The Double Edge of Musical Evolution

Creativity in music is praised, yet change is often met with division, derision and dissent from the fan base. We want our favourite bands and artists to show growth, creativity, and evolve as artists; just please don't do it too much or too fast, thank you.

One has to question why this double standard exists in the first place. Why do we tell our musicians to evolve, and then get self-righteous when they do exactly what we demanded? We want to have our cake and eat it, too, but heaven forbid someone catch us with the fork in our mouths enjoying it.

Madonna, for example, has made it her raison d'être to be as forward thinking and ever-changing as possible with her persona and her musical style. She has been largely successful at doing that over the years, rising above a bunch of '80s female singer has-beens to become the self-styled Queen of Pop throughout much of her 25-year-plus career. Many would say that Madonna has lost the edge she once had (I would argue she has not been truly controversial without being clichéd since the early '90s), but one has to admit that for the most part she has caused, not ridden, the wave of creativity (with the Ray of Light, Music and Confessions on a Dance Floor albums in particular).

David Bowie is another artist who was highly creative in his heyday, endlessly creating and re-creating his image, both visually and musically, even going so far as to develop an entirely new stage persona that he would kill off -- thematically, on the Ziggy Stardust album, as well as literally, when he completely abandoned the persona after promotion for Stardust had been completed.

Nonetheless, Bowie's chameleon-like transitions do not begin or end with Ziggy Stardust. He has constantly adapted his image and sound over the years, tackling almost all mainstream genres from pop and dance to glam rock and R&B. Much of what Bowie was all about through the late '60s and the '70s had a direct influence on the music and look of the New Wave movement in the '80s, as well as the New Wave revival that has been surging since 2000.

But there's another side to that coin -- one where the change does not go down well with the fan base. I know I was not the only person to raise an eyebrow when Elton John suggested he would like to do a rap record. I have a hard time giving Caucasian males any credibility in the rap genre, let alone Sir Elton John. Thankfully, what Elton meant by record was a single track, and that song, "2 Man Show," featured John's vocals for Timbaland's Shock Value album. Also thankfully, his few vocals are not in the form of a rap, and his biggest contribution seems to be his piano playing for the track. The music community dodged a big bullet with that one.

The Smashing Pumpkins are another great example of how the change was not as well received as had been anticipated. After the massive success of their double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the band took a more goth look to their style, and a more electronic approach to their music with the follow-up, Adore. Adore was by no means a bad album, but perhaps the new look of the band was too much, too fast.

Nevertheless, that was not the death knell. Adore sold moderately well (though well below expectations after the success of Mellon Collie); it was the next album, Machina/The Machines of God, that did the Smashing Pumpkins in. (Well, that and the unchecked ego of lead singer Billy Corgan). This album went in yet another direction musically, and it not only alienated a lot of fans -- it was definitely a harder-edged sound than the band had done on a studio album before -- but the music-listening audience as a whole was changing as well. Teenagers at the beginning of the '90s were listening to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the Smashing Pumpkins; but the end of the '90s was dominated by boy bands, Britney Spears, and the ever-growing hip-hop genre. The Smashing Pumpkins not only seemed to change too often, but they did not follow the direction that commercial music in general appeared to be going. As a result, their seven-year hiatus began in 2000.

Regardless of how well an evolution in music or style is received by a particular fan base, there are inevitably some that are not accepted at all. Sometimes it's a lack of understanding from the fans, or a concept is perhaps too cerebral, while other times the change done by the artist or band is so radical that it ends up alienating the fans. In spite of the outcome -- or perhaps because of it -- music is no different from fashion or any of the other arts; change, whether we like it or not, becomes inevitable.

Related:

Toxic Barbie Girls and No More Mr. Nice Guys - Change and Stasis in the Lives of Popular Musicians

The Musician's Masquerade

Half Dozen of the Other: Todd Haynes' I'm Not There

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

Email Name		Title Comment smaller | bigger
		I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage. Write the displayed characters Add Comment