OK so seen this sort of discussion going on a few places about math rock and what makes or supports the genre most.. Basically it falls to people either thinking that bands that are really creative and create new styles or push the envelope being the driving force or bands that make the style more mainstream support it most.
I've read some pretty good reasons for both sides but I want to give where I stand.
I pretty much stand in the camp that without innovation the genre would never have become, I understand that influence is what inspires people to make new music, but I don't believe that the influence has to be mainstream to have that effect, I really believe that bands that at the time no body ever really heard of end up exerting the most influence and in the long run actually end up being remembered much more than their more mainstream counterparts, just look at Slint for example.. But basically you start out with bands like Don Caballero and then years later you get bands like This Town Needs Guns.
Bit of a chicken and the egg argument, but surely for any music to have an influence someone had to invent music in the first place?
Commercial Mainstream is driven by entropy, and basically copies by rearranging. (there is no change;there is only rearrange).
ReplyDeleteA truly innovative sound requires an existentialist outlook and a knack for shying away from what's been done before.
It comes down to weather the musicians' (and audience possibly) are looking for the comfort of the Familiar or the Freshness of the Unknown.
As Ouspensky said,
"Recognition is not a valid basis for approval"
Whole heartedly agree with you there. I will say it is nice at times have the comfort of familiar sounds but nothing gets me quite like when you hear something new for the first time and it astounds you. Also what would the mainstream have to rearrange if there weren't people with the existental outlook shying away from what has been done before. Love the quote too. Thanks for the comment twinz2z!
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