what if your musical idols hated your music?

[jomahu]

would it matter to you or no?

[MonetBass]

Nope. Who cares? Make music for yourself. If others like it, great. If not, then it's not their taste. So what. Doesn't matter who it is.

[HomeBrewTJ]

I'm sure they do anyway.

[mattq]

i really wouldn't be suprised to hear that my musical idols/influences didn't like the music i played. i think i've just already accepted it though. if not i think it would affect me

[Bard2dbone]

My old band had a different sound than what any of our friends expected. We each came from different musical backgrounds and didn't so much meet in the middle as collide there.

The biggest contrast was between me and the keyboard player. He was classically trained and into New Age stuff. I had started out as a bluesman, but had just gotten into Folk and World Music right before the band got together. The drummer and guitarist were brothers and both comparatively straight ahead rock players, but one was a Peart worshipper and the other tried hard to be the second coming of Keef.

So I'm pretty sure that if Neil Peart, Keith Richards, Jan Hammer, and Bakithi Kumalo had walked into a bar where we were playing, none of them would have recognized us as derivative of them.

Our stuff once got described to me as 'what would happen if Stevie Ray Vaughan joined Pink Floyd'. I loved the description but never could figure out how to arrive at that given our assorted separate sounds.

And I'm sad to notice that the stuff I do nowadays sounds a lot more country than I want it to.

[IanStephenson]

It's tempting (and comforting) to take music you love, and ascribe personal values to the person who created it. It's also totally bogus.

Your so called musical idols are actually just musicians who created music you idolise. It's THEIR WORK which you respect. They MAY be great guys too, and worthy of respect - if i ever meet them I'll be able to judge that for myself, but they may well be compete jerks.

Of course i'd like them to say some kind words about my playing. However it's been said in many other threads if YOU are going to comment on someone elses playing then find something postive/constructive to say (even if it's just love the colour of your bass!). I've seen bands that sucked, but i can always find something good to say, and maybe encourage them to develop that strength. If this hypothetical idol is such a great person and musician he should easily be able to identify what I ASPIRE to (even if i'm screwing it up), and help me reach it.

If all he can say is negative, and his critical abilities are so limited that he can't convey his opinions in a constructive way, then he's no hero. In short, I'd probably shrug it off...

Ian

[Joey3313]

They should, I hate it.

[rfclef]

If any of the guys I look up to liked the way I play, their judgement would be suspect...

[Valerus]

Originally Posted by Joey3313

They should, I hate it.

Kinda blunt about it, eh?

[*smb]

Originally Posted by jomahu

would it matter to you or no?

<pedant>"OR NOT"</pedant>
I'd obviously rather impress them than not, but I don't know if it'd be that important to me. I guess if I heard that they'd been listening to my music and liked it I'd be pretty pleased. Hmm.

[Fassa Albrecht]

I think that having idols in your respective instruments isn't just about sounding like them but learning from them in other ways- seeing how they construct a bassline, how they use a specific rig/amp/effect, how they fit together with the drummer.......otherwise we end up sounding like clones of them.
Seriously, I don't think I'd be playing half the stuff I play now if I stuck rigidly to the principles of say, Peter Hook for example. Nor would I play a 5er, play worship music, know how to read a stave......you get the idea.

Same with drums. Just cause I love Rush as composers and admire Neil Peart as a drummer, doesn't mean I'm gotta play like him.

[jady]

If they hated my music then they would obviously have very bad taste and cease to be one of my idols.