Today I want to talk about Christopher Booth. Up until April, this man was your average adult. He has a kid, and is a small time producer (He has 22.5K followers on Instagram), filmmaker and his music is in various products.
Universal films.
Amazon Prime TV shows.
And, as the internet discovered, 1980s adult videos.
You see Booth, before entering the music industry, was in a bit of a bind decades ago. Wanting to make a name for himself, he put together various songs that would then serve as background music for various adult films back in those days.
His name emerged when someone on Reddit asked the internet what was the name of a particular song that Booth produced. Before people even figured out who the original creator of the song was, all people had to go off of was 18 seconds of the song that was being played. During those 18 seconds, there was not even a hint of sound of beds creaking, men or women moaning or anything.
It was 18 seconds of what people thought was a good song. On par to what the bands Roxette or Savage Garden would produce. That or a very catchy jingle for an ad.
Porn was the last thing on people’s minds as to the origins of this music.
Nevertheless, an emergence of fans are at Booth’s doorstep now, hoping to have him improve the sound quality of it, and make it into a full fledged single.
When my roommate told me this story last night it gave me some major Vincent Van Gogh vibes. Here was a man in general obscurity to the common person only to elevated decades later. After all, musicians only receive credit at the very end of films and TV shows and even then, they’re just names on a screen that people can’t fully relate to.
The big difference though is that Booth is still alive to enjoy the fact people do love the work he’s producing and are willing to support him right now. And now that his name’s out there, people might be paying more attention.
All in all, even though Booth’s decision to offer his talent to adult films decades ago feels dirty, I wouldn’t call it a bad idea. Yes, he’s going to be recognized specifically for that feat for those who know and remember that fact about him moving forward.
But the music itself is good regardless of the context. And beyond that, he’s making it into a full fledge song for people to enjoy.
We have no idea where our lives will take us, but one thing I know about life at this point is that there aren’t really any bad ideas out there. Rather we are offered bad advice that we then act upon.
We All Have Bad Thoughts
To be clear, there are definitely some bad actions that have occurred. War, genocides, corporate take overs, bankruptcies, the list goes on and on. All of these culminate from bad actions by key people over a period of time.
However the difference between a bad idea and a genuinely bad idea really boils down to our thought process and whether and how we act upon it.
Of course, the last thing most producers want people to know is they are associated to the adult film industry. Especially if you’ve since moved from that phase of your life and you’re onto something else.
But Booth’s decision to produce songs for adult films wasn’t a bad idea.
By pure chance, his music now has garnered a fan base for himself. This is on top of the fact that he needed the money back then and to get a foothold in the music industry overall.
It’s not the most glamorous avenue, but it still is an avenue.
Another prime example is of course in self-help itself. Everyone contributing to the industry has their own ideas for what is right and wrong and what people should and shouldn’t do. But what makes a guru “bad” comes down to what they decide to say and what they have to offer.
Scrolling through Facebook, I saw a Tai Lopez post about him bashing remote work. Claiming that remote work is the gateway method to mass exploitation and a lack of freedom and living poor, his bad take on remote work was made clear he was talking nonsense.
The reality about remote work is:
- People want to be working remotely
- Interviews are already conducted remotely
- Nearly a fifth of American companies are fully remote
- And remote workers earn at least $19,000 more than those who go to the office.
All in all, Lopez is a bad guru. I knew this well before, what with his classes being poorly reviewed and a frustrating refund policy.
But at the end of the day it boils down to his own thoughts and views and how he expresses them and acts upon them. Just like everyone else.
Bad Advice Is What Keeps Us Stuck In A Loop
The overarching problem we have in self-help is when seeking help, people are often stuck in loops. Offered by gurus who have already made it, they’ve grown so numb to the plight of others that they think their own views or ideas are what people actually need to fix their own lives.
All of this is rather compelling through marketing, storytelling and building trust. People like Tai Lopez still have people trusting him and taking his words to heart because of his storytelling being relatable and his views resonating with key individuals.
Individuals who don’t mind paying hundreds of dollars on every course or bundle he offers to people.
It’s not so different from Tony Robbins and his secret seminars where elated fans tell others they’ve been going to these events for years and dropping thousands for access to these seminars and VIP passes.
The only issue with all this is that these individuals have bad takes. And with them not adapting with the times, their bad takes turn into bad advice for people to act on.
And those are the genuinely bad ideas.
Going back to Lopez bashing remote working, his post implies that remote working is a terrible idea. You’re going to spend about as much time grinding like a hustle bro but making less than half. At least that’s the implication.
It’s strange this take is coming from a man who offers tips on building a business for free. Especially when his advice to budding entrepreneurs is to look for trends and work with them.
Hm, I’ve been seeing one rising trend.
It’s called remote working.
It’s going very well and people clearly want it what with people loathing return to work mandates and office politics in general.
But to his dedicated fan base, this can be a way to keep them in the loop. It can signal that remote working is a terrible idea and if you do have to go to work, it’s better to do it in an office or a rented out building. Never your own home.
To any person spending time thinking about it, the notion is nonsense. Even without me throwing stats at you, I’m sure people with experience working at the office can attest to, working in an office setting can be pretty bad.
But to a Lopez fan who drank so much kool-aid, this can create an additional challenge.
Similar to that last bit of advice that Lopez offers in his “build a business for no money”, it creates another pseudo barrier to entry.
If you want to build a business proper, you better rent out an office space you can’t afford to house yourself in and drive to after work. Nevermind the fact most people could start a business from the comfort of their own home these days.
It creates this additional step that isn’t needed at all but people still land in that pitfall nonetheless. To the point that some people will get discouraged.
Yet still trust the man offering the bad advice and view of the world.
You Need To Make Ideas Your Own
Christopher Booth did what he had to do decades ago. And while people found out about what he did all those years ago, and he felt embarrassed about the whole thing now, he is taking that idea and making it into his own.
The song — originally from a 1980s porn film — is being remade, fleshed out, and improved upon to make into a proper single.
Even though people can look at the decision of Booth sending and producing music for adult films as a “bad idea” for his music producing career, it’s not inherently a bad idea.
It was his decisions afterwards and how he approached the work that mattered. To him, this was temporary as he’s clearly gone off to produce music for TV shows and other non-pornographic films.
In other words, he took people’s general consensus and “bad takes” and made it into an idea of his own that was good.
It’s an act that honestly we all should be embracing more and more of. Especially in the self-help industry where bad takes is the name of the game.
Maybe then we can find progress as we create our own paths.
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