Time & Perspective Quote by Steve Brown

Steve Brown’s line lands like a backstage warning, not a sermon. In the music world, “having a good time” isn’t just leisure; it’s a job requirement, a brand, a nightly ritual that sells tickets and oils the social machine. By calling it a “game,” Brown hints at something performative and rigged: fun as a competitive sport where the winners look carefree and the losers wake up broke, burned out, or blindsided.

The sting is in the pairing of pleasure with naivete. He’s not condemning joy; he’s pointing at the cost of refusing to read the room. Naivete here isn’t innocence, it’s willful fuzziness about power, money, substances, contracts, and the quiet ways people get used. In creative scenes, the vibe often rewards those who don’t “make it weird” by asking practical questions. Brown’s subtext is that the culture of perpetual good times can function like camouflage, making exploitation feel like spontaneity and bad decisions feel like “living.”

What makes the quote work is its plainspoken rhythm. No poetic metaphors, no self-mythologizing. It’s the voice of someone who’s seen how quickly a night out becomes a narrative you can’t edit: the friend who disappears into addiction, the bandmate who signs away rights, the young artist who mistakes access for loyalty. Brown is advocating for a grown-up kind of fun, the kind that keeps its eyes open.