On Appropriation and the Stones
Everyday Music Every Day #12
I used to play in a live karaoke band called The Complete Jerks. We started as Teenage FBI until people kept showing up expecting a Guided By Voices tribute. Had to change the name.
We played upstairs at a UT college barâloud, mostly chaos. The set list had a few songs by The Rolling Stones, and they never really worked. Theyâre a lot harder to sing than people think.
But one night this kid gets up and does one in an over-done hickoid Texas accent, and somehow it works. First time Iâd ever seen anyone actually sound like Mick Jagger.
Later I tried it myself. Turns out the trick is just talk-singing with a Texas drawl.
Iâve been thinking about that again latelyâespecially when I mess around with the Teenage Engineering sampler I mentioned last week, or with the Koala app. Same lesson every time: if the inputs are bad, the songâs bad. You canât make something good out of nothing.
And when you think about The Rolling StonesâSome Girls especiallyâhow bad would that record be without appropriation? If it came out today, people would lose their minds. That record works because it borrows, bends, and steals, then filters it through their sound.
So when people start talking about the morality of influenceâwhat youâre âallowedâ to useâitâs never going to make better music. It makes worse music. If artists start worrying about getting attacked for what they pull from, you end up with timid songs.
All music is appropriation. The whole thing. Youâve got the whole universe to listen to. Take it in, let it sit, and when it comes back out, itâll sound like you if youâve done the work.
Listen to The Rolling Stones. Listen to (and copy) the people they listened toâBlind Harmonica Jackson or whoeverâand trust that itâll come out in your own voice.
Lighten up internet/ the world!
And keep reading the blog.