Like father, like son?

Earlier in the doc it was established that Richard tormented Paul as a child. So there was resentment there.

I play in a band and I loved that scene. These things happen all the time when people are trying to get it together, musically. I understood what was aggravating Paul, actually. There's nothing more infuriating than busting your butt preparing for a song and coming with your part ready to go and someone else is just winging it and/or plain getting it wrong. Paul says several times that he did his "work," and that's exactly what it is. I often use the term "homework" myself; members should come prepared. Not everything is a freeform jam.

I remember times when my band was working on a song and we kept practicing it week after week, and something just didn't sound right. One day I finally asked some of them if they had actually listened to those parts on the original recording of the song. "Nope," I was told. "Do I need to? Can't I just play what I'm playing?" Patience can really start to wear thin at those points.

The problem is that in a group, everyone has to rely on each other. If someone is just doing their "own thing", or doing something incorrectly, it can throw everyone off. Both Paul and Susan mention that they don't want to stand next to Richard because his voice will throw their vocals off, which is exactly what happens. Harmonies are very sensitive in that way.

So, of course, I felt a little bad for Richard, and in his defense, Susan holds up Richard's chord charts or whatever he had written out and says, yes, he did his "work." But in terms of the mistakes he was making, who knows. Paul may have gone over it with him a hundred times by then and just lost his temper. He says that he still wants him there with them and seems to argue that he could just pretend to sing; his mere inclusion was more important. In a way, my band is a lot more dysfunctional than the Cowsills in this scene because we unfortunately don't always communicate these things like we should. Sure, it can get ugly (musicians are notoriously sensitive!), but at least the issues are coming out.