ge·ner·ic
By Necro Danny - 02.26.06

ge·ner·ic - Relating to or descriptive of an entire group or class;

Generic is a term being used quite frequently by today's metal/hardcore communities. Although, the usage of this term has an altogether different definition when used to describe a band's music, I'm using the above definition to make my primary point.

All music is inherently generic. The mere fact that we can classify and group-together music that we listen to, is proof of this fact. There isn't a musician that you've heard that hasn't borrowed something from another musician. Whether it be a group of chords, a song structure, a particular technique of playing, or even making the choice of what instruments a band will include. If no musician copied anything from another musician, we wouldn't even have genres of music. We would have completely unique bands who's counterparts, for the most part, invent and build their own instruments that create their own unique sound. A band can't even have any knowledge of music theory in a musical landscape that preaches about generic music without some hypocrisy. There would be no classical music, no blues, no jazz, no pop, no rock n roll, no metal, no hardcore, if 99% of the bands/groups that make up the genre didn't "borrow" almost everything about the originator's writing. Led Zeppelin, by the definition above (and the definition of the modern usage of the term generic as pertaining to music), is a generic band. Like most bands in their genre, a good chunk of their songs weren't even written by the band. They were written by obscure black musicians that, for the most part, never got any recognition for pioneering an entire genre of music. Given, this band did eventually find it's own unique voice by the end of their career. But even then, it wasn't 100% unique. The line of thinking that states that music should be 100% pure and unique to it's originator is counterproductive to the progression and evolution of music and it's structured styles. Not to mention, that having strict, specific, purist, guidlines takes all the fun out of music.

Musicians need inspiration to drive their desire to make that music. For most kids that are just beginning to learn an instrument, that inspiration is solely based on the bands that they love to listen to. I, for one, may have lost interest in the guitar altogether if I hadn't been really into bands like Nirvana or the Deftones in that first year of learning how to play the instrument. That kind of influence is integral to the progress of a beginner. Without it, there's no incentive to strive for the knowledge and experience that it takes to become a productive musician.

generic-music - a watered down, less pure, version of a previously existing form of music.

All of this is not to say that there is artistic integrity in blatantly ripping off other people's music. There's a difference between having influences and just flat out stealing. Bands that take a riff from their favorite band, change one note, and call it their own are not original. If you want to cover songs from your favorite bands, start a cover band or a tribute band. There's more of a future in that anyway if you're not at least making a good effort to use some of your own creativity while crafting songs. Making carbon copies of your favorite song is not the way to go about getting respect in the music community. A good rule of thumb is that if someone outside the band hears a song for the first time and says that it sounds like that Random band's song, Random song you should probably just scratch it and start over. There's more integrity in playing someone elses music as a tribute to that person/band than there is in playing their music under the guise that it's your own.

From what I can see, elitism has become an all-too-present practice within genres of music that, in my opinion, should be signified by a more open-minded view of the world we live in. You had to open your mind to start listening to loud and abrasive music that goes so much against convention in the first place. Why start believing that the original form of that heavy music that sparked your interest in the first place is the only true form of that music?

It's all just Rock n Roll anyway.