But one thing that can be defined is the attitude of the people who appreciate rock and roll by playing the guitar or any other rock instrument. The media mainly perpetuates the stereotype that rock guitarists are mean people. If one were to look at Guns N’ Roses’ biography on Spotify, it says in the first line, “They were not nice boys, nice boys don’t play rock and roll.” But Brad Guesman, my close friend and an experienced guitarist, proves this stereotype wrong: “When you meet another guitarist who isn’t as good as you are, provided they aren’t a complete asshole and actually seem humble, you kinda feel inclined to help them... It just feels right to help them play better,” says Guesman. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, rock guitarists aren’t all mean people.
The characterization of the typical rocker can be found in the 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap. The characters in the band Spinal Tap are portrayed as oversized children with much more money than sense. They’re sexist, they’re uncensored, and they’re genuinely unaware of what is right and wrong. However, the point of me bringing up this obvious piece of comedy is not to qualify the idea that all rockstars were as incompetent and childish as the rockstars in the movie were, but that the personalities of the characters were based off of what the director, Rob Reiner, noticed as a trend in the music industry.
