--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Fame requires every kind of excess. I…" description: "\"“Fame requires every kind of excess. I mean true fame, a devouring neon, not the somber renown of waning statesmen or chinless kings. I mean long journ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/don-delillo-294_1970s_fame-requires-every-kind-of-excess-i-mea_2126097.jpg" --- # Fame requires every kind of excess. I mean true fame, a… ![“Fame requires every kind of excess. I mean true fame, a devouring neon, not the somber renown of waning statesmen or chinless kings. I mean long journeys across gray space. I mean danger, the edge of every void, the circumstance of one man imparting an erotic terror to the dreams of the republic…” quote by Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/don-delillo-294_1970s_fame-requires-every-kind-of-excess-i-mea_2126097.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/don-delillo-294_1970s_fame-requires-every-kind-of-excess-i-mea_2126097.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/don-delillo-294_1970s_fame-requires-every-kind-of-excess-i-mea_2126097.jpg) > ““Fame requires every kind of excess. I mean true fame, a devouring neon, not the somber renown of waning statesmen or chinless kings. I mean long journeys across gray space. I mean danger, the edge of every void, the circumstance of one man imparting an erotic terror to the dreams of the republic. Understand the man who must inhabit these extreme regions, monstrous and vulval, damp with memories of violation. Even if half-mad he is absorbed into the public's total madness; even if fully rational, a bureaucrat in hell, a secret genius of survival, he is sure to be destroyed by the public's contempt for survivors. Fame, this special kind, feeds itself on outrage, on what the counselors of lesser men would consider bad publicity-hysteria in limousines, knife fights in the audience, bizarre litigation, treachery, pandemonium and drugs. Perhaps the only natural law attaching to true fame is that the famous man is compelled, eventually, to commit suicide. (Is it clear I was a hero of rock'n'roll?) Toward the end of the final tour it became apparent that our audience wanted more than music, more even than its own reduplicated noise. It's possible the culture had reached its limit, a point of severe tension. There was less sense of simple visceral abandon at our concerts during these last weeks. Few cases of arson and vandalism. Fewer still of rape. No smoke bombs or threats of worse explosives. Our followers, in their isolation, were not concerned with precedent now. They were free of old saints and martyrs, but fearfully so, left with their own unlabeled flesh. Those without tickets didn't storm the barricades, and during a performance the boys and girls directly below us, scratching at the stage, were less murderous in their love of me, as if realizing finally that my death, to be authentic, must be self-willed- a succesful piece of instruction only if it occured by my own hand, preferrably ina foreign city. I began to think their education would not be complete until they outdid me as a teacher, until one day they merely pantomimed the kind of massive response the group was used to getting. As we performed they would dance, collapse, clutch each other, wave their arms, all the while making absolutely no sound. We would stand in the incandescent pit of a huge stadium filled with wildly rippling bodies, all totally silent. Our recent music, deprived of people's screams, was next to meaningless, and there would have been no choice but to stop playing. A profound joke it would have been. A lesson in something or other. In Houston I left the group, saying nothing, and boarded a plane for New York City, that contaminated shrine, place of my birth. I knew Azarian would assume leadership of the band, his body being prettiest. As to the rest, I left them to their respective uproars- news media, promotion people, agents, accountants, various members of the managerial peerage. The public would come closer to understanding my disappearance than anyone else. It was not quite as total as the act they needed and nobody could be sure whether I was gone for good. For my closest followers, it foreshadowed a period of waiting. Either I'd return with a new language for them to speak or they'd seek a divine silence attendant to my own. I took a taxi past the cemetaries toward Manhattan, tides of ash-light breaking across the spires. new York seemed older than the cities of Europe, a sadistic gift of the sixteenth century, ever on the verge of plague. The cab driver was young, however, a freckled kid with a moderate orange Afro. I told him to take the tunnel. Is there a tunnel?" he said.”” [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Fame is portrayed as a destructive, chaotic force that thrives on excess and public outrage, often leading to self-destruction. **In simple terms:** Fame is dangerous, feeding on scandal and leading to ruin. Key Takeaway Recognize fame’s toxic allure and seek authentic purpose. Themes celebrity excess self-destruction media societal pressure Mood cynical introspective Type philosophical critical. When to use this quote - entertainment industry - political leadership - social media influence - personal ambition Key Concepts fame public perception psychology culture Questions to Reflect On - What drives the public’s fascination with scandal? - Can fame be used for good? A Different Perspective Fame can also empower positive change when managed responsibly. