who are your influences
 

theres probably a thread like this already, in fact i probably made it but i can't be arsed to find it

title is self explanatory

mostly outerspacey stuff. whether its lyrics or music.

hawkwind (number one always)
pink floyd
david bowie
syd barrett
bob dylan
my bloody valentine
bauhaus
cocteau twins
king crimson



so answer the question,.


edit: lol i did make it

and i lied about not being influenced by other musicians, that or i was particularly pissed off about something when i made it
http://sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=20178

Laughing Clowns (saxophones)
Ed Kuepper
Sonic Youth (alternate tunings)
The Verlaines
Black Metal (Darkthrone, Mayhem, Emperor)(this is probably only temporary though)
Einstuerzende Neubauten (percussion)

captain beefheart
sun ra
iannis xenakis
albert ayler
john fahey
erik dolphy
billy childish
boredoms
black flag
80s metallica
sonic youth
eric dolphy
weasel walter
james chance
can
alan licht
bert jansch
derek bailey
steve albini
the fall
early napalm death

Laurie Anderson, Pink Floyd, Ono & Lennon, Sonic Youth, my father.

Tom Waits
Willy Mason
Beck (pre-Sea Change)
Conor Oberst + Bright Eyes

All are country or blues styled, which is just what I grew up with and it feels like a 'home' music for me, so it's easy to write music under the influence of those artists. Obviously Tom Waits is really far out into his jazz and industrial stuff, Beck is into his Hip Pop, Willy Mason and Conor Oberst both have more pop sensibilities in their songs. It all comes out, I guess.

I've never tried writing anything other than country / blues / pop. I've messed about with noise but I don't think I'm approaching it from the right angle, people are too nazi with it so I'll just let it be.

