Interesting how it pays these days to pigeonhole yourself in the music biz. Most successful artists, indie or otherwise, pull off making their living by getting a very distinct sound and style, or else falling squarely into an established genre; that way they get a core fanbase who they then have to avoid alienating by never straying far from the path they beat on their first record.
As someone who really values artistic growth, that just kind of pisses me off. Artists are capable of being multi-faceted. Those who manage to get past their initial success either flop or do amazingly well; Radiohead, for instance, is the critics' band of choice, but initially when they switched over from rock 'n' roll to, well, Radiohead, they had no idea what to think. They were expected to stay on the emo-grunge of "Creep," and instead put out "Paranoid Android," a track comprised of three half-written other tracks which happened to come together to make something nobody had ever heard. I have a hell of a lot of respect for Radiohead. But why can't anyone else do that?
What bothers me more, though, is when one act becomes famous for sounding new--and then sixty others latch on to that and turn it into some kind of "sound" recognized by the critics and easily digestable, as opposed to the innovation it originally was. Often the original band gets stuck in that pigeonhole, forcing them to stick with their original innovation and not keep moving. I think that's sort of what happened with the Strokes. They had their sound, sort of a classy, catchy revival-style garage rock, and they did it very well. Within something like a year, The Killers were blasting "Mr. Brightside" over the airwaves, successfully ripping off the Strokes' success, while simultaneously making me want to kill myself (that song is in my Top Ten Most Annoying Songs Ever List, which I'll post here at some point). Incidentally don't give me any crap about "BUT OWEN, THE HIVES STROKES VINES WHITES STRIPES ARE ALL THE SAME." If you have listened to half an album by those artists you will realize that none of them sound even remotely similar; they just happened to kick off the garage rock boom at the same time.
Fuck it, man. I'm putting out whatever the hell music I want to, and those who listen will hopefully be down with experimentation.
2 comments:
I definitely agree with you. When I review my albums I always make sure its changed a little bit from the previous one otherwise, its crap. Perhaps the biggest example of a pigeonhole would be everyone's favorite band Fall Out Boy. I had the privilege of liking their music a year so ahead of the game. Their first album is still one of my favorites (sorry haters). It was something different and they did a lot of great stuff lyrically and musically. Their sophomore album (aka what everyone thinks is their first album "From Under the Cork Tree") was also good until I started to hear it on the radio. One thing led to another and before I knew it, every band sounded like them (see: Panic at the Disco, The Academy Is, Paramore etc...) and I despised them. Sad story, but true.
Specifically, All Those Bands That Came Out on Fueled By Ramen Records. Literally all of the bands you listed, plus Cobra Starship and more. Interesting as the label is owned by the drummer from Less than Jake, which is a ska/punk sort of band.
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