A while ago I came across an article by Spin magazine. It was a part of a series called "The Innovators". Now, it's not a big surprise that they didn't find people that deserve the title of being an innovator, as very few people deserve that title. The people they did write about are Frank Black (member of The Pixies), Courtney Love, and Noel Gallagher (member of Oasis). None of these people really talked about the term innovation, except one person I didn't name, and that's Marilyn Manson. Marilyn claimed that "I'm not a big fan of the whole "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" thing.", implying that he is a true innovator. Of course, if you take a critical look at his stage show (it's damn obvious that his music is not innovative) , you can see that all of his "trademark" stage show is just him stealing something from someone else. Want proof? Here's some.
Female stage name : Alice Cooper
Make-up: Alien Sex Fiend, Alice Cooper, many others.
Stilts: Skinny Puppy
Jock strap: GG Allin
Cutting his chest: GG Allin
Molesting band members: GG Allin, Bauhaus.
Faux Fascist/Nazi rally during show: Non, Throbbing Gristle, David Bowie
Juxtaposing symbols: Christian Death, Non
Spitting at the crowd:Countless punk bands
Big sets during stage shows:Alice Cooper, Gwar, White Zombie
Cross dressing: New York Dolls, David Bowie
So yeah, innovation is out the window. Which, would be perfectly fine, if he didn't claim he was an innovator. Everyone in the entertainment business has been inspired by someone else. In this day and age, the best way to judge it is how much of what they do is a rip-off of what the guy before them did, and if they improved it/disgraced it. An example would be Stephen Lynch, who sings funny songs. Now, many people before Stephen have been singing funny novelty songs, and I'm sure that Stephen knows this. However, not only does he not claim to be orginal when he does what he does, he does it very well.
Eddie Izzard is another example. He's a funny comic, but if you look at his act, he's more or less Bill Hicks with a dress and an accent. Bill Hicks was actually one of the more innovative comics in recent history, although in many of his writings he speaks of the people who influenced him as a young child. Bill Hicks is an obvious influence of David Cross, who is one of my favorite comics. David does justice to Bill's style, and as far as I've heard has never once claimed to be a great innovator of comedy.
In review...
Innovation : Very, very rare.
Being influenced, and doing justice to it : Normal, and good.
Being influenced, but still sucking : Normal, and bad.
Claiming to be an innovator when ripping off other people: Horrible.
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Comments: 9
Nice work, Josh!
Yeah, only Izzard isn't remotely as funny. He's good but Hicks makes him look like crap. Cross dressing British crap.