This afternoon I watched Anvil! The Story of Anvil, which friends have been recommending for a year. For anyone with any creative ambitions, this is either one of the most galvanizing, inspiring stories you can see, or the horror that drives you into a respectable trade. It’s about these two Canadians who promised each other at age 14 that they would keep rocking until they were old, and formed a metal band that played giant shows with the Scorpions and Bon Jovi in the mid-80’s, had a respected album, influenced a lot of far more famous musicians, and….just never popped. Why? The evidence shows that they can play like hell, and audiences dig them. Maybe they never wrote a radio hit. Bad production on their albums is blamed, incompetent management, weak record labels, their Canadian-ness. At one point, the lead/singer guitarist is trying to raise money for an album by telemarketing cheap sunglasses, and frets that he’s too polite to lie to strangers over the phone. Maybe they were too polite for fame.
The movie catches up with them as he’s celebrating his 50th birthday, and they’re still playing shows, sometimes to crowds of five guys head-banging in chairs. The singer drives a van delivering school lunches. The best friend/drummer works construction. Their bassist lives in a garage.
They go on a horribly wrong-headed European tour – you could make a drinking game just based on things happening to them that happened to Spinal Tap. The two best friends repeatedly argue, split up, cry, reconcile, and then go out on stage to shred again. They borrow money from a sibling to record a new album. Their more famous peers praise their skills but seem uncomfortable around them; as if their very existence points out just how much of their own success could well be based on dumb good luck, and all it would take would be a little dumb bad luck for them to be Anvil.
I think all my future screenwriting students are going to be instructed to watch this movie. Anyone who thinks they want to devote their life to something creative needs to know – the odds are stacked terrifyingly against them ever being rich or famous. Even making a living doing what you love is very, very unlikely. If, in fact, you choose to make this promise to yourself that these two made to each other, think ahead forty years – imagine you’ve married people who appreciate your ambition but see the bigger picture; that you’ve got kids that need feeding, nowhere jobs, and you have to work like hell just to be able to do what you love and then DON’T get paid for it.
When Anvil is playing, the camera doesn’t lie – they’re HAPPY. I hope I have that strength.