada. I played shows weekly, made enough to live off of, played with some amazing people, had some amazing times, had a decent following, etc.
Thinking about it now, having long since left that life behind, it should have been the happiest, most contented time of my life. No real responsibilities beyond doing what I loved. People would pay money to see me...how crazy is that!?
The thing is though...it wasn't the happiest time of my life. In fact, I'd call it my least happiest time. I was horribly depressed, and eventually spiraled out of control...nearly ending my life at the lowest point. People would say all the time, "how can you be so depressed? Look at what you're doing! Look at what you've accomplished!" It didn't matter.
Now, all these years on, I'm not doing what I love for a living. In fact, I went the complete opposite direction and joined the military. But...I'm content.
I've really got no answers. All I know is that depression doesn't care what logic dictates.
Well, for one thing, that’s not how depression works. And check out the biography from last year by Richard Jack. His sister wrote the introduction, gave him their dad’s diaries, and told everybody it was OK to talk to him.
Nick did kill himself. The story that he only took a slight overdose was wrong. And he may have had not just depression, but something more akin to schizophrenia going on. Which weed would’ve exacerbated.
are you 13 or something? asinine post
If I'm doing the math correctly OP was born around 1989 which is blowing my mind a bit, this really seems like the sentiment of child/teenager who's yet to learn much about the world and mental health.
Wow, what an asshole. I was just trying to get peoples opinion and i even researched this sub to see if it was already asked.
That isn’t how illness works
Plenty of incredibly creative and talented artists have been depressive or anxiety ridden, or suffered from other challenging mental health issues. Sometimes it seems as if the two go hand in hand (although this is not necessarily true).
Regarding Drakes success or lack of - he really had zero success at the time and found performing live really challenging. Without being able to tour to promote himself it was always going to be hard to get more exposure.
How he took his lack of success and the effect that had on him says more about the state of his mental health rather than the lack of success itself.
My dad, a contemporary of Drake’s, released an e.p. and two albums of contemporary, psychedelic folk music in the late 60s - on a major record label (CBS). They barely sold. He soldiered on, he toured, he supported much bigger acts, in the early 70s he was on the verge of being signed to Island records - and then retired from music because he had had a kid (me) and wanted to not be away from home all the time - and to establish a more secure career (he became a photographer). He didn’t become depressive from his lack of success - he already had a more robust mental health.
Sadly, people didn’t understand enough about mental health back then. I expect Drake would have been able to get much better help nowadays.
He can remember John Martyn (who was a friend of his) and Nick Drake coming to his gigs and going round to a flat where Nick lived because Nick wanted some advice about his new guitar.
May I ask the name of your Dads records? Always hunting for new psychedelic folk.
I’ll message you
Being talented is not a vaccine for mental illness, the opposite is true if anything. I think you’d find it useful to read more into this; your post suggests you correlate creativity and success with good mental health which is a perspective that has little evidence in reality. subject https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity_and_mental_health#:~:text=Links%20between%20creativity%20and%20mental,anxiety%20disorder%2C%20OCD%20and%20ADHD.
Artists often have intensely critical minds. When you point that critical ability at your art, it helps you sculpt and refine your art into something exquisite. When you point it at yourself, it leads to depression and a terrible self image.
I didn't know being talented was incompatible with being depressed
Just my opinion but, it seems obvious Nick had a narcissistic upbringing and it wrecked his ability to love himself (as contradictory as that sounds)
He couldn’t tour, most likely due to confidence issues. He also felt he shouldn’t have had to work like other people.. so couldn’t deal with getting a “real job” alongside music.
Going back home in his late 20s, with no real income or accolades from his music must have been hard. Being forced to live back in an environment he didn’t like, must have made it hard too.
He very likely had schizophrenia and not depression. The cannabis use triggers it in certain people, as evidenced by the Dunedin study in New Zealand. The age to develop it is right. I was given the same drug that killed him, as a migraine prevention treatment back in the day. The dose they gave me was literally twice what you got for depression. I did not have depression when I started it, but the drug itself caused it. So I never knew what depression was like until I took that amitriptyline. They also didn't warn me of the dangers of it. Like if I had literally taken one extra pill, and they gave me six months of the drug at a time, I would have died too.
I think his depression was caused by the med, he was misdiagnosed, and he probably took the one extra pill. The stuff is toxic and builds up in your body.