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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Sam Smith <sam@lullabypit.com> |
| Subject | Re: What IS influence, anyway? |
| Date | Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:48:21 -0700 |
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Stewart Mason wrote:
What bugs me is when I can hear nothing BUT the artist's influences,
especially when it seems like an artist is influenced solely by a
certain set of stylistically similar bands.
Right, and I never stop ranting about that one. You almost can't look
through my year-end best-of columns without seeing me making a big deal
over bands that haven't overcome their influences. That's a significant
problem in Power Pop, where the shadows of The Raspberries and the 3Bs
(Beatles, Badfinger, Big Star) seem to loom so large, but it's also a big
issue in most other genres (I listen to a lot of industrial/goth, plenty
of dreampop/shoegazer, a goodly amount of trip-hop and all kinds of
neo-80s/nu wave, so take your pick).
With this, we're not talking about influence. We're talking about the
other "i," imitation. All good artists go through imitative stages early
on (see if you can comment on anything I wrote between the ages of 18 and
22 without using the word "Eliot," for example), but by the time you're
in your mid- to late 20s, if you're a serious artist that's over. I don't
mind hearing the influence, but I don't want to hear a tribute band,
either.
--
_______________________
Sam Smith, PhD
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