MUSIC & INFLUENCE
Ever wonder how strange it is that most music that shapes our lives was written by 20-somethings?
An age that's decades before creatives truly develop a distinctive voice & depth of experience.
So why is this the case?
A hypothesis in 4 parts...
4 reasons most impactful music is created by 20-somethings
1) Selection
2) Genius
3) Universality
4) Consumption age
1) Selection: the arts are brutal careers, esp. music. Odds of success, tiny. If you don't make it by your late 20's, you age out of young fans who control cool.
2) Genius: The people who do succeed are likely to be standouts, if not geniuses. If not as songwriters, then performers or determined success-seekers. They have an unstoppable quality that will break through quickly.
3) Universality: there's a simplicity & purity to the experiences of a young person. Everyone's had that first love, heartbreak, infatuation, and weird cyberstalking incident. Ok, maybe not that last one. But these simple thoughts grip us instantly, with the right melody.
4) Age of consumption: it's not only the musicians who are young, but often so are we. Whether it's Led Zeppelin, Friends, or Twinkies, if we discover them at a formative age, they'll retain their power over us, unlike anything (or those same things) discovered later.
Related thread:
👆👆👆Related thread:
Spectacular conversation between Jewel & Joe.
She's lived & triumphed through so much adversity.
Made me think what a shame it is that our age of music discovery ends before artists truly find their voice & self-actualize. 👆👆👆
open.spotify.com/episode/2TRBNG…
This piece argues our obsession w/the Beatles keeps music from innovating. Nonsense.
ALL innovation eventually stalls intra-genre as it gets saturated, moves on to new genres (rap, DJs), then to new mediums (games, TV, tech). Innovators seek new frontiers.
ft.com/content/6ddafa…
True originality is rare. It gets harder with time, as creative categories & mediums get flooded w/participants trying every permutation of rock, painting or sitcom.
One of the biggest obstacles to originality is finding your voice. At first, even Picasso paints fruit.
But...
Experience can turn Zeppelin-y riffs into an interesting stew, some very successfully, but never quite transcend their influences.
Oasis (Britpop)
Lenny Kravitz (Hendrix/70's R&B)
Bruno Mars (Police, Prince, Misc 80's)
Enuff Z'Nuff (Beatles)
Again, Transcendence is HARD!
...
It's some blend of truly divergent thinking, experimentation, diligence & fearlessness that turns ability+influences into a singular voice. (That only sometimes maps to commercial success.)
Recently, comic Andrew Schulz cited Larry David as an example.
Why music can transcend & other art forms can only hope to immerse.
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