< Rock N Roll Hall of Fame | Main | Writing About Girl Talk is Like Dancing about Architecture >

Metaphor & Simile

Posted at 9:57 PM on January 27, 2007 by Mac Wilson (10 Comments)

I would say that one of the most divisive trends in popular music is the labeling of current acts in comparision to predecessors, i.e., "Coldplay is the new U2" or "Conor Oberst is the new Bob Dylan", et al. There are two directions you can go with this: you can either go through and attempt to find appropriate counterparts for all the major contemporary artists (this has the potential to consume hours of your time), or you can wonder if this is even an activity worth pursuing in the first place. If we say that Beck is a modern-day version of David Bowie, how does that affect our perceptions of either artist? For any comparision such as Bowie/Beck, we invariably wind up grasping at straws in our intense efforts to establish as many commonalities as possible. More often than not, this involves sticking square pegs into round holes: recontextualizing and reshaping one artist's career so that it meshes up better with the other's. So rather than focusing on the specific elements that facilitated either artist's career, the artists are instead reduced to a handful of common, usually arbitrary, characteristics that they happened to share with another artist. In the case of U2 and Coldplay, this turns out to be a mutually hurtful scenario. When this comparision is applied to these bands, U2 is suddenly instantly credited (or blamed, depending on one's level of cynicism) with the rise of Coldplay, and, subsequently, any number of dramatic piano/guitar alternative rock acts, thereby denigrating the influences that other bands might have had. When it comes to Coldplay, they are held up to the standards of the previous act (in this case, the astronomical precedent laid out by U2), and rather than being judged by their artistry, they are judged on whether or not they can or are capable of attaining the same career peaks as their predecessor. Coldplay is now competing against the legacy of their predecessor, rather than the other acts in the marketplace.

So is playing the comparision game a constructive activity, a silly way to pass the time, or an unfair, harmful means of comparision via correlation? I think two things sparked this question in my head. First, I mentioned the other night how I think the Walkmen have the potential to have a career path similar to R.E.M.; I thought about it again while driving home that night and got to wondering about the comparision question. Secondly, I saw that Coldplay is recording their next album with Brian Eno, in an apparent bid to take the U2 comparisions to a new level. So what do you think? Is our persistent desire to always come up with comparisions, to label someone as "the new James Brown" or to find the perfect point of origin for the Cold War Kids, harmful or helpful? It may be a lot of fun, but should we be doing it in the first place?

Comments (10)

Oh, I'm fairly sure that Coldplay doesn't care whether you or I think they're the new U2 or the old Snow Patrol. Let's not worry about impacting their legacy by blogging about it. (I thought they were still kind of pretty Radiohead derivatives - did that change?)

Some people can't understand something unless they have something nearby they can attach it to, whether by comparison or contrast, fair or not. Sometimes a little context helps me understand more about why someone's really into something, but once I spend some actual time absorbing what a band or artist has put together, I hope I'm past the point where I'm saying "1/3 AC/DC, 1/3 Sabbath, and 1/6 Jet, with the other 1/6 made up of some kids who own guitars, but don't know how to play them, because they watch TV all day." (Wolfmother, by the way.)

Posted by Dan | January 27, 2007 10:59 PM

Comparing a band or artist to another is helpful as a point of reference, but saying a band is a second coming of another one leads to to dire consequences. First, it puts huge expectations on a band or artist, because often the comparison is made to a music legend. Second, a comparison to another band will stick with anyone who has heard it. Departures from the style that they originally had which lead to comparisons will then be seen as failings, even if these departures would be successes on their own merit.

Posted by Shawn | January 28, 2007 2:09 AM

I talked about this very issue on my blog. I attributed the comparisons to lazy writing - i.e. critics simply don't want to take the time to come up with alternative & more creative comparisons. Then I read a book called "Made to Stick," which indicates that it's easier to get your message about something new & different across by comparing it to something that people are familiar with. I don't particularly care for these sorts of comparisons. If I'd listened when people said that the Dave Matthews Band sounded like the Grateful Dead, I wouldn't be a Dave Matthews Band fan, 'cause I don't like the Grateful Dead. For my take, follow this link.

Posted by Mary Warner | January 28, 2007 1:25 PM

printable mandala coloring pages
deelishis nude pics
download madness interactive mods
examples of condolence letters
stick arena flash game
pokemon crater v7
pansat bin file
kasamh se 21th december india episode
tamagotchi v4 passwords
grizzly tobacco coupons

Posted by Heel | December 26, 2007 10:57 PM

Great site! You can find related info on the following sites:
done it all lyrics shawty lo
coi thien thai
layered shoulder length haircuts
katie rees semi nude pictures
descargar gratis naruto shippuden mugen pc
how to cook a london broil
free printable check registers
new pokemon crater v7
2008 lia sophia catolog
marzia prince nude picture
boeing 777 200 seating chart
porsche girl accident
www carsons piere scott com
actress paula patton bio
inverted bob haicuts
porn myspace layouts
id lie by taylor swift cd
knifty knitter socks
olgc winning numbers jackpot
victoria principal porn

Posted by Halo | January 6, 2008 11:37 PM

Great site! You can find related info on the following sites:
short layered bob
phim nguoi lon xex
parisian department store
bootz larissa from flava of love
duck blind camouflage myspace layouts
galilea montijo cojiendo
long layered bob hairstyles
dyrdek signature glasses
disney channel da colorare
myle cyrus pics
www pokemon crater v 7
url proxies for myspace

Posted by Heel | January 7, 2008 5:15 AM

Midriff shirts should be, should not be banned at school - Or choose other arousing clothing parts for another persuasive speech topic

Posted by blind date gay sex | January 11, 2008 2:29 PM

Great site! You can find related info on the following sites:

Posted by Bill | January 17, 2008 10:28 AM

Great site! You can find related info on the following sites:

Posted by Diesel | January 17, 2008 10:46 AM

January 2007
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Master Archive

	E-mail this page
	Print this page
	Submit to Digg
	Save to Delicious
	Share
	Audio help

January 2007
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

January 2007
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Metaphor & Simile

Comments (10)

Post a comment

January 2007
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31