+/-, .., 1.6 band, 16 bitch pile-up, 1905, 1-speed bike, 7 year rabbit cycle, 25 suaves, 31 knots, 90 day men, 400 blows, a day in black and white, a handful of dust, a luna red, a minor forest, a problem of alarming dimensions, a silver mt. zion, a spectre is haunting europe, a trillion barnacle lapse, aarktica, aaron dilloway, ac newman, accelera deck, acetone, aceyalone, acid mothers temple, aereogramme, a-frames, agitation free, agoraphobic nosebleed, AIDS wolf, air conditioning, airport girl, aislers set, aix em klemm, akarso, akimbo, alan licht, albert ayler, alec empire, amanda woodward, amber inn, american analog set, american football, amm, amp, and you will know us by the trail of dead, angel hair, angela messina, anodyne, anti-ear, antioch arrow, aphex twin, apples in stereo, appleseed cast, ar kane, arab on radar, arca, archer prewitt, armitage shanks, armpit, arovane, art ensemble of chicago, arthur doyle, as dead as dreams, ash, ash ra tempel, asha vida, ashley park, ashtray navigations, assfactor 4, asteroid .4, asterisk, at the drive-in, athletic automaton, ativin, atombombpocketknife, autechre, azita youssefi, azure ray, backstabbers inc., band of bees, bardo pond, bark psychosis, bastard noise, battles, bauhaus, beachwood sparks, bearsuit, beauty pill, beck, bedhead, behold the arctapus, belle & sebastian, bellini, bellmer dolls, berg sans nipple, biblical proof of ufos, big black, big business, big star, biosphere, birchville cat motel, bjork, black cross, black dice, black eyes, black forest/black sea, black heart procession, black moth super rainbow, black ox orkestar, black rebel motorcycle club, blackout beach, blonde redhead, blood brothers, blur, botch, bowery electric, boy's life, boyracer, braid, brainbombs, brainiac, brass knuckles for tough guys, bread and circuits, breadwinner, breather resist, brian eno, brian jonestown massacre, broadcast, broken social scene, broken spindles, bucket full of teeth, bugskull, built to spill, burning star core, burmese, burning witch, burnt by the sun, business lady, by the end of tonight, c average, cabaret voltaire, caesura, califone, calla, calvary, camping, can, can't, cannibal ox, capitol city dusters, cap'n jazz, carissa's wierd, caroliner, cat on form, cat power, catherine wheel, cattle decapitation, caustic resin, cave-in, cavity, cerberus shoal, cccc, chapterhouse, charalambides, charles bronson, charles mingus, chavez, cheer-accident, cheetah chrome motherfuckers, cheval de frise, child readers, chisel, chris brokaw, christie front drive, christmas decorations, chromatics, cibo matto, circle jerks, circle of dead children, city of caterpillar, claire voyant, climax golden twins, clinic, clouddead, coachwhips, coalesce, cobra high, cobra kai, cock esp, cocorosie, cock esp, cocteau twins, codeine, colossamite, combatwoundedveteran, come, comets on fire, converge, couch, coughs, crack: we are rock, cranes, crash normal, crass, cream abdul babar, crimson curse, crispy ambulance, crossed out, cub, cul de sac, cunaxa, cupid car club, current, curse of the birthmark, curse of the golden vampire, curtains, curve, cynthia dall, d yellow swans, damon & naomi, dance disaster movement, dandy warhols, das oath, daughters, david bowie, dazzling killmen, dead c, dead guy, dead letters spell out dead words, dead machines, dead meadow, dead raven choir, death cab for cutie, death from above, death in june, death of marat, death sentence: panda!, deathprod, deathray davies, decahedron, deerhoof, deftones, del, deltron 3030, denali, depeche mode, destroy all monsters, destroyer, devendra banhart, devics, devillock, devo, dianogah, die monitr batss, die princess die, dillinger escape plan, dinosaur jr, dirt merchants, dirty three, disco inferno, discordance axis, dismemberment plan, dj krush, dj shadow, do & make & say & think, doctor nerve, doldrums, don caballero, donovan, dosage and usage, double leopards, doves, dr. doom, dr. octagon, dresden dolls, dressy bessy, drive like jehu, dropdead, drowningman, dysrhythmia, earlimart, early day miners, earth, echoboy, edith piaf, el da sensai, el guapo, elastica, electric company, electric wizard, elf power, eligh, ellen allien, elliott, elvis costello, embrace, emil beaulieau, emil hagstrom, empress, enablers, end on end, engine down, engine kid, enon, entrance, envy, erase errata, esg, esoteric, espers, euphone, even as we speak, examination of the..., ex-girl, exhaust, ex-models, experimental audio research, experimental dental school, explosions in the sky, eyehategod, f.x. randomiz, failure, faith and the muse, fall time, famous boating party, far, farmers manual, faun