oh, someone mentioned the term ‘jump the shark’.
just to explain, ‘jump the shark’ refers to a happy days episode wherein the fonz(aka-fonzie) jumps over a shark while waterskiing. many happy days fans felt that this was the beginning of the end for happy days, as the episodes after fonzie jumped the shark got progressively worse and worse.
so now people use the term ‘jump the shark’ to identify that moment in a persons career when their best work is behind them and they start the descent towards compromise and mediocrity.
and most career trajectories do involve jumping the shark.
but there are some musicians and artists who have somehow managed to stave off shark jumping.
i think of willem de kooning and flannery o’connor and leonard cohen, for example.
as for me, i’ve jumped the shark so many times i’ve kind of stopped counting.
i still remember playing a rave in 1994 and being on the ‘old skool’ stage.
or playing during the afternoon at glastonbury in 1997 in a muddy tent to a bunch of disinterested dance fans.
i first heard the term ‘jump the shark’ applied to me after ‘play’ was released(remember, ‘play’ was really unsuccessful when it was first released). i remember someone writing something like ‘moby’s still making records? didn’t he jump the shark after ‘go’?’
i guess that my only hope is that i’ll be able to continue to inspire people to question whether or not(or when) i’ve jumped the shark.
even someone saying ‘he jumped the shark’ is kind of a compliment.
-moby
