In this thread which asks whether men read Jane Austen - she is dismissed by some posters as “chick lit.” My response is that sure, in a way she does write chick lit - but the good kind. The fact that later writers don’t have the subtlety or skills Ms. Austen does isn’t her fault - but they seemed to have lifted parts of what worked in her books and delivered pale imitations.
In that post, I referenced Eddie Van Halen - amazing, technically-virtuous guitarist, one of THE most influential rock guitarists ever. But who did he influence? A bunch of dweedly-dweedly, masturbatory, Paganini-aping (in a bad way), hair-metal shredders, who have the skills but lack the artistry - the sheer rock and roll fun - that early EVH embodies.
So - what artist do you love that you fully realize has spawned the most drivel in their wake?
Carman Miranda. She’s absolutely wonderful, but all the impersonators made her seem heavyhanded and stupid. The real Carman knew she was being silly, and had a lot of fun with it. But since most people these days have only seen the impersonators, they get the wrong impression.
The Beatles. Oasis being the most notable offender, but there are countless others. One
Beatlesque song is always playing over the air at the local supermarket, and I always want
to yell up at the speaker, “No, you bozos are NOT the Beatles, and you never were and/or
will be. Give it up already.”
And there’s always Sir Paul’s own solo career, most of which could indeed be described as
“granny music”, as a certain John L once quipped.
And, of course, the first person he was a bad influence on was himself. Some of his stuff is really neat, and the rest of it *belongs *on the walls of a nail salon.
Any truly influential band, because the whole point of bad, derivative art is often that the followers only emulate the most superficial elements of the preceding band while missing out on the actual element that made the original so brilliant.
I’d nominate Sonic Youth; every follower just doesn’t get that SY’s effectiveness wasn’t just about the No Wave attitude (which cannot be emulated, as it’s specifically tied to a very particular moment in NYC socioeconomic and cultural history) and playing dissonant chords, regardless of what countless imitators have tried to do.
Jesus. Such a wise, loving man. Pity, since an all-too-large segment of his followers are idiotic haters.
ahem.
The Sugarhill Gang. I don’t think they were all that great, but they were first, and I am continually unimpressed with what followed.
[nitpick]It’s actually a myth that Cummings preferred his name uncapitalized. It was an invention of his publisher’s graphic designer; E. E. Cummings himself never professed such a preference.[/nitpick]
Not artist specifically, but I’d vote for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Wuxia wire-fu fantasy movies have been around forever, just never in the popular western media. CTHD sparked a flood of poorly performed wire stunts and martial arts in everything from TV to commercials to music videos.
It is now almost impossible to find a good old-fashioned tough-guy Any Which Way but Loose fight scene, everyone now has to spin-kick and wire-flip.