There’s an oft-cited idea that’s become a kind of truism in music and art, that all art is derivative. I vehemently disagree with that notion, and hold to the assertion that there’s a clear (though not always very clear) distinction between inspiration and thievery. I’d love to get your take.
Perhaps I’m somewhat naive, because I’m convinced that it takes effort to be unoriginal. I just operate under the assumption that every creative person will internalize their influences and sweat them out in a way that’s unique to themselves. I mean, it’s never even occurred to me that I could pick up a guitar and do anything else but have it sound like me — even when I’m directly quoting someone else’s material.
There’s a scene in the 2009 music documentary It Might Get Loud, where White Stripes/Third Man Records founder Jack White talks about feeling a very strong need early on to stake out his own ground by coming up with a sound that’s undeniably his. Unfortunately, the clip I’m thinking of isn’t online, but the film’s intro segment gives you a sense that this is clearly a person intent on carving his own path.
I did find White’s fixation with originality strange, however — not to mention a bit forced. That’s not to knock White, whose maverick spirit I admire a great deal. But remember watching the film thinking “You don’t need to go looking for your own sound. You don’t need to try that hard. Eventually it just finds you. And it starts working through you so naturally you might not even notice it.”
With that premise in mind, then: how much do artists owe it to themselves (not their audience) to be true to their muse, rather than fashion themselves after aesthetics established by other artists? White strikes me as someone who’s definitely not guilty of ripping other people off, but is originality even something that artists need to focus on, rather than just allow to take shape on its own? Is imitation truly the sincerest form of flattery? And is anyone truly boring at their core? My answer would be: no.
But what do you think!
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