Frustration

As a musician and writer, I often find myself wallowing in self-doubt.

Hell, so does everyone else. I wonder how other people deal with it?

I am a terrible judge of my own work. Something I sort of throw together will turn out to be one of my most popular works, while something I spend a couple of weeks on, sweated over, remixed, re-recorded, etc., will just sort of sit there.

Take my song "Necrotopia." I love it. I was proud of the lyrics, and I think I did a pretty good job with recording it. It sounds pretty much exactly like it did when I heard it in my head. Actually, in some ways it sounds better--a couple of happy accidents happened that sort of enhances the auditory experience of that song. I listen to it all the time, and still dig it.

But apparently I'm the only one.

I did another song, "Sometimes, Cthulhu Says No." It's an instrumental I sort of threw together--I'd just bought a new guitar and wanted to play around with it. It's sort of a goofy little dinky thing but with a pretty decent chord progression that I'm going to use again. And a fairly robust bass-line.

But still, I put that thing together in one day. Just a few hours. I made it up on the spot. People love that song.

Don't get me wrong, I don't *dislike* it. I just think I've done other songs that are better.

It's frustrating. I suppose I should be glad that there are one or two songs out there that seem to resonate with people. And I am.

But check out "Beast of Love," or "After the Blood," or the aforementioned "Necrotopia," please. I swear, those are decent songs, too, dammit! Give 'em a chance!