Is Creative Emulation a Bad Thing?

 When I was returning home from a Christmas shopping adventure a couple of days ago, the Parallax album by the Japanese band THE RiCECOOKERS (That's how they write it) came up in my Wacky Racer's onboard music library.  It had been a while since I'd heard that album, and I noticed that my reaction to it had changed from the previous time.  I was actually enjoying it.

I bought the album when it first came out in 2013.  Songs by THE RiCECOOKERS had been used as the opening and ending themes for a Japanese TV series and subsequent run of movies called "SPEC".  I and my family had become fans of that series, so it only followed that we came to like THE RiCECOOKERS' music.  The final movie, which brought the story to an apocalyptic end, blew me away, and I left the theater with the end theme, the lead-off single from the Parallax album, ringing in my head.  I bought the album as soon as I was able, and I listened to it rather intensely for a while after that.

But then something happened.  THE RiCECOOKERS, though a Japanese band, had actually formed in Boston as all of the members had met at the Berklee College of Music.  Their style incorporated a number of stylistic influences, but unsurprisingly, 1990's alternative rock was the primary foundation.  I still wasn't all that familiar with the bulk of 90's music at the time, so it went past me.  However, a few years later my music "retro-education" began to focus on iconic 90's alternative rock, and eventually I made a discovery that was quite disappointing at the time.

A few years ago, as with this time, Parallax came up in my car's onboard library while I was out driving, and there was something that I noticed immediately:  "Hey, that song is Radiohead!  That one is Soundgarden, or at least Chris Cornell!  Radiohead again?  What's this, Mudhoney?  Now the Smashing Pumpkins, right down to imitating Bill Corgan's voice?"  Although the songs were original, and cool to boot, it was now obvious that the band had deliberately imitated the style and sound of iconic 90's bands.  That understanding made me feel both disappointed and annoyed, and I figured I didn't need to listen to that album anymore.

Stylistic emulation is nothing new here in the Land of the Rising Sun.  In fact, it's expected.  A LOT of popular artists over the years I've been here have been so blatant in their imitation that at times it has seemed almost comedic.  Some have taken well-known songs by the Beatles or Rolling Stones, for example, changed just a few notes, added their own lyrics, and topped the charts.  Historically, that has always irritated me.  But now I've come to realize that it may be a cultural thing.

In fact, when I first started becoming musically active here, playing clarinet in a community band, one of the first things I tended to be asked was, "Who is your favorite clarinetist?"  That question blindsided me, and when I answered that I didn't really have a favorite, I was met with confusion.  They would ask, "Then who is your role model?"  I would reply that I didn't really have one in particular, except perhaps my private instructor in my school days.  My "role model" was a combination of experience and various examples I'd heard over the years.  That was an answer that they found hard to comprehend.  It was generally assumed that everyone had a particular role model they tried to follow.  Obviously, it's the same in the rock genre.

Japanese artists I've come to like in recent years are really no different.  Superfly, especially in the beginning, modeled herself after Janis Joplin "without the problems".  Also, One OK Rock, who I've become rather a fan of recently, started out as a typical Japanese pop-punk band, but had their breakthrough when they started emulating the Foo Fighters and Linkin Park...and now they're emulating Queen.  The thing about both Superfly and One OK Rock, however, is that while they've based themselves on the stylistic foundation and vibe of their respective role models, their songs are original and quite good.  One could listen to a One OK Rock song off their 35xxxv album and think, "Hey, they sound kind of like Linkin Park," but no one would ever mistake them for Linkin Park.  The same is true of Superfly.  They emulate their role models to various extents, but with their own distinctive flavor.

And now I realize that THE RiCECOOKERS did the same thing.  So I suppose it makes more sense for me just to get off my high horse, shut the hell up, and enjoy the music.