If you follow any type of modern rock, you probably know who Art Alexakis is. He had been voted the most recognizable rock star by many magazines. His trademark hairstyle and modishly shaven face are always easy to find in any crowd.
But Art as an epic hero? Nithin must be crazy. He is. But not with this. Art has all the trademarks of an epic hero. He was born a “surprise”, rose to the top, faced many downfalls, died, and rose again to form Everclear. The greatest rock band ever.
First of all, lets talk about what an epic hero is. An epic hero is person morally, mentally, and physically superior to others. Art is now all of those, but at earlier times he wasn’t. Epic heroes die, sometimes superficially, as Art did, and are reborn, like Art. Art functions, in my opinion, at a six on the Kolhberg Theory of Moral Devolpment scale, because he follows the golden rule and he is dosobiedient based on moral respect for the law.
Art was born in Santa Monica, California. (Everclear’s first hit song was called “Santa Monica”) He had two parents, at least at birth. He was a very smart child, and excelled in school. Then his life fell apart.
When he had lived to be ten years old, he had his first traumatic experience. His dad just left him (Depicted in the song “Father of Mine”). He says “I will always be weird inside, I will never be sane.” about that experience. He remembers his father beating his wife (Art’s mother) all the time.
Things didn’t get any better for Art after that. Just within the next year, his brother, George, died of a drug overdose. One memory that stays in his mind is when Art overheard a police officer say this about his brother’s death.
“Just another overdose.”
It all fell apart after that. Soon his mom had a nervous breakdown, and Art had to go live with a foster family. Art then started to date a black girl. This was one of the most memorable moments of his childhood. His white family wouldn’t let him bring her to his home. All of her black friends would fight with Art. Art soon broke up with her, but he still regrets it. (Heartspark Dollarsign)
With his life going nowhere, Art ran away from his foster family and started living on the street. He soon got into the worst stuff possible. Drugs. Heroin, Cocaine and Electra. He wrote a song about this too. (Electra Made me Blind).
One night, Art had a near death experience. He did too many drugs, and was sent to the hospital and barely survived. This changed his view on life. From that day on Art stopped doing drugs and started to do something with his life. He started the Country/Alternative band “Colorfinger” in the San Francisco bay area. It became pretty popular, but broke up after only one album. Art couldn’t completely clean his life up, and got his girlfriend pregnant. He had only one chance left. He moved to Portland, and long with Scott Cuthbert and Carlos Montoya, started the band “Everclear.” This was his last chance.
Everclear’s first CD, “World of Noise” was popular enough to keep the trio afloat for one more album. Art put all of his work into his next album. Soon, in 1995, “Sparkle and Fade” came out.
The first two singles from the Album, “Heroin Girl” (a depiction of his brother’s death) and “You Make Me Fell Like a Whore” were local hits, and sent the album to twice the sales of “World of Noise”
Then Everclear got their first hit. “Santa Monica” zoomed to all the radio stations in the country. The song about his childhood in Santa Monica became a classic song still heard on the radio waves today. “Sparkle and Fade” soon went Platinum, but just barely.
Fame didn’t help Art in his private life. Right before “Sparkle and Fade” was released, Art and his wife got a divorce. Art wrote a song about having to leave his daughter. (Pale Green Stars) He has said that one of his biggest fears is turning into his dad, and he doesn’t want that to happen. He still visits his daughter often, and always calls.
To alleviate his life and get his band into the ranks of the great, Art went on a grueling tour schedule. In 1996, he had a show of 307 of the 365 days in the year.
All this hard work got his ready for a new album. The trio started working on this in early 1997.
On Friday the 13th, they finished.
“So Much for the Afterglow”, the album subsisted as. It stood on Billboard’s charts for 79 weeks, going double platinum. Three hit songs are on the album, and recently released “One Hit Wonder” might make it a quartet.
Art rose as a prodigy, died slowly with his dad’s leaving, brother’s dying, and mother having a mental breakdown. He felt rebirth in the hospital, and went on to become a role model for many. A epic hero. Incontrovertibly.
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