Do you like the rock group Queen’s classic song “Bohemian Rhapsody”? How about George Orwell’s magnum opus Animal Farm? They, among many other inspirational human endeavors, almost never escaped the “get to no” prison.
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The list of great music that was initially scorned by so-called industry “experts” is lengthy. I must confess that I’d be fine if John Lennon’s “Imagine” (originally viewed as too political by record executives) never saw the light of day, but I’m thrilled that the Rolling Stones song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” infiltrated our musical consciousness. It’s hard to “imagine” that it faced push-back from broadcasters.
Apparently, Keith Richards wasn’t particularly fond of it at first — there’s just no accounting for taste. I’ll tell you something: there are few movie scenes that intertwine more seamlessly with music than this from Apocalypse Now:
It’s a similar story with books that were initially rejected by myopic pinheads, but went on to literary success, like Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Frankenstein. (Here are some other best sellers that were rejected.) Even Steven Goldberg’s The Inevitability of Patriarchy (essentially proposing that males rule) got about 69 rejections — go figure.
Art is perhaps even more of a subjective experience, so it’s not surprising that many creations now celebrated were originally mocked, including Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, and Edvard Munch’s The Scream.
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Perhaps more importantly for the enrichment of our daily lives are the great inventions that overcame hubris hurdles, double-dealing, and downright treachery. Can you imagine daily life without some of these technological advancements (such as aspirin and non-silent movies) that were originally rebuffed? Me neither — thank goodness for the inspirational innovators who lived by the maxim, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
Here’s the upshot of it all: far too many of the so-called “experts” suck! They are worse than the “get to no” women.
(For related reading, see “Don’t be a ‘get to no’ woman (or man)—you guys are awful!” by Olivia Murray.)
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Image generated by ChatGPT.