Nothing Is Ever Created In Isolation

The concept some people have about their creations being unique and completely original is laughable. The example I'll use to illustrate this is the fact that I play the guitar, I did not invent it, invent the scales or the amplifier. Without someone else, or multiple someone else's I could not have learned to play the guitar because it wouldn't exist.

To be willing to learn something, first that knowledge must exist in some form which means someone else has already invented the language; the rules of how this stuff works, what the tunings are etc. Secondly there must be an inspiration to keep you learning. I started learning at the age of 16. I did so because I was inspired by music I was listening to, but more specifically the rhythm guitar work from guitarists such as Jimmy Page and Nuno Bettencourt. Learning something like a musical instrument is easy, but it does need a lot of dedication and practice. The music I was listening to, and how I listened to it motivated me, inspired me.

When you learn an instrument, you're inspired by some element or multiple elements of someone else's music. Naturally this means you want to learn to play music you listen to, in your own inept way. Cover versions are all you do, you don't know how songs are created, why a chord sequence is chosen over another, why a rhythm is chosen, why a beat is chosen or why the lyrics are the way they are; you just feel the overall effect and it touches you in some way deep enough that you are inspired.

So we've established that I didn't invent the guitar, nor the amp, the scales, the strings, the tunings, the chords, yet now I want to claim that the music I create from my knowledge of those building blocks was solely my own creation. They may appear like magic to the non musician, music is one art form that does move people, but these are building blocks nonetheless; not being aware of them on a technical level does not mean they don't exist, just that you're not skilled at detecting them. This is why musicians can jam with others, they hear keys and sequences and free flow around them. They work with those building blocks.

You can take that to an even more meta level and look at the language your lyrics are in. I speak English, I hear in English, I write in English, but I did not invent the English language; I learned it in school from an existing teaching system and teachers who are teaching a planned curriculum of something already very mature and widespread. Not just the words but the order of the words to express various deeper meanings. That knowledge is used in understanding the lyrics of music you love and it's layers in relation to the music. This is what transports you as a listener; this is what moves your emotions and imagination.

I do like some music in languages I don't understand, or understand very little, but the meaning of the lyrics is a part of the songs that will always escape me. Molotov is one perfect example, a sorta politicised Mexican version of the Beastie Boys who do a combo of rap and rock, and frequently flick between English and Spanish.

So now I haven't even invented the language I use, so what is the original part? It's how you put them together of course. If I was inspired by Jimmy Page's rhythm guitar work on songs like Gallows Pole and Four Sticks, what are the chances that I'm going to create music using the elements of those tunes as a base? This is not copying, it's inspired by. Will they sound like Jimmy Page? I'd imagine not, because each musician has their own feel, and tries to blaze their own path.

In one way I'd be chuffed to be compared to Jimmy Page, on the other I'd be disappointed because he is only one of many who have caught my musicians ear over the years, and only one of the many styles and elements I've picked up on in the same way. The point being that there is no pure connection. No musician ever learns in isolation. No musician ever restricts themselves to only one artist or band as inspiration. How do I know this? How did they find that band?

I grew up with a choice of my mum's music or my dad's music when in the family car. My mum like the old crooners such as Sydney Devine, my dad is an old school rock'n'roller which is Buddy Holly, Big Popper, Little Richie etc. Needless to say I always wanted my dad's music on. I didn't have any music, but even if I did, it was never even up for consideration. Later on I got some more modern salvation from my big sister in the form of ABBA who I love to this day. This then grew into me listening to chart music starting at around 1986 (ish) when I finally had a ghetoblaster and a handful of tapes to play on it, and a radio.

This was the point where I was exposed to a lot of different bands, artists and styles, and the start of the various phases I went through. We all go through phases in our tastes. This is where we start to find and refine our own tastes, in relation to a lot of other things, including who we socialize with at the time. The one guy I grew up good friends with was into Queen, it turned out that I also got into Queen for quite a while before getting tired of them.

The point of that little brief summary is that inspiration is not an isolated incident. For me to get to the stage where I came across some Led Zeppelin songs and heard Jimmy Page to be able to be inspired enough to want to learn the guitar meant that I had to listen to a lot of other music to hear what he does differently to others. Why was I not inspired by the first guitar music I heard? Why did Buddy Holly not grab me? Why did it take a while before Jimmy Page kicked in? That's magic I guess.

