The Influencers - Springsteen

Once upon a time, music was incredibly tribal…once you picked a tribe, you had to conform to serious and rigid rules…whatever the prevailing dogma dictated was your reality…snobbery abounded….

For example, in the 70s, 80s, and well into the 90s, rock was divided into two camps…on one side were the mainstream rockers, fans of the artists that occupied most of the attention: radio airplay, record sales, concert tickets…they were on top of the Rock’n’Roll zeitgeist… 

On the other were the alterative kids…they were the outsiders, the weirdos, the misfits—and they were very happy with their position…alt-rockers were content with their own musical universe…

But here’s the thing: during this period, these two tribes were locked in a cold war…it was a war of musical ideology, musical outlook, and musical aspirations…and woe to any tribe member who tried to change tribes…you might as well try to take a stroll across the DMZ between North and South Korea…things could be that rigid…

And there was more…if you were a mainstream rock fan, you couldn’t admit to your fellow tribe members that you liked music from the other side…same thing if you were an alt-rocker…to admit that you liked Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, or Van Halen was nothing short of heresy…

I recall one time when Billy Corgan admitted that some of the Smashing Pumpkins sound was influenced by Judas Priest…shock and horror!...treason!...if social media had been around back then, he would have been trolled to death—even though if you listened to the pumpkins, you could hear that kind of metal influence coming through…it just didn’t make sense…

Today, though, those rigid tribal groups have broken down…we have entered an era when we’re very ecumenical about music…more and more, the prevailing philosophy is “respect all music, listen to what you want”…

This is healthy because it opens up new vistas for music—for listening andfor influences when it comes to making new music…

Here…let me show you what I mean…