am i that odd??

[jamal buchet]

just read therons post and got me thinking as well....do you as artists , at least the ones who write lyrics....do you write in the same style as the bulk of the music that you listen to?..i know everyone says "i listen to all types of music"..but the stuff that stays in your c.d player for weeks on end ..the stuff that really turns you on....does your stuff sound like that stuff??..because mine completely does not...i was just wondering if anyone elsethinks about this or maybe it just doesnt matter??...lol

jamal

[BrettB]

mm, good question.

At first sight I would say no: most of the stuff I make doesn't relate to the music I normally listen to. but lately I have those experiences, when I listen to music, I recognize it's influence in some of my work. So the answer is maybe yes.

Or maybe, does it matter as long as I don't plagariaze it's ok

[badgas]

Yes, a very interesting question.

For the most part, the commercial music I listen to is EL&P, ELO, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Hendrix, Blue Oyster Cult, that kind of music.

But lately I've been listening mostly to people who record their own music. All kinds of music, like drstrawl's Jazz, Chris Shaeffers Folk/Rock, Beatovens music, (sorry if I spelt your name wrong), Theron's material, etc. just all kinds of home music.


I have a lot of songs I wrote in the 70s-90s with some simularity of the commercial list I put up above. Mainly because that's what I played mostly and they fit right in with our style.

Around the late 80s up to the present I've noticed my style has changed to some folky stuff, R&B, and New Age/Ambient stuff.

I can't pin a group or artist that my music sounds like.
I am fearful that my vocals my become synonymous with Wayne Newton.

[mrbigputts]

donkey shoe......darlin, donkey shoe.

[crawdad]

I think we are all influenced to some degree by what we listen to. Its the tribal drum message concept. No matter, though. Every human being has a different way of creating. I could try to do a Bob Dylan or a Jackson Browne, but it would end up sounding completely different.

You end up discovering that its not the style or whats on the surface, but rather whats behind the style. What the underlying thoughts were that brought a lyric to fruition. That is usually personal experience and a mixture of the ideas we have been exposed to. Unless you are really doing a parody of some particular artists style, you usually come up with your own voice. Its about what resonates within us as artists. Emulating others always ends up being second rate compared to what we can do with our own visions.

[rondo]

I find that I get inspired by words or phrases that I think I hear in a song or in conversation. Like a whole "mis-heard lyrics" type thing. It usually gets a phrase in my head that I can spawn the rest of the lyrics off of. But never really sounds like the music I'm listening to.

Tho, guitar wise, I definately can get sounding like the music I'm into at the moment. Style or tone.

[jamal buchet]

good to know someone else may have pondered this subject...its just strange...ui listen to alot of ..oh i dont know fast tempo music...the new "jimmy eat world"..c.d. has been in my truck for about 3 straight mths..(i know i dont need a critique on my choice of music.lol"..but when i right music it is ALWAYS slow sappy heartfelt suicide letter music...i dont sit down with a specific method to writing it just seems to all come out like that...if any of you have listened to my stuff in the mp3 clinic..first let me say sorry you had to go through that lol..but you might see what i mean...anyway thanks for giving me a little insight into how some of you approach this....

jamal

[theron]

Well,

I listen to alot of blues, funk and soul lately but, when I write a song, it still comes out "theron style". I had a phone conversation with my father and he asked me, not the first time this has come up, "why are all your songs sad or about loss". I said that when the need to write a song comes up, that is what's on my mind and in my "heart". I told him that some of my songs are up beat and about happy change but, I can't make myself write a happy song period. That doesn't mean the song doesn't make me happy or other people tapping toes and singing along!!
I listen to music that pleases me and I don't much care for the "ohh I suck, life sucks, it is sooo dark" kinda stuff but, those sort of lyrics still come out of me. I can take the most major chord poppy, day in the sun progression and write sad and lost lyrics to go along with it. It puts a smile on my face, get's rid of the demons for a time.

In short,

I can listen to anything that I find a kin for and if it influences me, fine. By the time that influence has passed all my personal filters, it is mutated so much that it is truely me.

Was that an exercise in self-indulgence or what?!?


Peace and inner evolution,

Theron.

[Axis]

Yes and no also, My music isn't the same as the music i listen to but i can hear the inspiration when i look back on a song after a while.

I've had a couple lines stuck in my head lately that I always sing at work by a solo artist here that i really like what do you think of em?

they're -

samething, different day.
You used to drag me kicking screaming
but now im on my way

i feel humble i feel found
i feel broken, i feel down
same thing different day.

helps get me through the days at my bitch shit job

[crosstudio]

i mostly write R&B and Hip-Hop, but I listent to everything from 80's punk and new wave (the klash, the church, the smiths, midnight oil) to old blues (bobby blue bland, muddy waters, buddy guy, mississippi john hurt) to reggae (marley, aswad, cutty ranks) to old and new hip-hop.

normally, i don't overtly hear any connection... but then I was writing this one R&B tune and when i got to the bridge of the song nothing fit but...

"lips like sugar, sugar kisses"

which of course is Echo and the Bunnymen

[milesmaxwell]

This is a funny thread because I always assume everyone writes the complete opposite of the music they like... Some of my favorite music is the precision clean sound of Steely Dan and the power emo style (Built to Spill, Weezer, Modest Mouse, Pixies) but my tunes turn out most like folky songwriters.

Then again, I guess I do like musicians in that vein as well. I think I made a subconscious decision when I realized I HAD to be a musician that I should pursue the music I didn't need anyone else to perform. It might be borne out of the fact that I don't like relying on musicians.

So, maybe you write what you write as a practical decision as well as a stylistic one?

milesmaxwell