Sex, Drugs, And Bubblegum Pop is the most outlandish column on UTG. Written by Mr. Jayce, vocalist for Secret Secret Dino Club and all-round funny guy, this column isn’t as much about the music as it is the experiences people in the music industry have.

WARNING: This column does and will continue to contain content some readers may find offensive. If you don’t have a sense of humor, this column is probably not for you.

So this last weekend I was in Las Vegas, which is a place I should never be. It’s the cleanest dirtiest city in the world. My first night involved about 12 hours of straight drinking and watching my friend pull his pants down and pee in his bed. He laid in it right after and fell fast asleep.

On Friday, I had tickets with my brother to go see his favorite band “The Darkness” play the House of Blues Las Vegas. A group of 6 of us went, me being the only one involved in the music industry. It’s always weird for me to go to a concert with the average concert attendee. But I would say it’s a refreshing experience. It’s usually hard for me to watch any sort of live music without picking everything apart, but on this particular night I just tried to enjoy everything.

After sitting through the Darkness play about a thousand guitar solos, I was losing interest. My mind started to wander and I was looking around and spotted a very tame middle aged woman who seemed to be by herself. She had a single drink, presumably something with cranberry in it. She was intensely watching, switching between holding her hands on her heart, and trying to snap pictures on her flip phone. She was wearing a “The Darkness” t-shirt that had seemed to have been through the washing machine quite a few times.

As I noticed how excited she was about the band, I couldn’t help but wonder why she was there alone on what seemed to be the best night of her life. There was no one who would go with her? No one to sing “Get your hands off of my woman motherfucker” along with her in the crowd?

Towards the end of the night as she was quietly singing along, one of my brother’s (kinda drunk) friends grabbed her during their finale. They were all singing together as if music was truly something that connected everyone. He had pulled her up to sing just in time for her to be right in the path of the lead singer playing a guitar solo in the crowd sitting on the shoulders of a security guard. After she slapped hands with the singer and I saw the joy on her face, it put a lot of things in perspective for me.

Music is not just for assholes like me. Music is for everybody, and a lot of people actually love it. Life’s greatest joys come from it. It doesn’t matter if you are a songwriter, a nurse, a college student or anything for that matter. Nothing in life can replace the feeling music gives you. As much as I complain and bicker about how annoying my life can be, knowing that I could give people even a fraction of the amount of joy this woman was given from music makes me feel like I have a purpose in life.

Don’t forget that you love music, and stop complaining about it!

Mr. Jayce

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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