17. Clares thought that music today is a mix of what has gone before is the same as a classic argument for post modernism in music voiced by one of my tutors at college. He felt all things had been done musically and bands these days were derived from earlier forms. It is certainly true that bands when they are being categorised into genres are usually described in terms of previous genres – the argument being that while this was true to a lesser extent in the 60s and earlier – with the 70s and especially from punk onwards, music was very much derived from earlier music types to a far greater extent. Its kinda difficult for me to agree or disagree with this as I wasn’t born then – but I do feel that surely music must have always been influenced and derived from earlier forms.

I really dont like the argument that everything has been done musically before – it may well be true, but it seems so defeatist. How are we to know what future generations will produce – their lives may be so different from ours that their influences could produce wildly different types of music. I may be being naively hopeful though.