Why we shouldn't listen to too much music

For as long as we can remember there have been two schools of thought regarding commercial music making.

The first school maintains that you should have your finger on the pulse, be aware of everything that is "trending" (yep, we hate the word too!) in order to maximise your chances of success (ie getting recognised, making money).

A sub-class of this first school compares all new music to old classic recordings, technologies, and working practices. They'll tell you that if you use anything other than Fairchild compressors and 1959 Strats your recordings will suck. They're not much different to the "finger-on-the-pulse" brigade, just much more conservative and sometimes elitist (that tec costs).

The second school maintains that listening to too much music spoils your ability to think laterally and create. This group often has no interest in what's gone before, have few "traditional" tec or instrument playing skills and are often the ones who make the biggest leaps in composition and sound design. They don't know the rules, see?

Underlying these two schools are 2 simple human instincts.

The first school wants a benchmark against which their expertise can be measured. If they ally themselves with what has been successful before, they not only have access to a pre-existing shared musical language that is familiar to the public, but can also claim to have professional expertise.

The second school has no interest in what has gone before and what others have achieved (although they may have respect for them) and want to explore, innovate and develop a means to express and re-invent themselves.

So which is better? Neither of course. We can all recognise elements of ourselves in both schools, but  there is always an inner tension between them. When we can't innovate we copy, and when we can't copy we have to innovate.

So why should we cut down on our listening? There are two good reasons. Firstly it can stifle innovation. Who hasn't wanted to write and record a Marvin Gaye type song after listening to "What's Going On?" Secondly, no mater how quickly you copy the latest trend, by the time you release your tracks the trend will have passed.

We're off to listen to John Cage's "4'33".

Thanks for reading.
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