I'd rep you, but that would be so unoriginal. Besides, the damn thing won't let me.

originality is a continuum...name one band/composer/musical artist who doesn't have any point of reference as far as traceable influences...i haven't been able to think of one and i listen to alot of diverse music

That really depends what you mean by "point of reference". If you mean recognizable musical influence from other musicians, I would say Wesley Willis is pretty hard to peg. Certainly he was influenced by pop culture as a whole, but he didn't ever sound the slightest bit like anyone else I can think of.

Jandek is also pretty hard to trace any direct influences to. You could say "influened by the blues" or "influenced by folk music" but you won't hear a direct reference to a single other artist in his music.

Who knows, maybe some old minstrel wrote a song called "lady judith is a waif" over a simple progression of 5ths. But who the fuck really cares?

Being original is just part of being alive. Everyone is original or displays originality throughout their life. Their viewpoints, thoughts, perspectives and yes even art is original. I know its become very sexy to conceptualize or idealize originality as some others have already done, so I won't bother, frankly because I lack the talent to do so. But, I will say that no matter how much of a brain-dead, droned-out, clone of person one is or could be, at some point they have thought or done something original and unique even of its on the smallest of scales.

Far as music goes....who can really say,most really cool music seems original, until you inevitably hear another band that was doing something remarkably similar and perhaps better 10/20/30 yrs before. Then we get into influences and then we get into who started what and then we get into who did it better and I have not enough hard booze for this type of discussion.

i understand what you're saying, and what i'm saying is kind of hard to define. As far as wesley willis goes, repetitive keyboard styled rock and roll music was done by suicide before that. and of course, wesley doesn't necessarily sound like suicide (prob. never even heard suicide) but i just think of it as a continuum, an always evolving, but continuous set of ideas. never heard jandek, but i'll check it out.

This is where I said it depends what you meant by "point of reference". I can't fathom Wesley Willis being influenced by Suicide, and I don't even think they sound vaguely similar. However, I'm sure he wasn't the first person to sing out of tune over casio presets.

original combinations of things that exist, yes
from big obvious pieces to little bits
from conscious and intended blending, to unconscious experience and ideas influencing something, or just happening
everythings all there, put together in infinite ways

I agree with this. Just because something isn't original it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it all the same. Jandek might be considered original (I don't), but that doesn't mean he is all that good like people make him out to be. Most of what I've read about his parable concentrates about the myth, rather than the music itself. Isn't that telling us something? In fact I find that he is one the most overrated people ever, his songs often sounding vaguely interesting but lifeless.

Jandek isn't that great, but he's one of those that's more like a project than the usual rock thing of 'we just make some tunes, maaan'. There's nothing interesting about the Jandek myth, but I find there's something interesting in his unrelenting parity.

Originality is a bit of a bunkem term in music, to my ears. I like a lot of country, and that's been using the same 3 chords for getting on 60 years now. It's more important to listen to stuff that I think is good (and is therefore absolutely good because I AM ALWAY RIGHT) than it is to listen to something strikingly 'original'.

Sorry to weigh in with more banal say-nothing-isms. It's a slow Saturday here.

oringinality exists because we can not be sure the human race has exhausted every single aspect of life and form so therefore it has to exist because we cant prove otherwise......

I love Jandek's music first and foremost. The myth is cool, it's an ingenious marketing experiment for sure. So are various things Negativland did, but I like some of their other music considerably more than what's associated with U2 or Helter Stupid. Jandek put on one of the top 5 or 10 shows I've ever seen, up there with Sonic Youth in '85, Painkiller, and Rocket from the Tombs. I'd agree that the myth has as much to do with the blurry pictures and lack of a bio as the music itself, but I see nothing wrong with an artist creating an (doh, there's that word) original aesthetic. Meanwhile, I love the music. It's a gut level thing I couldn't begin to explain, and I don't really care if other people don't like him. It's not like I could defend his playing musically or anything (at least not on record, live he was so spot on with these seasoned improvisors behind him who'd never played with him before and had the whole room transfixed for two hours straight).

the mighty prophets coltrane,tolstoy and vonnegut exhausted all worthwile possibilities

Really? You actually want to say that out loud, in public?

originality

some person would have claimed the name, so yes
http://www.ilike.com/artist/Originality

some business or legal company would have claimed this sequence of letters spelling originality, so no, it isn't even free to use.

catching up with time on one of those posts, continually adding to what's already there. Always those same molecules, same social forces.
Nah, originality somewhere hidden in a volcano or rare new insect, not for us.

a little creativity is what we should be satisfied with

sure, i'll even repost it

irony is a dead scene

I think about that kid out driving histrctor and somehow ASSOCIATED THE ROWS OF CROPS WITH THE ROWS OF PIXEL IN A tv

I dont think there has ever been an "original" thought in the history of mankind. Everything is just a manipulation of an already pre-existing idea. Houses now replace what was once trees or caves for shelter. Birds are the original musicians. Art is just visual observation. Cavemen painted stories.

Innovation and originality are completely different.