This awesome photo is from The Liverpool 4, Canada’s Beatles Band
When I was a kid, my Mom did all of our shopping at Woolco, Eatons or the Sears Bargain Centre. These department stores didn’t always carry the ‘name brands’ but they were functional and affordable (and, alas, all extinct today)
The record department was a little odd, though. Beside the hits of the day, like Charlie Pride, Neil Diamond and Trooper, was a long row of Greatest Hits compilations. These albums had all the top hits from the radio and were half the price of the other albums.
I begged my mom to buy me the record with my favourite hits but when I got it home, none of the songs sounded right. I re-read the cover and noticed the fine print: “original hits in the style of the original artists.”
Ugh. So disappointing.
There’s no problem learning a new skill by copying the masters. I learned watercolour painting by trying to copy the techniques of famous painters, for example.
But once you start creating your own work, it’s important to stop working ‘in the style of’ those you admire. It’s time to find your own voice and tell your own stories.
Sure, I want to write as clearly as Margo or as irreverently as Ash. I want to use colour like Aaron and have conversations like Marc. But with my own words, my own colours and my own take on the world.
Because when we connect it’s you being you and me being me. Original artists creating original hits together.