fables, faust, fennesz, fenn'oberg, festival of dead deer, fiend (rock), fiona apple, fin fang foom, fire show, fires were shot, fisticuffs bluff, five way mirror, floor, flowchart, fly pan am, flying saucer attack, foehn, fog, folksongs for the afterlife, for carnation, for stars, former members of alfonsin, forstella ford, four hundred years, four tet, franz ferdinand, franz schubert, freestyle fellowship, fridge, friends of dean martinez, frodus, from ashes rise, fuck, fuck...i'm dead, fudge tunnel, fuel (emo-core, not alt-rock), fugazi, funeral diner, fursaxa, fuxa, gang gang dance, gang of four, gang wizard, ganger, gas, gastr del sol, get hustle, ghost (japanese), ghosts & vodka, giddy motors, girlfrendo, girls against boys, glass candy & the shattered theatre, go betweens, go sailor, god is my co-pilot, godflesh, godheadsilo, godspeed you black emperor, godzik pink, gogogoairheart, goldfrapp, government alpha, grace period, grand unified theory, grandaddy, gravitar, green milk from the planet orange, greg davis, grey daturas, grey wolves, growing, guilty connector, guyana punch line, gravediggaz, haco, haiku d'etat, haifax pier, hair police, hala strana, halloween alaska, halo benders, hangedup, harkonen, harriet the spy, harry nilsson, hash jar tempo, heavy vegetable, hella, hepatitus youth, heroin, herr k, hewhocorrupts, hieroglyphics, high rise, higher intelligence agency, hint hint, his hero is gone, hive mind, holly golightly, holy molar, homesick for space, honeywell, honor role, hookers, hot cross, hot hot heat, hot snakes, house of low culture, hurl, hymie's basement, i am kloot, i am the world trade center, i hate myself, i love you but i've chosen darkness, infomatik, i, robot, ian dury, iceburn, icewater scandal, icy demons, ida, idle tigers, idlewild, ifihadahifi, ignition, ikara colt, ill bill, ilya, imitation electric piano, impossible shapes, indian jewelry, indian summer, interpol, isan, isis, isotope 217, ivy, jackie-o-motherfucker, jaga jazzist, jan jelinek, jandek, japanther, jedi mind tricks, jejune, jerome's dream, jeru the damaja, jessamine, jessica bailiff, jim o'rourke, joan of arc, joanna newsom, john cale, john coltrane, john henry west, john wiese, john zorn, jonathan fire*eater, joseph arthur, joshua fit for battle, joy division, joy zipper, jr ewing, juana molina, jucifer, julia, june of 44, juno, juno reactor, j-zone, kaito (uk), kaos pilot, karate, karp, kate bush, kayo dot, kc accidental, keelhaul, keith whitman fullerton & hrvatski, kerosene 454, kevin drumm, khanate, kid kilowatt, kill me tomorrow, kill sadie, killdozer, killowatthours, king biscuit time, king crimson, kingsbury manx, kinski, kiss it goodbye, kiyoshi izumi, knapsack, knut, kraftwerk, kylesa, lab partners, labradford, laddio bolocko, ladybug transistor, ladyton, lake of dracula, lali puna, landing, landspeedrecord!, lapse, lasse marhaug, lcd soundsystem, le shok, lee hazlewood, lee ranaldo, lenola, les fleur de lys, les savy fav, liars, lickgoldensky, life and times, lift to experience, light the fuse and run, lightning bolt, liquid liquid, loincloth, loop, loren mazzacane connors, loscil, lotus eaters, love and rockets, love as laughter, love like electrocution..., loveliescrushing, low, low skies, LSD-march, l'spaerow, lucero, lull, lumen, lustre king, lycia, lydia lunch, lync, lynx, macrocosmica, made in mexico, magazine, magic magicians, magik markers, magnet, magnog, majority rule, mammal, man is the bastard, mara'akate, marissa nadler, marvin gaye, masonna, massive attack, masters of the hemisphere, mates of state, matmos, mc5, mclusky, meanwhile, back in communist russia, medicine, melt banana, melvins, men of porn, mendoza line, mens recovery project, mercury program, metalux, mf doom, mf grimm, microstoria, mikaela's fiend, mike shiflett, milemarker, miles davis, mindflayer, ministry, minor threat, minus the bear, mirah, miranda sex garden, miss bliss, missouri loves company, mk ultra, mobb deep, modest mouse, mong hang, mogwai, mohinder, mono (japanese), monolake, monster dudes, morphine, morrissey (though the new stuff sucks), moss icon, mouse on mars, mouthus, moving units, mr. lif, msbr, ms. john soda, mukilteo fairies, murder city devils, muse, my bloody valentine, my cat is an alien, my lai, my morning jacket, mystery girls, naked city, namelessnumberheadman, nanang tatang, nancy sinatra, nation of ulysses, navio forge, nebula, necronomitron, need new body, neil perry, neko case, nels cline, neon hunk, neon king kong, neurosis, neutral milk hotel, neutrino, new brutalism, new order, new pornographers, new wet kojak, nick cave, nick drake, nico, nine inch nails,

