Be weird. Save lives.

There’s been a flood of great “create for the fun of it” content in recent weeks, that I desperately wanted to link to — but I feared I’d be repeating my message a little too much.

Then, I saw a video pop up on YouTube that said the same thing, but in a new way. I saw the words:

“If it wasn’t for Faith No More, I wouldn’t be here.”

It’s an interview with singer Cory Taylor, a heavy metal icon since the early 2000s. In the video, he talks about being a depressed 20-something, who attempted suicide by overdosing. After getting out of the hospital, he saw a performance on TV that would change his life and inspire a career that has touched millions.

What he watched that night was one-off, half-joking, awards show performance by Faith No More at the MTV Video Music Awards in June of 1990.

“They were so good. They were so powerful. And it was so different than anything I’d ever seen. They really got me up off my ass. That’s when I started writing again.”

I agree. I watched their performance that night too. I was 14, the perfect age for this kind of thing.

Context: Everyone was expecting the same old boring, homogenous, well-polished pop acts that night. After all, MTV and radio had been pushing sound-alike dance singles from big-shoulder-padded artists for several years by then.

Then, these weirdos took the stage.

Cory picked the perfect word for it: powerful. It was weird. It weird unpolished. It was a middle finger to audience in attendance, without even bothering to lift the middle finger. They were the only act that night that wasn’t seeking approval. Even the bewildering ending of the song was just right — a fish flop followed by a nonchalant, “bye.”

It’s hard to overstate the impact of going weird — a playful, positive rejection of the status quo.

Musicians really embraced this philosophy and this band. Nirvana got the headlines in popular culture, but every musician I knew was a much bigger Faith No More fan.

Metallica was wearing their merch. System of a Down, Korn, Deftones, Slipknot…pretty much every band that ruled the charts a decade later…cited Faith No More as being foundational. Even decades later, they never gave up on being weird and weirdly great.

If you don’t like reality, you can reject it or play with it.

Rejecting it can send you further into a hole (looking at you, grunge).

Playing with reality gives you power over whatever put you in that hole.

Sharing your weirdo creations helps everyone. Turns out, it might even save a life here or there. Being un-serious has serious side effects.

I think we’re desperately in need of an un-serious rebellion right now. I can’t wait to see what form it takes. I hope it looks something like Faith No More.