I think a lot of people immediately assume that it does. It doesn’t put pressure on me or the band musically in any way. So it was certainly an important step…” Steven in 1999 (credit to Mark Newman) They were much more structured and they had that kind of songwriter’s discipline that I guess I explored and learned on the earlier albums like Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun. So…when I came back later on to making the longer form of composition, it wasn’t in the same way that I’d been doing in the early years. I felt I could draw towards learning more about song craft and the construction of songs and actually creating hooks and choruses and using vocals in a more kind of solid way. Steven Wilson explained the transitional period for the band at the time, stating “…the earlier years were characterized for me by this idea of the extended composition that was largely based on jamming or textures or drones or space rock or whatever you want to call it. What could be a more stupid dream than wanting to make music and sell it?” The original Stupid Dream artwork by Robert Harding So I thought it would kind of be fun to put an image on the album which is a comment on that. The bottom line is, the people that get into Porcupine Tree know that we’re exactly not the kind of band that ever consider our music in terms of product and shifting units. But I wanted to have this kind of contradictory feel to the color. And obviously it’s at complete odds with the music. And I just had this image of these CDs just coming off this conveyor belt. And at that point your record becomes a product. Steven said, “ like sitting down with the record company to discuss how we’re gonna market this album. The original album cover photography, taken by Robert Harding, is linked to the album’s concept as well. It can be very heartbreaking, there’s a lot of disappointment, there’s a lot of hard work, there’s a lot of travelling.” Steven Wilson and Colin Edwin in 1999
#I AM PROGRAMMED TO RUST CRYSTAL CASTLES LYRICS PROFESSIONAL#
And, of course, actually the reality is that being a professional musician is a very hard work.
This ‘stupid dream’ of being famous and ‘life is a ball and everything is wonderful’. And I think a lot of teenage kids have this dream of being pop stars, of being a professional musician. That kind of led me thinking about when I was a teenager, when I was just starting out and I was interested in being a musician. If you think about that too much, it can drive you crazy, you know. And I was very much aware of that contradiction. I mean, if a modern musician is going to survive as a musician, you have to – in a sense – ‘prostitute yourself’ to try and sell your music and your art. It’s quite – in some ways – a cynical process going on having to sell your music. And that’s like a completely different experience. SW: “When I was writing some of the songs of the album I was very much aware of this contradiction between being an artist, being a musician, trying to be creative and write songs and, then, at the point you finish an album, the music is finished, the creative side is finished, you then have to go out and sell and market and promote. Steven in 1999 (credit to Alexander Tsalikhin) Steven Wilson in 1999, wearing a Stupid Dream shirt
Steven Wilson said the album deals with his own personal “insecurities and feelings” and “the usual singer-songwriter stuff”, because he believed the most relatable and affecting lyrics were from a personal point of view. Stupid Dream is the fifth studio album by Porcupine Tree.
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