William S. Burroughs & Bill Laswell - Words of Advice for Young People
Another query I stole from Richard Herring's book Emergency Questions, with the hope of hearing your answers...
What's the best advice you've ever received and ignored?
Sometimes I wonder about this. Chances are though, if you ignore some advice and end up regretting it, you'll probably edit your memories to forget you were ever given that advice in the first place. Well, that's how my memory works, anyway.
Colin Clary - I Only Give You Bad Advice Because I Love You
Tom Cochrane - Friendly Advice
My parents would have loved me to go to university after my A Levels, but I was determined I wanted to go work in radio for no money instead*. My parents never pushed me though... they let me make my own mistakes and find my way back. Possibly this came from my brother who left school to pursue an accountancy course, hated it, quit, got a milk round, saved up, bought himself a digger and went on to become a very successful builder. Maybe they thought I would follow a similar path.
(*Literally: for the first couple of years, I did not get paid.)
Jefferson Airplane - Great Society: Free Advice
I didn't, but I did eventually end up going back to university while I was working nights at the radio station, thereby having my cake and eating it. Because as well as wanting to be a DJ, I also wanted to be a writer. Somebody probably should have given me some advice about that as well.
The Silver Jews - Advice To The Graduate
Freeze Frame - Seeking Professional Advice
The Knack - (The Man From The) Marriage Guidance And Advice Bureau (that's a Namesake Knack)
It might have been better had someone advised me to go away to university rather than staying in my hometown... socially, at least, it might have made more well-adjusted human being... but on the other hand, I did finish uni without any student debt, and there's not many people who can say that.
Tears For Fears - Advice For The Young At Heart
Robert Smith - Very Good Advice
Did anyone ever advice me not to start writing a blog? God, I bet you wish they had...
You know that scene near the start in The Graduate, where one of Ben's father's friends says something like, "I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? Plastics. There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?" Well, as I approached the end of my undergraduate days in the early 90s, I stood in my landlady's back garden at a party when some old bloke I didn't know (I mean, he was definitely in his 30s) said almost exactly the same thing to me, except instead of "Plastics" his one word was "Unix". Now I do, or least did, know enough Unix not to embarrass myself, but I didn't take this career advice, probably to my detriment, financially at least. But my reaction was much like Ben's: "Exactly how do you mean?" He just repeated "Unix" and walked off. Oh well. Something I've just learnt: "Plastics" was placed at #42 on the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 quotations in American cinema.
ReplyDeleteWTF is unix???
DeleteYes, same question from me, Martin! I think I might have thought the bloke said "eunuchs", which would have put a whole different slant on things...
DeleteUnix is a programming language. No Unix, no Linux, and most of the www relies on that.
DeleteWas just thinking about that quote yesterday as I was sorting out my recycling. Plastics have got us into a bit of a pickle!
Delete"What's the best advice you've ever received and ignored"
ReplyDeleteDon't eat yellow snow
Ugh.
DeleteBest advice came from my lovely wife a few years back.
ReplyDelete'You're at a loose end. Start a blog. I've bought you a USB Turntable to do the mp3 things with your vinyl.'
A life-changing moment.
But the best advice I ever received and ignored came to me a few years back in rural Iereland....
'Go easy on the home-made potcheen'
The next 48 hours were lost.