Is the It Factor as Dead as Elvis?
Investigating the star-quality ‘It Factor’ that only a handful of performers have ever possessed. Does anyone possess this quality in modern times? Has anyone got the potential for displaying this quality today? How do you determine who has this attribute? Is the It Factor really as dead as Elvis?
Is the It Factor as Dead as Elvis?
He shook his long, curly brown hair, stepped up to the mic, with eyes closed, and screamed. A long banshee-wail that sent shivers down the spines of the eager audience. Sweat dripped down his face onto the stage floor, which was littered with flowers, joints, and the odd pair of panties.
The first rhythmic chords of the bluesy “Back Door Man” stuttered from the guitar of Robby Krieger, while Ray Manzarek’s long fingers were poised over his two keyboards. The Lizard King stared out at his audience, through the haze of stage-lights, ready to bellow the first line, when instead of a bearded, stoned hippy rushing the stage, my mother came bursting into my bedroom. “Will you turn that poxy noise down, I can’t hear the bloody telly downstairs!” Suddenly, I wasn’t Mr Mojo Risin, the Lizard King, I was just plain old Lewis again, standing there in my pants.
We’ve all experienced these moments. The moments when we actually BECOME our musical heroes, only to be swiftly brought back to reality with a resounding thud. I really thought I was Jim Morrison. I’d bought all the albums, several books on him, grown my hair (which is naturally curly, so at least I wouldn’t need a perm) and even bought a pair of leather trousers. (Okay, they were PVC, but I was earning a pittance at the time, so I couldn’t afford the real thing, give me a break!) Let’s face it, I was obsessed with the man. He’d been dead for 20-odd years at the time (back in 1992). But we shared the same star-sign, Sagittarius, and I’d been born a year after his death, so I was obviously Jim re-incarnated! Wasn’t I?
So, what is it that manifests these obsessions in people? Is it the fact that you are at a young impressionable age, and you need, nay, require a heroic figure to look up to and admire? Or is it that these figures have “IT”? These days, you would associate IT with a geek in front of a PC. But, please don’t confuse IT with Information Technology. I just cannot imagine Hendrix sitting in front of his PC hitting Ctrl+Alt+Delete, instead of wielding his axe.
IT is that elusive, esoteric star quality that 99.9999% of us don’t possess, but some lucky blighters have in spades. Elvis had IT, Hendrix had IT, Jim had IT, Lennon had IT. And, yes, getting back to answer the age question, it is partly connected with the age/coming of age process most of us enjoy (or should that be endure?), but it’s mainly due to the “IT-Factor” (IT for short) of these lucky few.
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