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fame/) [Long Journeys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-journeys/) [New york city](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-york-city/) ## Related quotes > [Fame requires every kind of excess. I mean true fame, a devouring neon, not the sombre renown of waning statesmen or chinless kings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/fame-requires-every-kind-of-excess-i-mean-true-fame-a-devouring-neon/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“never say amen in church if they're capping off a prayer about you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/exene-cervenka/never-say-amen-in-church-if-they-re-capping-off-a-prayer-about-you/) [Exene Cervenka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/exene-cervenka/) > [It's harder to maintain that internet kind of fame. It requires daily work, as opposed to a movie star who can make a movie…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ariel-schulman/it-s-harder-to-maintain-that-internet-kind-of-fame-it-requires-daily/) Ariel Schulman > [Punk-rock records came out and you bought whatever you could find. But Devo didn't happen for another three years. Sex Pistols didn't tour the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-stipe/punk-rock-records-came-out-and-you-bought-whatever-you-could-find-but/) [Michael Stipe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-stipe/) > [When I was growing up, I fetishised New York City. It was the land of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, it was where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moby/when-i-was-growing-up-i-fetishised-new-york-city-it-was-the-land-of/) [Moby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moby/) > [ I think that music is a very, very powerful thing, especially when you have a movement like this \[CBGB club\] to shed new light… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-greene/i-think-that-music-is-a-very-very-powerful-thing-especially-when-you/) [Ashley Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-greene/) > [CBGB represents a lot to New York City and to underground rock and to new wave and post-punk and whatever. But, you know, it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-grohl/cbgb-represents-a-lot-to-new-york-city-and-to-underground-rock-and-to/) [Dave Grohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-grohl/) > [Just selfishly, I wanted to be associated with something as synonymous with cool and cutting edge and artistic as CBGB. People are aware of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-galecki/just-selfishly-i-wanted-to-be-associated-with-something-as-synonymous/) [Johnny Galecki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-galecki/) > [ That was an amazing time period \[ CBGB filming\] to transport to during filming - the clothes, the music, the lifestyle - it really… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-greene/that-was-an-amazing-time-period-cbgb-filming-to-transport-to-during/) [Ashley Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-greene/) > [CBGB was a wild place, ... The first time I ever played there was in 1987, I think, with my hardcore band, Scream. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-grohl/cbgb-was-a-wild-place-the-first-time-i-ever-played-there-was-in-1987/) [Dave Grohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-grohl/) > [We were a really crazy band. This was in '73. I had my hair real short with a white stripe down the middle of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-smith/we-were-a-really-crazy-band-this-was-in-73-i-had-my-hair-real-short/) [Rex Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-smith/) ## More by Don DeLillo > [“We all know how the thing we secretly fear is not a secret at all but the open and eternal thing that predicts its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/we-all-know-how-the-thing-we-secretly-fear-is-not-a-secret-at-all-but/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [Everything is barely weeks. Everything is days. We have minutes to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/everything-is-barely-weeks-everything-is-days-we-have-minutes-to-live/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [The novel is the dream release, the suspension of reality that history needs to escape its own brutal confinements.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/the-novel-is-the-dream-release-the-suspension-of-reality-that-history/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“As I listened I thought a featureless baggy man was striking me in slow motion with a well-polished stone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/as-i-listened-i-thought-a-featureless-baggy-man-was-striking-me-in/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“Murray said, 'I don't trust anybody's nostalgia but my own. Nostalgia is a product of dissatisfaction and rage. It´s a settling of grievances between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/murray-said-i-don-t-trust-anybody-s-nostalgia-but-my-own-nostalgia-is/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“She is beginning to think it is possible that all creation is a spurt of blank matter that chances to make an emerald planet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/she-is-beginning-to-think-it-is-possible-that-all-creation-is-a-spurt/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“Those who have abandoned belief must still believe in us. They are sure that they are right not to believe but they know belief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/those-who-have-abandoned-belief-must-still-believe-in-us-they-are/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“The plane had lost power in all three engines, dropped from thirty-four