In 1994, I was fourteen years old. My life revolved around being in Year 9 at high school. However, in Newcastle, there was another fourteen year old that was at the beginnings of a very different life to me. Daniel Johns was thrust in to stardom and public scrutiny from a very young age with his band Silverchair. I have followed this band closely, being the same age as Daniel, I have always been fascinated with them. At times, I have looked up to Daniel as a prodigy, as he accomplished things that I never could. I could not have written and recorded a whole album of songs when I fourteen years old, let alone, write and record songs that defined a generation. At the age of nineteen, he was touring the world for their third album Neon Ballroom. I was just starting my second year of university, not really sure what I was doing with my life. Daniel, on the other hand, had his future mapped out with his commitments to the juggernaut that was Silverchair. In his late teens and early twenties, he suffered through an eating disorder and reactive arthritis. By the time he was twenty-two, he had released four number one albums, which have sold millions of copies worldwide. I can’t personally imagine the intense pressure he must have felt throughout the time, pressure to write good music, perform well and I’m sure, there was also a pressure to look appealing for his countless fans, which I can only speculate, may have been linked to his eating disorder.
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About the authorObservations and opinions of popular culture, covering everything from music, film, television, people and other things. Archives
June 2018
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