How would aspie rock stars cope??

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Thom Yorke and the singer of The Living End are both aspie. But how would they cope with the crowd and being on TV and radio? They would be nervous, VERY nervous.

I'm an aspiring aspie rock star and I don't give a f**k about the idea of being swarmed with people. fine by me. I get disoriented in clubs, but the best way to fight anxiety is to not be anxious. serial!

they don't have, or can deal with or minimalize any sensitivities by various ways or don't give a s**t.

Hmm. I wouldn't be nervous in front of crowds, well there is the rumbling feeling before you begin (for some, in some cases) but that tends to end when you begin. Then again I had 3 years of Debate Team Experience

Um...while not a rock...star....I did sing in a rock band for many years.,...and so that meant many years of comfort and alienation....and overload...and blah blahs.....in the context of being in a band

I would often go wait in the car before we had to play....crouch quitely in the corner of the bar with a book most of the time....not be able to talk to anyone...be very grumpy and standoffish....all in all..I came off as the typical primadonna lead singer.....

gradually....I started drinking heavily....that made it a bit more tolerable...

I had OCD rituals I would follow...a whole lot of anxiety...I was a trouble maker sometimes among my peers......

ah that was the life....

I have no idea what it wouldhave been like if we had actualyl gotten famous...

Craig Nichols of the band The Vines has Asperger's too and there have been some interviews where he briefly talks about it..

He doesn't tour like he used to though because of the stress and having Asperger's.

Being on stage or in a studio in front of a camera does not require much social interaction. You do the show. Some people enjoy performing on stage. Most of the time the bright lights will make distractions beyond the first few rows invisible.

What would really cause overload is a crush or crowd in a press conference, party, people you don't know recognizing you on the street (especiallly if you have face blindness). Often people might want to be your friend or act friendly, not because they really like you, but to gain access to others or some other reason.

Travelling causes stress. Having to be in vehicles with strangers and not being able to stim someways or be alone. Different hotel rooms. Constant parties going on and pressure to go to them. Not having too much control of food choices.

There must be plenty of musicians with autism.

I thought Thom Yorke was Bi Polar where is it said he has Aspergers?

Haven't heard anything about Thom Yorke being AS and thought Craig Nichols had ADHD dx, interesting.
Yorke seems to be doing alright for himself, wouldn't you agree?

Going by what I've read about them both in the past, there's strong evidence that both Kurt Cobain and Richey James had personality traits very similar to those found in someone with AS. These are perhaps not such good examples though, all things considered.

But seriously, I'm sure there are many Rock Stars who fit the bill as possible aspies, and many who don't, who find that kind of lifestyle very demanding. I guess with all case of Asperger's it comes down to the individual involved and how comfortable they feel about their 'differences' that would determine how well equipped they were to cope with such a high demand role like being a famous, idolised star.

Last edited by ASandproud on 20 Aug 2008, 9:01 am, edited 2 times in total.

haven't seen anything saying Thom's on the spectrum -

definite hypomania & depression - he's talked about living/being diagnosed with this in interviews, he's also both publicly and through his songs & writing shown severe social anxiety and obsessive behaviour + an overly political paranoid left wing view of the world, which matches some people on the spectrum (but also a lot of suposedly nurotypical male adolecents)

Personally, I'd hide behind a mask or just a big pair of sunglasses like a lot of shy performers tend to do (Peter Gabriel, Maynard James Keenan, Joey Ramone, Mitch Hedberg, etc).

And then I'd write a song about it, like Rush - Limelight

I don't know what it's like to be a rock star, but I do have an idea of what it's like to perform in front of other people. In this, being asperger's syndrome carries something of an advantage - the ability to 'tune out' extraneous distractions.

Usually when I'm performing, I completely tune out everything except for the equipment I'm using. I literally just am not aware of all that much beyond the knobs and LCD's in front of me.

Every so often, I'll look up and go "Oh, hey, there's a bunch of people in front of me", but it passes as soon as I start paying attention to what I'm doing again.

What is weird is when people will tell me about something they noticed me doing while I was playing. For some reason, it seems really disconcerting and strange that people are actually watching me. I need to get a robot mask a la Daft Punk.

Are they diagnosed or are you assuming?

AS + Social Phobia? Problem.

Plain AS? Not so much, especially if not noise-sensitive.