Completely Original EBW's Music, Movie or Sports thread for the day

[Weevil]

So I was listening to Olivia Tremor Control's Black Foliage and the wifey makes a smart ass comment about them being Beatle Wannabe's. It got me thinking anyway. How many bands out there can really be credited with inventing something? Truly doing something with no precedent?

Here's an incomplete list off the top of my head

Buddy Holly
The Kinks
The Beatles(Not really but they're later stuff maybe)
Jonathon Richmond
The Velvet Underground
Primus


That's all I can think of.

 

[Svedish_Chef]

Thats fucking hard...

Radiohead used to be beatle wannabe's to or so they said... and then it was Kid A.

 

[Weevil]

Thats fucking hard...

Radiohead used to be beatle wannabe's to or so they said... and then it was Kid A.

I'm not even convinced when it comes to Kid A. Listen to stuff put out by Thrill or Warp and you see some definite parentage.

 

[lavender]

 

[modest mouse]

Slint - Combined many of the elements(or lack of) of free jazz with traditional Rock structure and 'spiderland' doesnt settle into any genre. Creating a hybrid may not seem original but upon listen its fleshed out. Tortoise and other bands have since followed in the form, to a degree.

Public Enemy - This is, perhaps, less obvious. PE set a tone with hip-hop, what it could be. Early Melly Mel(spelling?) was political but simple and direct. PE made anger and intelligence a total package, over sirens and samples that had more sonic texture than anything to that point. Flavor Flav's clown to Chuck D's preacher was a lethal mix.

Shellac - Musically terse, to an extreme. Sparse, harsh...bringing utter joy to my ears. What is unique here is that Albini(guitar,vocals) makes his living as a studio tech (for the likes of PJ Harvey, etc). The bassist works in conjunction with him and also on his own. The drummer manages a warehouse in Chicago.

When they put out an album there is no press. I mean none. Ni samples to magazines. No copies to radio stations. Nothing expect aninterview once every two years.

When they tour they plan it as a vacation, choosing where they want to go and jsut breakign even. They hit Czeckoslavakia last time. They had a few songs kicking around so they released them as an insert in a Danish comic book.

***
Nice thread, EBW, I'm pissed you beat me to the Velvet Underground. Do you have the box set? The Xtra tracks are well worth it to see the dynamic of the band.

 

[Weevil]

Yeah I have the box set. Good stuff.

I don't know the other stuff you mentioned but PE doesn't really qualify. I'll agree they're innovators but to say they don't owe anything to GMF and the FF is ridiculous.

 

[modest mouse]

PE certainly had a jumping off point, but unless we want to debate John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen...I can name jumping off points for everyone cited so far.

 

[Weevil]

PE certainly had a jumping off point, but unless we want to debate John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen...I can name jumping off points for everyone cited so far.

Yes and no. Think of what I'm saying in a fashion analogy. If we're talking about hats I don't care who invented the beret or who first wore their Yankee hat backward, I'm interested in who came up with the idea of wearing something on their head. I'm not saying that these bands didn't have influences I'm saying they completely invented something other then a mere style. The Kinks had people preceding them true, but before them did anyone even think that distortion was to be encouraged? I don't mention the Kinks because they were the first real British rock band or they had a great lead guitarist they make the list because before them the idea of the electric guitar was that it would sound like an accoustic but louder. They changed that. No precedents. They changed the way we look at music as a whole.