CRAZY-HORSE Wrote:Has there been a totally original band in the last 40 years???
I don't know....
I hear influences in most music I hear nowadays, doesn't make it bad music though, especially when the artist injects themselves into the sound which does give it some originality I guess...
Take one of my favourites in Neil Young for example,
he could have spent the last 45 years rehashing "harvest" but he doesn't he flits from genre to genre at the drop of a hat from country, jazz, blues, soul, r+b, grunge, concept albums etc etc, sometimes it works, other times he fails miserably but he's out there pushing his boundaries with almost every album over last 30+ years....
Another of my favourites, Paul Weller, could have kept playing with The Jam with their sound and have hit after hit in Europe if he chose to (remember, between 79-82 when they split up The Jam were outselling the likes of Dire Straits, Police, Stones, McCartney, Queen etc in the UK) but Weller wanted more he moved on to Style Council where he was recording blues, jazz, soul, r+b, funk, rap, dance, pop, house/EDM),
His solo career has gone from Soul, pop, rock, blues, folk, kraut Rock and everything inbetween,
I'm not saying its all good, because it isn't (same as Neil Young), but he's out there reinventing himself and pushing his own boundaries and for that alone both need to be applauded IMO...
On the other side of the coin you have the likes of The Rolling Stones who IMO have basically tinkered with 'satisfaction' for the best part of fifty years and AC/DC for 40 odd years who have rewritten "you shook me all night long" over and over again,
I'm not criticising those two artists and there more like those two, but what I'm saying is, you get the same sound year in, year out with bands like that, which is also fine IMO
Back to eclectic artists, Elvis Costello is another one who just came to mind as I write this post...
I guess there's no definitive answer to the originality question, simply comes down to taste IMO.
Maybe Radiohead?
As far as I know, almost every artist, band, musician has been inspired or influenced by previous ones. The Rolling Stones were obviously influenced by blues musicians, but that doesn't make them "bad" per se. Many bands wear their influences on their sleeve yet can somehow create something that is unique to them. It's hard to know for certain if any band or artist is unique since there could be someone else who beat them to the punch, maybe there was an unknown band who did it first, but aren't famous.
Genre defying music is appealing to me also, especially if it sounds great to my ears. Originality to me means when I hear someone sing, or a band play, or a musician start playing his/her guitar that there is a part of themselves in it, an element that is a signature of their music's voice, if that makes any sense haha. I appreciate artists who are fearlessly passionate about their music whether or not what they experiment with is successful or not, they took a risk anyway.
Yeah AC/DC is a pretty predictable band, if you hear one album like Back in Black, you've pretty much heard them all. Some bands have a signature sound and style that works for them and they really have no need to change much not to mention how many fans want it that way and could be disappointed, especially if the change is a failure to them.
