For a long, long time I thought Derek was playing it tongue-in-cheek, 100% the arrogant asshole rock star, but it's 100% understood that he's just playing. It's rock and roll, none of it's real anyway, blah blah blah. I've always loved "Making history... and you?"
Then on the ramp up to SoA, he either pushed it too far, or started taking himself too seriously, or something, because I started thinking "Wait... he actually is an arrogant asshole rock star? The joke is serious? What is real anymore? What should I have for dinner?"
Now I don't even know what to think. Still love his playing, though.