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1. Artists tend to be portrayed in the popular imagination as solitary muse-chasers, but in reality, most good or great creators emerge from a 'scene' that gives them influences, collaborators, rivals, foils - some of them greater artists, but others matter too.
2. George Harrison's career is a textbook illustration. What a talent, but he absorbed & grew so much from prolonged exposure to Lennon & McCartney. He learned from Eastern music & Dylan.
3. In 1968-71, George Harrison was part of a 'scene' with Clapton, Duane Allman, the whole Delaney & Bonnie crew. They're almost all one big extended band, with a common sound distinct from what any of them did individually before or after.
4. Harrison made some good music between 1972-86, but he was no longer in a scene, & it showed. Not coincidentally, his best song in that period (All Those Years Ago) is a homage to Lennon. He missed the creative collaboration.
5. Then we get to 1987-91, and George is back in a band (the Traveling Wilburys), & he tours with Clapton. And all of them - Petty, Lynne, Dylan, Orbison, even Clapton - have something new to bring to their music in that period.
6. George Harrison is maybe a more vivid illustration than most, but across music, film, literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, the pattern is the same. Beethoven comes from a scene connected to Mozart. Rap has had a more vibrant scene than rock the past 20 years.
7. Artistic rivalries are a real thing, and never let an art or music teacher tell you otherwise. Humans are competitive, even the artsiest. History of painting is full of people trying to show the naysayers.