We use the building blocks which already exist and we build things in new ways, with new slants, new angles. I love the early Radiohead stuff like Just (which I finally got round to learning) and also some Muse songs like Plug-in Baby. Muse are very much the amped up, more intense variant of Radiohead. They are in the same vein, or as some websites explain it "people who like this also like this", or in summaries to publicity outlets.

When you hear of a new band, one of the first and most logical questions is "who are they like?" which gets a description much like I gave for Muse. "We're a bit of James brown meets the Rolling Stones with a U2 style guitar sound and a politicized vibe like Billy Bragg". It's the choice of what you blend and how you blend them that makes you either another bland act, or a genius. All of the top bands and musicians have that skill of choosing what to blend, and how to do it naturally. Those results in turn inspire others to learn instruments and continue the traditions in their own way. Like anything else, music evolves, tastes evolve and the younger generations reinvent stuff in their own way. This is a good thing.

How many mashups have you seen on YouTube? Sometimes it's people taking existing tunes and creating their own music videos for them from clips of a TV show, movie, stills, animation doing funny things with the lyrics or literal interperpretations of well known tunes. One of the best I've seen for this is One Week by the Barenaked Ladies.

None of this would be possible if the "created in isolation" claims were true. Music would never have taken off had that been the case. The same applies to every other creative medium, from stories, graphic design, movies, TV shows etc. Did all of the reality show creators come up with the concept on their own? No, they saw the vast audiences and phone revenue generated by a cheap format, so they worked on those themes, using various elements of those to build their own shows for their own networks. This is normal, and none of it would be possible if created in isolation.

Star Wars is a mash-up of various well worn story ideas with a twist, they were uprooted and set in space with some though to the backdrop. Firefly was basically a western set in space. None of these building blocks are new, they just took the creators to spot how they could be combined into something new, with their own twists and modifications.

When the Palm CEO proudly announced to the world that his company would be entering into the smartphone market, he also proudly announced that he'd never even looked at an iPhone. How can you possibly enter a market without taking a very close look at your competition? How can you know what your prospective customers are used to and demand from their devices if you don't even look at the competition? This concept applies in every market, music is no exception. With music this is often seen in bands who don't realise the times have changed and expect to keep doing the same old same old, and expect their fans to stay with them.

Where music gets interesting is that musicians who create their own music, also still listen, enjoy and are fans of other musicians work. I remember watching a Nuno Bettencourt video where he talked about being on the same bill as his hero Jimmy Page, and was almost like a schoolkid with excitement when he saw Jimmy backstage. When musicians want to expand beyond playing on their own, and turn it into a social thing, this means either joining or forming a band, which means meeting and playing with other musicians who all have slightly different tastes than you. They may be inspired by some of the same bands or artists but different songs, or for different reasons.

Playing cover versions is the best way to start figuring if if you're gelling as a group, after all why suggest "alright guys, I know we've only meet but here's a song we can play, let me teach you it?" when musicians already know how to play cover versions of tunes they like. I don't know of any band that started any differently. Plenty of them go on to writing their own songs, finding their own style but the start is almost always about cover versions, about mimicking bands and artists they already know.

Tribute bands are built on the premise of mimicking, and only do cover versions of that band; Bjorn Again spring to mind here, an excellent ABBA tribute band. It's not the best video but Honey Honey is one of my favourite Abba tunes. For those who have never heard either, here's the Bjorn Again version and the original ABBA version to compare.

The Creative Commons licensing model understands this and is designed to promote it. We're all immersed in our various cultures, with it's various influences either consciously or subconsciously, and inspiration can come from anywhere at any time; it's what makes us human. I often misread a comment or mishear a phrase which sparks off an idea for a story or project. It's why everything I create on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons licence. FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) is also built on the same idea, where knowledge, ideas and culture are all shared and built upon.

We all share on a subconscious level everyday. How many manor-isms or slang terms have you picked up from friends, family or co-workers? After hanging about with one guy for a few years I found myself adding "eh" to the end of sentences without realising it. Yes you guessed it, that was something he did, it rubbed off on me. You are who you meet.

Nothing is ever created in isolation, which is a key flaw in the whole IP (Intellectual Property) concept and all it's constituent parts like patents and copyrights. All of those rely on something being "original". Nothing is ever truly original, it's the result of inspiration from many angles.