Comments on: Crisis of success

Question: Crisis of success

lowest east side — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:07:43 -0800

What are some examples (historical, fictional, anecdotal, whatever) of groups, companies, partnerships, bands, teams where the founders achieve a bit of success and are then forced to reevaluate their relationships and objectives?

Something like the Joseph Cotten v Orson Welles relationship in Citizen Kane, Jobs v Woz, facebook, Galaxie 500. I'm interested in that moment when a group of people are sitting on something huge, how they respond to success and one another, and how they endure, fail, or breakup.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:20:27 -0800

The movies That Thing You Do! and The Commitments come to mind.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:21:58 -0800

The Beetles?

By: mkultra

mkultra — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:25:24 -0800

Breaking Bad

By: Foci for Analysis

Foci for Analysis — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:33:49 -0800

Cain vs. Abel
Stalin vs. Trotsky (never friendly at all but they acheived enormous success)
Adidas vs. Puma
McDonald's (McDonald brothers vs Ray Kroc)
Friendly's (the Blake brothers)

By: Melismata

Melismata — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:40:03 -0800

The Hunger Games.

By: usonian

usonian — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:48:47 -0800

The band Deep Purple has had an interesting saga; they've gone through a number of different lineups (the first one pretty early on in their long history) but have largely avoided the sad "One original member using the band name on the county fair circuit" trajectory, and just keep doing their own thing.

Compare & contrast Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, both of whom were hugely successful when they lost crucial members to alcohol-related deaths at about the same time. Led Zeppelin decided to call it quits, while AC/DC is still at it.

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:39:19 -0800

Occupy Wall Street.

By: billsaysthis

billsaysthis — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:57:25 -0800

I will second EmpressCallipygos and add that the inclusion of The Commitments both pleases and surprises me ;)

Also, Bill Gates/Paul Allen, though I don't know if the real dirt on that one has ever become publicly visible, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, The Edge and Bono (perhaps the use of stage names helped?).

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:04:17 -0800

the inclusion of The Commitments both pleases and surprises me ;)

I think the film more so than the book played up the "they were getting really good but the egos blew everything up" angle. Although the book is fun too. (Interesting that I've picked two "the egos blew everything up right when they were at the top of their game" examples.)

For Bono and The Edge - you're talking about the whole mythic "they were about to break up but then they recorded 'One' and it was cathartic" thing, yes?

By: Pallas Athena

Pallas Athena — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:25:07 -0800

This is pretty much exactly what happens to Ebenezer Scrooge, CEO of the firm Scrooge & Marley in Dickens's A Christmas Carol.

See also Thomas Gradgrind in Hard Times.

By: kettleoffish

kettleoffish — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:00:42 -0800

The Social Network

By: Brody's chum

Brody's chum — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:09:26 -0800

I think the documentary about Kozmo.com fits the bill: E-Dreams

By: lowest east side

lowest east side — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:35:33 -0800

Thanks, these are great suggestions. My buddy who started this train of thought mentioned Breaking Bad too. E-Dreams sounds similar to startup.com which is another example of what I'm looking for. Adidas/Puma I had no idea.

By: yoga

yoga — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:10:00 -0800

R.E.M., after Bill Berry's departure post aneurysm.

By: clavicle

clavicle — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:24:31 -0800

They Might Be Giants and their relationship with Elektra Records? The documentary Gigantic discusses it some, if you're up for some good inside baseball rock and roll tedium. (The rest is a fun though not objectively good film.)

By: billsaysthis

billsaysthis — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:00:23 -0800

Empress, I lurve Roddy Doyle. Love the movie too as it makes aspects of the conflicts more obvious/direct. For Edge/Bono I was thinking more generally how they've been able to stay together making well-received new music together for so long, especially with Bono so much in the spotlight for non-band things and Edge (IMO) not getting nearly enough credit. Plus Bono putting up with Edge insisting on wearing the wool cap every single, solitary time they're in public.

By: GastrocNemesis

GastrocNemesis — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 18:36:48 -0800

Pink Floyd. Their entire story and evolution is fascinating. Wish You Were Here is one of my favorite albums ever, it's beautiful, and would have never been as great as it was- or existed at all- if not for all the drama that preceded it within the band.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 19:33:05 -0800

There's a book, Billion Dollar Baby by Bob Greene, that's one of the best books I've ever read about rock and roll; the author joins the Alice Cooper Band at the height of their fame in the seventies for what will turn out to be their last tour together. (Greene is best known for being a boomer nostalgist and also for the scandal that ended his newspaper columnist career, but this book takes place, and was written, well before either of those.) The group started out as five friends from Arizona, including Vince Furnier, aka Alice Cooper, and they'd originally assumed that they would all be equals, but Furnier/Cooper is by far the most personable and gregarious member of the group--as well as, of course, being the lead singer--and there's a growing, if mostly unspoken, distance between him and his old high school buddies. (It's also pretty obvious, if also unspoken, that Cooper is a raging alcoholic at this point.) There are various digressions, about groupies, the spoiling of rock stars, and one show in Toledo where the audience suddenly, inexplicably, and violently turns on them, but the main thrust of the story is about five mostly regular guys who realize that one of them really doesn't need the other four any more. Out of print, but well worth getting through interlibrary loan if your local library offers that service.