I love it when the question comes up “what color is the sky?” And of course everybody says “blue.” Really? Have you taken a look at the sky some days? If that’s blue we need a redefinition of the colors. So yeah, the sky is blue, sometimes, but not always. Sometimes it’s very, well, just plain ugly.
When it comes to music, what color is your sky? If you’re not sure what I’m getting it, keep reading. I think you might find some interesting ideas.
If you look at a stereotypical song from a particular genre, it has a certain color to it. What I mean is, it has a certain sound. You identify with that genre because of the sound. If you wanted to assign colors to each musical genre, you could probably do it rather easily. At least that’s the way things were many years ago before artists started ripping the color pallet apart.
Today, almost anything goes. Of course if you only listen to the stereotypical representations of a particular genre (and yes, they still exist) then you won’t realize that almost anything goes. You’ll still be stuck in that same rut that the genre was in when it first hit the scene. And that’s to be expected. Why?
Let’s take early rock and roll of the 50s. When it first hit the scene, it was very different from anything people were used to hearing. Some of what was said about early rock and roll was pretty brutal. In retrospect, you have to wonder what all the fuss was about. Nevertheless, there was a big to-do about early rock and roll. And if you listen to it, it pretty much all sounded the same. Why?
When something is new, it has to define itself. If it doesn’t do that, people can’t relate to it. Can you imagine what early rock and roll would have been like if you had every kind of sound from Marshall Tucker to Uriah Heep? Early rock would have never survived because there would have been nothing in common to latch onto. After some time, however, rock and roll started to branch out. Today, anything goes. There are so many sub genres of rock that it’s hard to keep up with them all.
But since there are new genres of music coming out all the time, in order for them to be recognized, they have to start out with a very solid foundation so that anybody hearing song number 2 after hearing song number 1 will immediately recognize that song number 2 was a part of the same genre. That’s how early rap music started. It all sounded pretty much the same. Then you had groups like Linkin Park that really started to stretch the genre. But you couldn’t have that at the start as there was no foundation or frame of reference.
So, if you’re breaking into the music business and have decided to do so in a genre that is fairly new, then yes, you’re going to want to conform to the accepted sound of that genre. If you branch away from it too much, the public may not accept it as part of that genre, if at all.
But what if you’re breaking into the music business into a genre that is pretty well established and, while it does have its stereotypical sound, also branches out to some unique soundscapes, how do you want to tackle that genre? Do you want to conform or do you want to go out on your own and do something different?
Now obviously if a genre has been a while and hasn’t really branched out yet, this could be your chance to make waves. But that’s always risky as you may not gain acceptance. But it can also pay off big time.
If you could go back to the days of rock and roll BEFORE the use of classical instruments and orchestras, would you have been one of the innovators? Would you have hired a 70 piece orchestra to play on your hard rock track? In hindsight, it’s easy to say yes. But when nobody else has done something, it’s very hard to be that one person who says “Screw it! I’m going to do something different.” You’re sailing into uncharted waters and you just may sink and never be recovered.
Personally, I find it harder and harder to paint my sky something other than blue. So much has been done already, especially in electronic music. I sometimes wonder if it’s even possible to come up with something that is truly unique.
In an episode of Outer Limits, the main character, while playing a Chopin Etude, said “Man does not create. He procreates.” In other words, there is nothing really new under the sun. We just repackage the same thing over and over with a different bow or ribbon and put it in a different box. Was he right? I don’t know. It’s been a very long time since I have heard something that I can truly say is unique. But I don’t listen to the radio nearly as much as I used to.
Still, there is a lot to be said for somebody who tries to stretch the envelope. From time to time I try to sit down and do just that. But 56 years on this planet and all the music I’ve already heard makes that very difficult to do.
This is not meant to discourage you. But it’s important to understand that if you want to be an innovator, one, you may not be able to come up with something truly unique and two, if you do, you may find that nobody likes it. Change is hard. And accepting something new is also hard. That’s why so many truly unique bands from the 60s and 70s never made it. They didn’t have an “established” sound and couldn’t generate enough of a following to make it big.
A perfect example is the group “Sparks” from around 1974 or so. I really loved them but they just never really made it big. Sure, they had a cult following, but you never saw them on the top 40 charts. Russell’s voice alone was so unusual that it was a hard sell to the masses. But Sparks made the kind of music that they wanted to make. Damn the consequences. There is something to be said for that.
Each of us has to decide what color or colors we want to paint our sky. No reason we can’t use blue when it’s required and something else when we just feel like having some fun.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim