Something to think about

[steelreign]

This is something that really pisses me off sometimes.... I see reviews that deduct points from a possible great score because of the dreaded 'lack of originality.' Well, I say, if the music is crushing and well done, WHO FUCKING CARES!?! Anyone that has ever released an album has 'borrowed' ideas from some place. I say that if the material is ripping and well written, I could care less if a band sounds like something else. Anyone else agree?

[Michael@SacredMetal]

Yeah, cool question!

[big mouth]

So true.... all I want from a band is ass kicking/ well written stuff. I like as much a band like ANACRUSIS than a band like let's say.... HELLHAMMER -unless HELLHAMMER can be labelled as original?!

[Prof]

Really, who cares if something's is 'original'? That's for those idiots of the trendy music press to decide - I couldn't care less.
As far as I'm concerned, quality is all that matters and by quality I mean that something sounds good, that there's craftsmanship, heaviness, melodies, good riffs and genuine metal flavour there. No doubt every discerning metalhead owns tons of albums that can be attributed to a certain style - to me, that's a PLUS. In my collection, for instance, there's lots of stuff that sounds like US power in the old Queensryche/Lethal/Crimson Glory-tradition. When QR themselves decided to become, how shall I put this, 'original' and (oops, careful, the I-word), 'innovative', I stopped buying their records.
In short: beer isn't very original either, but I like it a lot.

[Jeff Ulmer]

I guess it depends on just what is counted for originality. If a band is blatently ripping off someone else's style, I don't see that as appealing, but if there are hints of the influences present, and the band comes up with some interesting ideas, then fine. One of my favorite new discoveries, Eloy, has songs which pull from many familiar sounds/styles, but they do it well.

Claiming something is original can be dangerous, especially if you haven't been exposed to all the music that may have provided inspiration to the artist.

[NegatroN]

I guess it depends on just what is counted for originality. If a band is blatently ripping off someone else's style, I don't see that as appealing, but if there are hints of the influences present, and the band comes up with some interesting ideas, then fine.

I agree to that. Surely every musician has influences and uses them in his songs - conciously and (more often) unconsciously. That's totally OK. But he should at least try to really "create" something and not just copy stuff that he likes. I don't like bands that settle for music of which they know that it works (because others also played it successfully). In my eyes that is not artistry. There is no sense in just using the same riffs and styles for 1001st time. When I feel like listening to early Maiden stuff I put Killers in the player and no other band that just sounds like early Maiden. Where would be the point in that?