The Grand Illusion: Personal Finance Advice from Styx
Published on - February 2nd, 2008 (by J.D. Roth) And now for something completely different…
While listening to Styx this morning (yes, really), I realized the title track from their 1977 album The Grand Illusion does a good job of describing a part of the Get Rich Slowly philosophy.
Don’t be fooled by the radio, the TV, or the magazines. They show you photographs of how your life should be, but they’re just someone else’s fantasy. So if you think your life is complete confusion because you never win the game, just remember that it’s a grand illusion, and deep inside we’re all the same.
Just for a fun, here’s a clip of the band performing the song at the Capital Center in Largo, Maryland in 1981:
I can’t believe I’m citing Styx as a source of financial wisdom. Next I’ll be quoting Pink Floyd.
This article is about Funny Money
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Next you’ll be espousing “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em…know when to fold’em …” for buy/sell or buy/hold recommendations!
Keep humming …
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Ahhh. Styx. Thanks for the flashback.
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“You don’t need no education.”
People who trained to be stock brokers can’t reliably beat the market, so why believe you can?
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Styx also emphasized the importance of automating your finances in Mr. Roboto.
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I did an almost identical post on New Year’s Day!
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Here’s a link to Annie’s New Years post…
The Grand Illusion
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Money, its a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
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Hey JD. Are you kidding?? Classic rock is the *BEST*!!! That was the good stuff.
Hollywood, and the music establishment are just trying to reinvent themselves.
As to the post… I have noticed that from watching TV a *LOT* less, and reading most of my sites in NetNewsWire…. that I reduce my advertising intake significantly.
One of my co-workers is retired military – and he always talks about how his drill instructor said we live in a spoon-fed society.
Unfortunately, how true it is.
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Styx’s “Blue Collar Man” also has something to say about personal finance:
“Keeping my mind on a better life
Where happiness is only a heartbeat away
Paradise can it be all I heard it was
I close my eyes and maybe I’m already there”
It’s not just ’70s power pop/rock, it’s a financial education!
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Great post j.d., brought back some great memories!
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And to think my mother thought that rock ‘n roll would make me stupid…
ROCK ON!!
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And what do you give up, and what do you get, if you focus too much on money instead of balance and your own sources of happiness?
” … we now have everything,
or so people say,
but now this emptiness
haunts me every day
we seek the lion’s share
never knowing why -
come alive:
spread your wings and fly
Pieces of eight
the search for the money tree
don’t cash your freedoms in for gold
Pieces of eight
can’t buy you everything
don’t let them turn your heart to stone …”
And not everyone knows Styx is still recording and touring (and they’re still AMAZING!). (Hey, JD – looks like they were in Portland not long ago!) This is from “More Love for the Money” from their recent “Cyclorama”:
“At the mall again
I’m feeling desperate and uncertain
God it’s got to be here somewhere I believe
My demographic profile
Knows it’s show time
Raise the curtain
Start the comedy and let me be naive
A circus flea from A to B
I jump for my keeper
In search of true enlightenment
For ten per cent cheaper”
Still got my Styx Fan Club membership card …
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Perhaps you can add Liza to the list:
Money from Cabaret
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkRIbUT6u7Q
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I vote for Spinal Tap’s “Gimme Some Money”
I think Vote for your fav finance song would be a great post/poll!
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STYX is my favorite, I was going to splurge and get tickets to their Wendover, NV show on 2/8 (also the big 4 0 B-day)but by the time I found out they were coming the tickets had sold out! d’ oh
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Hey, now that’s great. JD, you’re a Renegade! Ah, I’ve got too much time on my hands to be coming up with these. Come sail away and visit my blog when you can. (OK I’ll stop now)
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alternatively, today’s message is:
“It’s about a revolution in your heart and in your mind
You can’t find the conclusion, lifestyle and obsession
Diamond rings get you nothing but a life long lesson
And your pocketbook stressin’
You’re a slave to the system, working jobs that you hate
For that **** you don’t need
It’s too bad the world is based on greed
Step back and see”
…
“Possessions, they are never gonna fill the void
Take it away and learn the best lesson
The heart, the soul, the life, the passion
Present yourself, press your clothes
Comb your hair, clock in
You just can’t win
Just can’t win
When the things you own, own you”
(papa roach, between angels and insects)
good song. better message. these types are showing up more in popular music.
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Thanks JD — I just watched a bunch of Styx YouTube videos reliving the summer of 1981!
Styx was my absolute favorite band in the day! Now I’m all nostalgic.
And I’m struck by how beautiful and down-to-earth their lyrics were — I’d take this music over current rock any day.
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But Pink Floyd’s best warning for personal finance (and any kind of self-improvement, really) is from “Time”:
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
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Pink Floyd DOES have a thing or two to say on the subject:
“But if you ask for a rise/It’s no surprise that they’re/Giving none away”
(A number of PF bloggers have written about asking for a raise.)
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Wow! Great quote! Thanks man! “The Matrix” the media creates for us, really isn’t real. It is all a big illusion. So let us just unplug the magazines, the TV, the whole charade and open our eyes to the real world around us, which is not a desert but a paradise!
This article also talks about how media just feeds us with fear to keep us hooked;
http://www.tipsforsuccess.org/anxiety.htm
Thanks again!
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Awesome
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Pink Floyd offers some great lessons in capitalism. How about the entire album “The Wall”, or as others have mentioned the song “Money”. But one of my personal favorites would have to be “Have a Cigar”…
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Thanks, JD, that was a time warp for me. I was only 6 in ’81, but my older brother and sister were huge fans, and I used to fall asleep with my ear pressed up against the wall listening to their records being played in my sister’s room next door! I just read an article about how great it is to just unplugged the TV, but I’m just too attached. Maybe this writer’s strike will help loosen the hold TV has on me.
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That’s funny, I used the same title and same quote as the inaugural post on my blog two weeks ago…
http://www.yuppiesherpa.com
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Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out” on real estate:
“Who needs a house out in Hackensack,
Is that all you get for your money?”
See? He knew about the housing bubble 30 years ago.
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Ed:
Hope I’m not too late to make it a happy 40th for you. e-mail me about Wendover at HANNAHBAIRatAOLdotCOM and I may be able to help you out.
Thanks for the fun thread guys.
Fran
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