thousand feet to twelve thousand feet. Something like four miles. When the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/the-plane-had-lost-power-in-all-three-engines-dropped-from-thirty/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“Grass: I live in a great steel tower that reflects the blazing sun. People catch fire just walking by. The more bodies that pile…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/grass-i-live-in-a-great-steel-tower-that-reflects-the-blazing-sun/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“What people discard could make a nation”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/what-people-discard-could-make-a-nation/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“Marriage is something we make from available materials. In this sense it’s improvised, it’s almost offhand. Maybe this is why we know so little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/marriage-is-something-we-make-from-available-materials-in-this-sense/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [The true life is not reducible to words spoken or written, not by anyone, ever. The true life takes place when we're alone, thinking,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/the-true-life-is-not-reducible-to-words-spoken-or-written-not-by/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [I've come to think of Europe as a hardcover book, America as the paperback version.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/i-ve-come-to-think-of-europe-as-a-hardcover-book-america-as-the/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [There is a set of balances and rhythms to a novel that we can't experience in real life. So I think there is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/there-is-a-set-of-balances-and-rhythms-to-a-novel-that-we-can-t/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“There is no lie in war or preparation of war that can't be defended. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/there-is-no-lie-in-war-or-preparation-of-war-that-can-t-be-defended/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) [Explore all 699 Don DeLillo quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) ## More 1970s quotes > [As someone who came to New York in the 1970s, I was, like so many of my friends, a certified member of what we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graydon-carter/as-someone-who-came-to-new-york-in-the-1970s-i-was-like-so-many-of-my/) [Graydon Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graydon-carter/) > [The 1970s, the decade of my teenage years, was a transitional period in American youth culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-allin-cornell/the-1970s-the-decade-of-my-teenage-years-was-a-transitional-period-in/) [Eric Allin Cornell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-allin-cornell/) > [Back in the 1970s, it was mostly all-black audiences coming into the theaters. So, we presented stories they could relate to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudy-ray-moore/back-in-the-1970s-it-was-mostly-all-black-audiences-coming-into-the/) [Rudy Ray Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudy-ray-moore/) > [I'm a product of the 1970s.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-rushin/i-m-a-product-of-the-1970s/) [Steve Rushin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-rushin/) > [Once, bit-fetching was the job mainly of children. In the 1970s, if I sat too long looking bored, I'd be dispatched to the shop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-dent/once-bit-fetching-was-the-job-mainly-of-children-in-the-1970s-if-i/) [Grace Dent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-dent/) > [When I joined Ford, in the late 1970s, I felt strongly we could not forever be a huge user of natural resources without there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-i-joined-ford-in-the-late-1970s-i-felt-strongly-we-could-not/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Wings was one of the first bands in the 1970s to do stadium tours, as well as Led Zeppelin. We had all the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denny-laine/wings-was-one-of-the-first-bands-in-the-1970s-to-do-stadium-tours-as/) [Denny Laine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denny-laine/) > [The whole idea of making 'James' was to make an action film in the style of the 1970s and '80s.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-gopal-varma/the-whole-idea-of-making-james-was-to-make-an-action-film-in-the/) [Ram Gopal Varma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-gopal-varma/) > [All I know about 1970s New York City is that it's where I grew up, and you always have an umbilical connection to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luc-sante/all-i-know-about-1970s-new-york-city-is-that-it-s-where-i-grew-up-and/) [Luc Sante](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luc-sante/) > [I have lived my whole life just outside Youngstown, Ohio. We watched the steel mills close and 50,000 jobs disappear in the late 1970s.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-ryan/i-have-lived-my-whole-life-just-outside-youngstown-ohio-we-watched/) [Tim Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-ryan/) > [When I was growing up in the projects in Philadelphia in the 1970s and 80s, Cadillac was the car to have. But I always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dawn-staley/when-i-was-growing-up-in-the-projects-in-philadelphia-in-the-1970s/) [Dawn Staley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dawn-staley/) > [I don't really have a treasured possession, but I do love my family's proper old photo album. We all have hundreds of photos on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicola-walker/i-don-t-really-have-a-treasured-possession-but-i-do-love-my-family-s/) [Nicola Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicola-walker/) > [My family had been involved in gangs since the 1970s.