Artists that claim a singular vision rarely provide spectacular results -or- Finding a current that suits me

I have always been very smug and took it personally when being rejected for someone else’s musical project
Most of the time, it is because I see ways that my talents can improve the product
The person trying to recruit me to help produce their project gets threatened and goes for someone with less ideas and more ability to do what they’re told
Nevermind that they have a mediocre visionand inferior product
As long as they dumb it down and dress the idea with the appropriate genre specific clothing, they will be sure to get lots of local gigs
They might even go on tour and play for the exact same people in different cities all over the country (if their day jobs will be waiting for them when they get back)
But all they will ever be is a mediocre entity feeding with mediocre aspirations
Seldom do these people achive the status and importance of the people who define their respective genres
At least they get to act like a rock star and bask in the adoration of their friends

The cold hard fact is that these people don’t really care about doing anything innovative
Riding the mediocre gravy train until the genre dries up is just fine with them
And they sure don’t need me (or my opinions) to accomplish that
Up until recently, I have accepted this fact on the most begrudging level, accompanied by a gut full of bile and resentment
My inflated sense of self importance kept me afloat on the surface of the sea of mediocrity
I may be above all of them but that means there is nothing to shield me from the blistering rays of the real world
Even though I accepted the fact that it was my own attitude that left me stranded, I refused to do anything about it
Hoping instead that someone would eventually come by and rescue me

If I’m gonna stick with this metaphor, then I guess the thing to do is take a chance and swim for it
Abandon the self importance of the raft and immerse myself
Swimming for it means extended periods of effort and swallowing a lot of seawater
But it’s better than laying there, withering on the surface and waiting for the help that is not going to arrive

I would always tell myself that there’s a million of them out there and a few of people like me
This would help me feel that, if I was rejected, at least I could still feel superior to them and pad my ego
But lately, I have been getting my feet wet and I am seeing that I can work within someone else’s vision and produce results that I find satisfying
Since there’s a million of them out there, I might as well keep swimming through them until I find a current that’s going my way