Musicians can learn from the mistakes of Elon Musk and UQ [Op-Ed]

Regrets, we’ve all had a few. Mistakes, we’re experts at those. Every single one of us. Even the hotshots, those guys who get paid the big bucks.

Need a reminder? More than 25 million Australians let out a slow breath of disappointment last week when the University of Queensland put the kibosh on its potential COVID-19 vaccine with CSL.

UQ put its hand up after several trial participants returned false positive test results for HIV. The mighty green and gold won’t be winning this race.

The race to the moon is already won, though Mars is still up for grabs. That’s a sport in which Elon Musk and his SpaceX team are the alpha competitors.

So, as some of us were eating our Weet-bix, SpaceX’s SN8, a prototype of its Starship spacecraft, put on a show that was better than anything at the cinemas in 2020.

Its dazzling six-and-a-half-minute flight ended with a bang, as it exploded while attempting landing.

In terms of failures, this was spectacular. A beautiful, 10-out-of-10 disaster for the whole world to see.

In basketball parlance, it was a million-dollar move…with a five-cent shot.

And yet, in both scenarios, science was the winner. There were no deaths recorded. The boffins took notes, they’ll recalibrate. Scientists are, with peer review at the heart of what they do, a collegiate mob. Mistakes are part of science.

What can’t be forgiven is fudging the data, or failing to admit to a mistake. Transparency is next to godliness.

Science has to be brave. Art and music too.

Early on, prior to his palate-refreshing move to France, Van Gogh painted potatoes. He spent time putting a bat to canvas.

Musicians, the very best of them, make failures. Total disasters. Sometimes, superstar American country artists record under the guise of a little-known (completely made-up) goth-Australian.

Sometimes Metallica just has to collaborate with the late Lou Reed.

Metallica

Side projects allow a musician to try, and fail. Bowie’s Tin Machine was the rock band he wanted to lead. The problem was, not many fans wanted it.

The giants of music can make a mistake and move on. Fast. Fans will forgive only so much. A dud album can appear as a blip when balanced against a burly discography. Two stinkers, well, it can be hard to get the smell out.

Push the boundaries, learn, move forward. It applies to the song, the music videos, the theatrics on stage. It’s the same for art as it is with science.

There’s a well-used expression, passed down from centuries which still applies today. “Learn from your mistakes.”

In 2021, consider an update to that mantra. “Learn from other people’s mistakes.”

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.