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-cabral/my-family-had-been-involved-in-gangs-since-the-1970s/) [Richard Cabral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-cabral/) > [When I was in high school in the early 1970s, we knew we were running out of oil; we knew that easy sources were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-safina/when-i-was-in-high-school-in-the-early-1970s-we-knew-we-were-running/) [Carl Safina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-safina/) > [When I was younger, I remember families like mine who had to deal with the disastrous policies of the 1970s.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-scheer/when-i-was-younger-i-remember-families-like-mine-who-had-to-deal-with/) [Andrew Scheer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-scheer/) Browse all 189 1970s quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Fame requires every kind of excess. I mean true fame, a devouring neon, not the somber renown of waning statesmen or chinless kings. I mean long journeys across gray space. I mean danger, the edge of every void, the circumstance of one man imparting an erotic terror to the dreams of the republic. Understand the man who must inhabit these extreme regions, monstrous and vulval, damp with memories of violation. Even if half-mad he is absorbed into the public's total madness; even if fully rational, a bureaucrat in hell, a secret genius of survival, he is sure to be destroyed by the public's contempt for survivors. Fame, this special kind, feeds itself on outrage, on what the counselors of lesser men would consider bad publicity-hysteria in limousines, knife fights in the audience, bizarre litigation, treachery, pandemonium and drugs. Perhaps the only natural law attaching to true fame is that the famous man is compelled, eventually, to commit suicide. (Is it clear I was a hero of rock'n'roll?) Toward the end of the final tour it became apparent that our audience wanted more than music, more even than its own reduplicated noise. It's possible the culture had reached its limit, a point of severe tension. There was less sense of simple visceral abandon at our concerts during these last weeks. Few cases of arson and vandalism. Fewer still of rape. No smoke bombs or threats of worse explosives. Our followers, in their isolation, were not concerned with precedent now. They were free of old saints and martyrs, but fearfully so, left with their own unlabeled flesh. Those without tickets didn't storm the barricades, and during a performance the boys and girls directly below us, scratching at the stage, were less murderous in their love of me, as if realizing finally that my death, to be authentic, must be self-willed- a succesful piece of instruction only if it occured by my own hand, preferrably ina foreign city. I began to think their education would not be complete until they outdid me as a teacher, until one day they merely pantomimed the kind of massive response the group was used to getting. As we performed they would dance, collapse, clutch each other, wave their arms, all the while making absolutely no sound. We would stand in the incandescent pit of a huge stadium filled with wildly rippling bodies, all totally silent. Our recent music, deprived of people's screams, was next to meaningless, and there would have been no choice but to stop playing. A profound joke it would have been. A lesson in something or other. In Houston I left the group, saying nothing, and boarded a plane for New York City, that contaminated shrine, place of my birth. I knew Azarian would assume leadership of the band, his body being prettiest. As to the rest, I left them to their respective uproars- news media, promotion people, agents, accountants, various members of the managerial peerage. The public would come closer to understanding my disappearance than anyone else. It was not quite as total as the act they needed and nobody could be sure whether I was gone for good. For my closest followers, it foreshadowed a period of waiting. Either I'd return with a new language for them to speak or they'd seek a divine silence attendant to my own. I took a taxi past the cemetaries toward Manhattan, tides of ash-light breaking across the spires. new York seemed older than the cities of Europe, a sadistic gift of the sixteenth century, ever on the verge of plague. The cab driver was young, however, a freckled kid with a moderate orange Afro. I told him to take the tunnel. Is there a tunnel?\" he said.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Don DeLillo" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/fame-requires-every-kind-of-excess-i-mean-true-fame-a-devouring-neon-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "1970s" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/fame-requires-every-kind-of-excess-i-mean-true-fame-a-devouring-neon-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/don-delillo-294_1970s_fame-requires-every-kind-of-excess-i-mea_2126097.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/don-delillo-294_1970s_fame-requires-every-kind-of-excess-i-mea_2126097.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/don-delillo-294_1970s_fame-requires-every-kind-of-excess-i-mea_2126097.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Fame requires every kind of excess. 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