[menthe]

"without ever having a job"

First Google Result for "nofx retire":

> The punk group have all got normal jobs, which they will continue to pursue, but are pulling out all the stops for one final tour for their army of fans.

Seems in direct contradiction with this anarchist click bait title.

[brabel]

Their wonderful song, The Death of John Smith, describes the life of a normal man with a "proper job": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGgUt9vNGlo

NOFX's version of a job is better described by "Thank God It's Monday": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22rDfUc9HgA

" I live a 5 day weekend, I gotta a year long holiday, Thank God it's Monday... "

I love this band!!

[WilTimSon]

It's a reference to their music, although a very poorly thought out one. But I don't think the result is entirely fair, as Fat Mike is a record label owner. That's not what one may think when you say "a job", these people are all middle-aged and aren't working the cash register at a Walmart or something like that. A job is a job, but NOFX are far past some idealistic idea of "live off the music, skip college" and whatever else people thought of them.

[sph]

Please do not smear the good name of anarchism with mass media clickbait practices.

[antonvs]

The NYT article says this:

> "Controversies aside — most of which involved drugs, onstage banter taken too far and the unpredictability of both the band and its fans — the members of NOFX managed to do something most people can only dream of: They avoided having a day job for 40 years."

We're going to need some deep investigative journalism to sort this mystery out...

[ploum]

Also, I remember reading when I was young that NOFX quickly abandonned the "drugs/alcohol/sex" ethos and become quite healthy people despite having the opposite branding.

I have no idea if is true or not.

[smugma]

The article talks about how Smelly got his name because of the drugs but has been clean and sober for a long time.

It also mentions how instead of drugs, they do yoga and get massages.

No mention of their current sex life.

[j2bax]

It hasn't exactly been a clean path. Fat Mike has been on and off through the years and they never stopped singing about doing drugs. That said I think they are vegetarians and otherwise relatively health conscious.

[tigeroil]

Indeed. I think many people don't realise how many artists do actually have day jobs as well - it's not always as lucrative as you'd think.

[lukan]

Dexter Holland, the frontman of The Offspring, finally got time to finish his PhD in molecular biology, after they stopped touring.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Holland

For him it wasn't about money, though.

[iamben]

Milo Aukerman of the Descendents has a PhD in molecular biology - there's a great interview (maybe in the Filmage documentary?!) where he's discussing a conversation with his colleagues who are asking "what did you do at the weekend?" and he replies "Oh, my band was playing Woodstock..." (or something along those lines!)

[blitzar]

That's Dr. Holland to you.

Ain't a lot of money in molecular biology these days anyway.

[lukan]

Well, if Dr.Holland would have invented a cure for Covid or a vaccine, there would have been some money I guess.

[moffkalast]

I'm sure the company would've paid him a small bonus, and kept the 99.9999% of the profits from it for themselves.

[blitzar]

I know it kills you, but guess what: There is no "Danny's idea." Everything that comes in here belongs to the agency.

I give you money, you give me ideas.

https://youtu.be/BnNV4_8izkI?si=Ptz0QCr6V01MOMpN&t=57

[astrange]

That isn't what happened to the people who actually did invent them at BioNTech/Moderna.

[lawgimenez]

Greg of Bad Religion I believe also has some sort of PhD.

[lukan]

Interesting, did not know that. Punks seem to like biology it seems ..

"Graffin obtained his PhD in zoology at Cornell University and has lectured courses in natural sciences at both the University of California, Los Angeles and at Cornell University."

[iamben]

They've toured for 40 years, sold 8 million records and have over a million monthly listeners on Spotify. The singer's label has put out many of the big punk bands for the last 30 years. I agree with your point, but this lot are fine.

[gorgoiler]

They are indeed “doing just fine” which I am sure is what you must have been referencing — from one of their most famous songs:

  Buy me a Becks beer
    or pass me the bong
  Gimme some Bushmills
    I'll sing you this song
  Open another
    big box of cheap wine
  We're over 30
    we’re doing just fine

The last time I saw them live it was pushing 40 instead of over 30 and that was nearly a decade ago.

[iamben]

Hahaha, yeah, they're a fun band. I saw them (for the last time, I guess?!) a couple of weeks ago (and oddly in reference to the lyrics, I actually saw them tour Pump Up The Valuum as well). Mike is pushing 60 now!

[KineticLensman]

TS Eliot (poet) worked in a bank

Phillip Glass (composer) was also a plumber, which surprised the London music critic who unwittingly employed him to install a dishwasher

Anthony Trollop was a postal surveyor

Kurt Vonnegut was car dealer

See https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/52293/11-celebrated-arti...

[InDubioProRubio]

Same goes for hard sciences in academic fields. Cant feed family on physics postdoc pay, goto program or drive a bus. You goto do what you gota do!

[falcor84]

"goto" considered harmful, use "gotta" instead

[TacticalCoder]

> "without ever having a job"

It's not entirely different from all the successful artists who are living lavish lifestyles (for example many musicians are complete car nuts and own insane cars collection [1]) but sing songs criticizing "money" (even though they have plenty) or criticizing "wall street" (even though most of their savings, in addition to cars and real estate, are at their broker).

I have nothing against money or wealth.

But the irony of a musician or a band criticizing money while flying private is not lost on me.

[1] as an example of such musicians (but not that they necessarily did criticize money), Miles Davis used to run vs Herbie Hancock in the streets in a "Ferrari vs AC Cobra" style. And I love that.

[aebtebeten]

To be fair, I don't think anarchism (at least as espoused by the CNT-FAI et al) suggests that anyone can just sit on the couch without doing anything.

If you want that, may I recommend capitalism?

If your expenses are in USD, 30Y TIPS are above 2% last I saw, so putting 50x your burn rate in those should allow you to sit right back, clip those risk-free coupons, and watch the world go by.