on accidental originality

My sister once saw Doug Martsch play a solo show at which he did a cover of Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want. She said that hearing him sing that song made her realize that Morrissey was a big influence on Martsch vocally. That the way he sang a Smiths song made her see that his way of singing on his own songs was almost indistinguishable from the way he sounded imitating Morrissey. But no one could have guessed without this clue, because Martsch's voice is so utterly different.

This is a perfect example of something that I think we all underestimate when accounting for what music sounds like: imperfect imitations. It takes just the right confluence of factors, and a good deal of certain sorts of talent, to be an effective hack. But trying to do something somebody else does and having it come out different than what you intended can lead to originality. If you mangle your influences so exceedingly that they are no longer recognizable, you might seem like you have this great unique voice.

It's not that I don't think true, intentional originality exists. But so many new and interesting things come out of people trying to be like their heroes and not succeeding. I guess the trick is knowing when to keep working on emulating something and when the failed approximation has become its own valuable thing that you should pursue for its own sake, or at least preserve in its current state.