Originality

Sinfonia

I'm writing an essay about originality in modern music, just wanted to see people's perspectives on the artists/songs/albums/genres that they find to be the the most original/innovative in popular music from the last 50 years or so.

All opinions welcome!

John

John Cage's piece 4'33" is about as original as it gets.

Sinfonia

John wrote:

John Cage's piece 4'33" is about as original as it gets.

Yeah, I think I'll title my essay "8,000 words", should be a piece of piss:D

John

Well if you look further at Cage's work I think there's a lot to springboard from. You could argue that his "silent" piece helped pave the way for things like incorporating non-musical sounds in music (I'm not suggesting he's the innovator in this respect but he's certainly the first major composer to look at all sound as music so heavily). His intentions behind 4'33" were to get people to pay attention to the sounds around them, inspired by his visit to an anechoic chamber where there is meant to be no sound but he just became aware of the sounds his body made that he never really noticed before.

This for me is a crucial part of music in the 20th century, the incorporation of non-musical sounds into music. Feedback used to be something a performer avoided, now it's part and parcel of rock and roll. Scratching records again was something no one in their right mind would do but now is an accepted part of the musical vocabulary (and also something that Cage did before everyone else, I believe it was in the mid-50s, I think the piece was "Rozart Mix"). Then there's things like recordings of sirens, traffic, wildlife, etc. that can be used in music (which actually goes back to a German chap who's name escapes me with a piece called "Wochenende" which was a collage of various sounds recorded around his town in a single weekend) and they aren't blinked at now but would have been 60 years ago.

I think I've lost my point somewhere but I think there's something to take home in there somewhere...

Sinfonia

Thanks John, good observations there.

I was kind of hoping for more input (from anyone!) about popular music as opposed to art music though - there's a hell of a lot more academic writing on art music than there is on popular!

But I will be writing about avant garde music too, so it's all useful

John

Popular music? What's that again?

Dark Artist

These are the bands/artists that I would consider the most original. I included a song from each if you want to see what I mean.

Mr. Bungle
I've only heard one of their songs but it's crazy stuff. Perfect combination of humour and rhythm.
Listen to 'My Ass Is On Fire'

Nightwish
Opera/symphonic metal! Amazing! I wouldn't have thought of it in a million years. There's a rare, effortless purity of good melody in their songs.
Listen to 'Ghost Love Score'

Dream Theater
Their weird songs come from nowhere, completely out of the blue - brilliant. Chord changes here, there and everywhere. The members could play their instruments blindfolded and paralysed. Over song quality is remarkable, even with the strange instrumentation.
Listen to 'Endless Sacrifice'

Evanescence
Their sound is by far the most original in the mainstream. There's been female fronted rock bands before, but none with the eerie atmospherical songwriting that this band possesses.
Listen to 'Lose Control'

Enya
Her music speaks for itself. Definitely a woman with a vision.
Listen to 'Less than a Pearl'

Michael Jackson
One of the biggest innovators in dance and song ever. I think he's a cut above other solo artists in popular music because of his diverse sound and style.
Listen to 'Who Is It'


I could probably list more but these are the ones that stand out for me.

Peyton Manning

65daysofstatic should be mentioned in here somewhere, as should Sigur Ros.

DerekD Goldfish

Archimedes wrote:

65daysofstatic should be mentioned in here somewhere, as should Sigur Ros.

I like 65dos dont get me wrong(going to see them tonight) but woultnt class them as particularly origonal post-rock has been around for a long time before them for the first album they mixed it with glitcy eletronica very well but have since abandoned this and become just another (albeint a very good one) post-rock band.

Post-Punk is my favorite genre and during its heyday 77-83 was in my opinion the most inovative period in musical history were bands took influences from the past and moved them foward rather than just recreating the past.

John

Actually, following on from Derek's post punk suggestion, maybe have a look at Simon Reynold's Rip It Up and Start Again book on post punk, nearly every chapter is an education in originality.

cornbb

I dunno, it sounds like a genuinely interesting essay, but pretty much all of the music I enjoy would have to have some aspect of originality about it, thats the defining thing that makes good music good IMO.

There have been countless original artists over the decades but to give a couple of examples of who is original and why, if thats what you're looking for, I'd have to mention Squarepusher who has created his own distinctive style by combining drum'n'bass, acid, jazz and a ton of other styles, for combining "live" instrumentation with electronic stuff in his own way, and for managing to exercise a shocking degree of control over every millisecond of music he creates.

A second example was brought to mind by this vid of a girl called Imogen Heap:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSIbfzK2spg

Originality in this case arises from the innovative, effective and tasteful combination of traditional musical talent (singing) with music technology.

Jimi-Spandex

Can I recommend Silver Apples - Silver Apples/Contact, Weird mix of psychedelic R&B and early synth technology. With some theremin and banjo thrown in for good measure