I love music. It is my church and I sing from the gospels of rock, pop, blues and electro. The messiahs in my church are Morrison, Hendrix, Albarn, Smith and Barrett and I sing their praises at least once a week.
Okay, enough of the preaching already, but as a songwriter myself I have always marveled at the creative powers of all these names and how they were inspired to write the classics which make them the legends they are today.
Look at Damon Albarn for example. One of his early inspirations was Ray Davies and The Kinks and after a torrid tour in America with Blur he came up with the concept of a trio of classic archetypal British albums, ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish, Parklife and The Great Escape’, telling stories based around stereotypes, young lovers on Portobello Road and the day to day lives of everyday people from these British Isles. Every Blur album since then has owed to Albarn’s forever changing vision, from the loud Pavement influenced self titled album to the dark n subued 13 to his African hip hop fused cartoon group Gorillaz, he is a rock chameleon who will keep changing until he finds a musical skin that fits.
Jim Morrison on the other hand was inspired by the crooners of the 1950s like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin but was also heavily influenced by non musical factors like Greek mythology and poets such as William Blake a memory of a dead Indian at the side of the road after he witnessed the aftermath of a fatal road accident as a young boy, an image that burned into his psyche and of which he included in his work, making The Doors truly one of the all time great rock bands and turning Morrison himself into one of Music’s unforgettable icons.
The same can be said about Jimi Hendrix, whose decadent lifestyle and flamboyant stage presence preceded anything Freddie Mercury and Queen were doing by least 8 years. He was inspired by musicians such as Chuck Berry, Little Richard and James Brown, the stars who he played guitar for while he was working at his art. Without these people to show him the way artistically then the progression into acid rock may never have happened and Hendrix’s image as a Guitar Hero may never have surfaced.
Marc Bolan was one of the first Glam Rock icons of the 1970s, and he was influencing his peers such as David Bowie, Brain Eno and Elton John with his bright and colourful. His inspiration on the fellow rock stars around him at the time, like Hendrix, was having a huge affect on what became a whole new genre and he is just as influential to modern day bands like Kasabian and Placebo that he did back then. Without Bolan, there would have been no Bowie, therefore no The Smiths then no Franz Ferdinand and a whole host of modern day bands would sound a hell of a lot different. The Butterfly Effect in music form.
Those icons of the past, present and future are musical magpies. They have picked up the best aspects of what has gone before and have been influenced by the beautiful yet edgy aspects of what they have listened to.
And although some would argue that the quality of guitar bands has fallen over the last 15 years, there are still shining lights out there who will continue to have an effect on the worldwide music scene for years to come.
