So, I’m
currently in an argument with my band about some of the music we play. There
are no qualms with the music that we’ve (or I’ve) written myself, but there is
a difference of opinion on the topic of covers. I’m against them and they’re
for them. Will it cause me to leave or cause them to kick me out? Probably not,
but that’s not the point of this rant. My point is this: If bands and artists
don’t bring originality, music will fizzle out and, ultimately, die. Extreme?
Maybe; but it’s my view and here’s why.
First let me
ask you this, musicians. What feels better, when someone comes up to you after
a show and says, “Man, I really liked how you played (enter famous artist/band
here)’s song” or when they pick out something you wrote yourself and told you
how much they enjoyed it? If you say the cover, then great, go be a
cover/tribute band and have a blast doing it. I have nothing against you, other
than your lack of originality. Now, if you’re like a majority of true artists,
then you’re going to find more satisfaction in a compliment about something you
wrote from scratch and put so much time, effort and, sometimes, pain into.
I realized
something this morning as I gave my last argument in this debate with my
current band, though. What I realized was, the only bands I played any covers
with were out here in California. With every band I was in while living in
Colorado, everything we did was original unless it was in one of my Christian
bands and we took a worship song or two and put a new spin on it, just to fill
more time. You know which songs got the most praise? It wasn’t the covers, I’ll
tell you that. In fact, I noticed that the best reactions from people were
after we played one of our own songs.
Shortly
after I moved back home to SoCal, I read an article about how the music scene
in Orange County is dying and if the opinion of my current band about covers
tells me anything, I think I’ve figured out why. There’s no more originality
left in the world. Yes, I know there’s nothing new under the sun; King Solomon
wrote that back thousands of years ago. I understand that every chord
progression, scale and song topic has been used. That’s not where originality comes
from. What is original is the voice
behind the chords, riffs, scales and lyrics. No, not necessarily vocally,
because there are plenty of singers out there that can have their voice traced
back to a specific influence. To that all I say is, don’t try to sound like
someone else, just use your natural voice, but I digress.
The voice I’m talking about is this:
Everybody has their own experiences in the world and their own point of view.
There could be fifty songs on the same topic, but I guarantee you will find
something different in each one because out of those fifty songs, all fifty of
those artists have a different spin, view or experience with that topic. Their
vocabulary will be different as well, since we’re not all the same no matter
how cookie-cutter the world tries to make us.
People want to hear something
different. If your band gains popularity because of a cover you’ve done, then
they’re only hurting themselves. Point in case: Alien Ant Farm. People pretty
much only know them for their cover of Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson. This
is unfortunate because they’re all very talented musicians. If their first
single hadn’t been a cover, I think they would have been respected more as a
band because their original music.
The bands that should be doing covers
are cover/tribute bands that play at bars and clubs and younger musicians who
are still learning how to play their instruments and are learning how to write
their own music. When people hear young musicians play other artists’ songs,
they’re praised for learning how to play someone else’s song so soon in their
experience as a musician. Tribute/cover bands are praised by fans of the band
they’re covering/paying tribute to. Tribute bands I have more respect for
because they at least dedicate themselves to playing one band/artist’s music.
Cover bands on the other hand I have less respect for because all they are are
crowd pleasers at bars and clubs and all drunk people want to hear are songs
they know. Those aren’t the people I care to reach with my music. The people I
want to reach with my music are people who actually like music and want to hear
something they’ve never heard before. I don’t even care if they can hear where
my influences come from because, everybody will have influences they pull from;
that doesn’t take away from originality. Everybody has to start somewhere
before they become the artist that influences the next crop of musicians.
My argument against covers isn’t so
much against covers as it is an argument for
originality. If there is more originality, I guarantee music will be more
alive. Show people something new; don’t be a carbon copy.
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