Forget musical innovation, the best way for a band to dominate the charts is to recreate their one good idea over and over again

 

Ask the person on the street who they think is the greatest band in the world and they'll probably say Coldplay or the Killers. If they're a little more daring they might suggest AC/DC or Ramones. But all these bands have something in common: they have one song. Not literally, because they have the decency to give them different names – but they are all essentially reworking the same musical idea over and over again.

 

It's not unfair to say that certain bands have taken the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" maxim to heart and based entire careers on one good idea. Ramones, a band who understood what it meant to be a brand, are masters of this. Such was Johnny Ramone's unerring dedication to their visual and musical identity that he imposed strict codes, and any deviation from their sartorial and musical formula was strictly forbidden (which might explain Dee Dee Ramone's brief spell as tracksuit-wearing rapper Dee Dee King). Fortunately, the Ramones one song – you know, the one that begins "1,2,3,4!" – has no extended guitar solo and clocks in at around two minutes – is a belter.

 

The same goes for AC/DC, whose song about rock/rocking/rocking all night long has been stretched to a 35-year-long metaphor for sex. Just try substituting the word "rock" with "f***" and see what happens. Exactly. Nothing. The song remains exactly the same, but in the best possible way.

 

Because, ultimately, we like familiarity; we want to know what we're getting. It's all about familiar signs and signifiers lighting the way through a world of chaos. Marxist theorist Theodor Adorno summed it up when he observed: "The familiarity of a piece is a surrogate for the quality ascribed to it. To like it is almost the same thing as to recognise it."

 

There's a reason why Coldplay are the biggest band in the world and it has nothing to do with musical innovation or winning personalities. It's because of that song with the piano bit, the surging chorus and the message about you and me and life and stuff. The one you recognise.

 

This familiarity is something Oasis understand and turn to their advantage. When you see them play you are not having your expectations of what constitutes a performance challenged. You are either submitting to entry-level rock thrills or you are in your thirties and reliving your teens.

 

Just like a magician who first makes a hankie, then a rabbit, then a woman disappear, there are lots of other successful b®ands who have recreated the same trick over and over, or at least continually re-presented it in recognisable forms: The Killers, Status Quo, Iron Maiden, the Prodigy, the Fall, Motörhead. The list goes on.

 

In financial terms, it's possibly the best move a band can make, to write one amazing song and run with it. And so long as people keep buying it, or are too blinded by fanatical loyalty to notice otherwise, they won't stop.

 

 

Blog article from the Guardian

 

He makes some good points about bands basically reworking the same song over and over. They sometimes say that an artist has to progress or re-invent themselves to survive in the music business, but surely some artists do just turn out the same stuff under different titles.

Status Quo are the masters of the art with a name to match

The Quo were also the ones who came to mind when I read that :P Saying that, when they get it right it's brilliant, when they miss the mark it just feels like a poor knock-off of one of their better songs.

 

I'd disagree with some of the bands mentioned in that article though. The Killers, for example, you can't honestly listen to 'Somebody Told Me' followed by 'Human' and say they sound exactly the same. And The Prodigy? All sounding the same? They change every single album!!

 

 

hmmm..... i think most groups/acts have 'one sound', its what sells them, tbh i think a thread on groups/acts that have produced DIFFERENT sounds would be more apt...

I thought this thread was about Sandi Thom who is incidentally releasing "The best of Sandi Thom" soon. Unbelievable...and quite literally ONE SONG.

... westlife obviously, they have 1 song..

 

 

I thought this thread was about Sandi Thom who is incidentally releasing "The best of Sandi Thom" soon. Unbelievable...and quite literally ONE SONG.

 

Whaaaaa??? You have to be kidding.... How tf can SHE release a bloody "Best Of..." ffs......? :lol: :lol: Oh, mind you, I suppose the terminally bloody useless Andy Abrahams did as well......

 

Ahh that article says it all. Not that I find it a bad thing, but AC/DC are the "best"? (:lol:) offenders with this one!..

Whaaaaa??? You have to be kidding.... How tf can SHE release a bloody "Best Of..." ffs......? :lol: :lol: Oh, mind you, I suppose the terminally bloody useless Andy Abrahams did as well......

 

All profits go to the SNP probably (!). Only reason she even gets in the papers or invited to any events is cos Salmond keeps going on about her all the time. Wonder if that's cos she comes from Banff?

 

Basically an end-of-deal LP I'd say so we shouldn't be hearing any more from her.

The Quo were also the ones who came to mind when I read that :P Saying that, when they get it right it's brilliant, when they miss the mark it just feels like a poor knock-off of one of their better songs.

 

I'd disagree with some of the bands mentioned in that article though. The Killers, for example, you can't honestly listen to 'Somebody Told Me' followed by 'Human' and say they sound exactly the same.

 

You can't say that completely about Status Quo.

If you listen to Pictures Of Matchstick Men, Caroline, In My Chair, In The Army Now and Rockin' All Over The World. They are all totally different.

 

I would suggest Westlife and McFly also Rap/Hip Hop acts

Edited August 6, 200915 yr by Euro Music

You can't say that completely about Status Quo.

If you listen to Pictures Of Matchstick Men, Caroline, In My Chair, In The Army Now and Rockin' All Over The World. They are all totally different.

 

I would suggest Westlife and McFly.

 

...but quos 'purple patch' was all very sameish..

 

mc fly are no more guilty of 'sameish' songs then 99% of guitar based pop groups.

 

westlife though are the epitome of 'one trick ponydome'

I thought this thread was about Sandi Thom who is incidentally releasing "The best of Sandi Thom" soon. Unbelievable...and quite literally ONE SONG.

 

2 albums and 5 singles :o... Can't see how that's gonna work for a beast of :huh: Must say I do like her second album though :P

She had two albums? Good golly. Must have been a 3 album deal then and this is the contract-ender.

You can't say that completely about Status Quo.

If you listen to Pictures Of Matchstick Men, Caroline, In My Chair, In The Army Now and Rockin' All Over The World. They are all totally different.

 

I would suggest Westlife and McFly also Rap/Hip Hop acts

 

The reason alot of the songs you mention there sound different is because they werent written by Status Quo. In The Army Now, believe it or not was written by the guys from Falco (Rock Me Amadeus), Rockin All Over The World was written by John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival). The only time they had a genuinely different sound was in the 60's, during their early career when they had more of a phychedelic sound. During the 70's and 80's, they developed a more hard rock sound and all their stuff written by the band sounded more or less the same.