Originally Posted by jgd85

besides nobody recognizes someone for being original until is is trendy enough to be noticed.

Originally Posted by DontRunMeOver (Post 403210)

If anything, there being a lot more people around now should lead to the total amount of original creations around being at all time high (to quote the song). Maybe the proportion of people doing original things decreases, but in terms of total number there should be more originality around.


Do you mean that people don't tend to credit something as being important in it's originality until it become accepted by a certain amount of people? Like if you record yourself making hyena noises into a microphone while somebody else reads erotic fiction aloud in a strong, angry Glaswegian accent and a third person plays chromatic scales on the cello then it would probably just be labelled as 'ridiculous' until a critical mass of people have heard and mentioned it to other people, at which point it becomes 'original'. If that's the kind of thing you mean then I agree.

Originally Posted by swimintheundertow (Post 403076)

People like to fit in. Who wouda thunk it.

Originally Posted by cardboard adolescent (Post 403105)

So... what exactly is the trend? His arguments are very vague and seem more like a bitter rant than anything really worth reading.

Originally Posted by DontRunMeOver (Post 403188)

What I think is that it's trendy to write your opinions about music and the music scene in a music magazine and to complain about lack of originality while still buying the same louduptempoamplifiedguitar/bass/drums/vocalssunginEnglish music or softdowntempooneguysingingwhilestrumminganacoustic music despite the huge variety of music available with all sort of combinations of instruments, languages, speeds, dynamics and all other types of musical expression.

To make an analogy, it's easy to complain about the lack of variety of books which have been written if you only ever look at the same shelf in the same bookshop. Anybody who complains about a lack of original music is stupid, even if you insist on looking for originality within the straightjacket of any one narrow genre of guitar music there is still a lot to be had. And even if it isn't readily available in recorded form or at gigs (for polishing music for recording or performance can lose a lot of originality) then somebody who really cares could always rock up at practise and listen as a band is writing a new song and hear music in it's nascent, messiest form.

Generally, if you want something really original but also want it to come in your own preffered format (at a gig, on a stage, with guitars, drums and vocals, on at 10, off at 11) then there's a good chance you'll be let down.

Originally Posted by jgd85 (Post 403204)

there is almost 7 billion people on the earth... we are all following some kind of trend whether we know it or not. the idea of originality being at an all time low seems like queer logic however. for starters there is A LOT MORE people now that there was 30, 60, or 100 years ago, so that alone makes it harder to be 'original'. as time passes people like to look back and say 'look at those people, they were original', but in reality they were probably following a trend and just happened to be remembered. besides nobody recognizes someone for being original until is is trendy enough to be noticed.