nineironspitfire, no doctors, no knife, no rest for the dead, no-neck blues band, non-phixion, nora, north of america, noxagt, numbers, nurse with wound, oasis, ocean colour scene, ocs (orinoka crash suite), of, of montreal, of sinking ships, off minor, old 97s, old man gloom, olivia tremor control, omoide hatoba, oneida, one last wish, ooioo, ooo, opal, o'rang, orchid, organ!, orthrelm, oswego, otis redding, out hud, outkast, outrageous cherry, ova!, oval, owen (the kinsella's), oxbow, oxes,p:ano,pan american, pan sonic, panopoly academy..., panicsville, panthers, part chimp, harry partch, parts and labor, party of helicopters, pavement, paul newman, peanut butter wolf, pearls before swine, pele, pelican, pere ubu, pg. 99, philip glass, pia fraus, piano magic, pig destroyer, pinback, pinebender, pink and brown, pipes you see pipes you don't, pixies, pj harvey, planes mistaken for stars, please inform the captain this is a hijack, pleasure forever, polvo, polysics, popol vuh, popular shapes, portishead, pram, preston school of industry, primal scream, mark prindle, prodigy, prurient, psychic tv, public image limited, pullman, pulse programming, q and not u, quickspace, racebannon, radio vago, radiohead, raekwon, rainer maria, ramallah, rasputina, red eyed legends, red house painters, red light sting, red roses for a blue lady, red stars theory, redd kross, refused, rem, replikants, reversal of man, richard youngs, ride, rites of spring, roadside monument, robot ate me, rocketship, rodan, rollerskate skinny, rolling stones, rome, rothko, roxanne jean polise, ruins, ruinhorse, rumah sakit, rye coalition, saetia, sam prekop, satisfact, scissor shock, scorces, sea of tombs, seam, secret chiefs 3, secret stars, servotron, set fire to flames, sex positions, sexy prison, shack, shannon wright, shellac, shesus, shimmer kids underpop association, shipping news, shoplifting, shudder to think, sicbay, sightings, sigur ros, silver apples, singapore sling, sissy spacek, six finger satellite, sixes, skeleton key, skullflower, slant 6, slaves, sleater-kinney, sleep, sleepytime trio, sleetmute nightmute, slowdive, smart went crazy, smashing pumpkins, smegma, so, sole, solex, some girls (not the juliana hatfield one), something about vampires and sluts, sonic youth, sonora pine, spacemen 3, spanakorzo, sparklehorse, spires that in the sunset rise, spiritualized, spoon, spykes, stars of the lid, stereobate, stereolab, sterling, storm & stress, subarachnoid space, subpoena the past, subtonix, suffering and the hideous thieves, suicide, sun kil moon, sun ra, sunn o))), sunny day real estate, super furry animals, superchunk, surface of eceyon, swans, swarming hordes, swearing at motorists, sweep the leg johnny, swing kids, swollen members, systems officer, t rex, taiwan deth!, tan as fuck, tara jane o'neil, taurpis tula, teenage fanclub, teenage jesus and the jerks, teeth of the lions rule the divine, telescopes, television, television personalities, ten grand, tenfold, the 6ths, the advantage, the animal collective, the animals, the apes, the assistant, the beatles, the beta band, the birthday party, the blow, the boo radleys, the boredoms, the cancer conspiracy, the casionauts, the casket lottery, the casual dots, the chinese stars, the cherry point, the convocation of..., the coughs, the cows, the cure, the dead science, the doors, the dutch flat, the effigies, the epoxies, the faint, the faith healers, the fall, the field mice, the fiery furnaces, the flying uttenbachers, the fucking champs, the grouch, the hal al shedad, the hold steady, the homosexuals, the hospitals, the house of love, the intelligence, the jam, the jesus and mary chain, the jesus lizard, the kinks, the jim yoshii pile-up, the kodan armada, the lilys, the locust, the make-up, the mars volta, the microphones, the minus story, the neon philharmonic, the new year, the pAper chAse, the plot to blow up the eiffel tower, the posies, the race, the raincoats, the red scare, the replacements, the rum diary, the russian futurists, the saddest landscape, the seawhores, the secret machines, the sex pistols, the shins, the skaters, the sick lipstick, the slits, the small faces, the smiths, the sonics, the speaking canaries, the starlight mints, the state secedes, the stranglers, the strokes, the swirlies, the third eye foundation, the timeout drawer, the usaisamonster, the van pelt, the vaselines, the velvet teen, the velvet underground, the vermicious knid, the vss, the walkmen, the wannadies, the warmers, the who, the wrens, the yardbirds, thelonious monk, themselves, these arms are snakes, they came from the stars, i saw them, thinking fellers union local #282, thirstin howl iii, this heat, this moment in black history, three mile pilot, threnody ensemble, throbbing gristle, thrones, thuja, thunderbirds are now!, tiger trap, tight bros from way back when, tir na nog, to rococo rot, tom waits, tomorrowland, tone language, tool, tortoise, total shutdown, tower recordings, tracy and the plastics, trans am, transient waves, transistor transistor, trespassers william, tristeza, tsunami, tullycraft, tv on the radio, twelve hour turn, u can unlearn guitar, ufofu, ugly cassanova, unicorn, union of uranus, universal indians, unrest, unsane, unwed sailor, unwound, us maple, usurp synapse, vaz, velocity girl, velvet underground, venetian snares, versus, vertonen, verve, vibracathedral orchestra, victory at sea, viki, violent femmes, virgin mega whore, virgin-whore complex, vitreous humor, volta do mar, voyager one, waifle, we ragazzi, weezer, weights and measures, weird war, wet confetti, whitehouse, white magic, white stripes, white winged moth, why?, will oldham and related projects, windsor for the derby, windy & carl, wipes, wire, witch hazel sound, witchcraft by a picture, wives, wolf eyes, wolves, woodbine, wooden wand & the vanishing voice, word salad, world's end girlfriend, wrangler brutes, xbxrx, xiu xiu, yage, yaphet kotto, yeah yeah yeahs, year future, yellow6, yes, yoko ono, yo la tengo, you & i, young and sexy, young ginns, yowie, zephyrs, zip code rapists, zoviet france

but mainly:
beefheart
boredoms
fahey
the fall
sun city girls
thinking fellers union local # 282

well done

did you type all that out?
in fucking alphabetical order for christ's sake.
issues.

Yeah, I somehow managed to type all that out in the 30 seconds between me seeing this thread and me responding to it.

This thread always riles me for two reasons: first, people will claim to be influenced by Iannis Xenakis. You're not. You may enjoy him, but the odds of you sounding anything like Xenakis, or replicating a small portion of what he does, are miniscule.

The second irritation is the lists of everything that someone listens to, which no-one's going to read.

I'm fucking rotten hungover, so feel free to ignore me.

Ooh, someone's playing organ downstairs, maybe I should go listen...

Yeah, but my list of "everything" is a complicated way of saying "everything influences me". Also, it was kind of a joke, which is why I listed my main influences at the bottom.

I've considered this question a bit in the past and the answers I always come up with are either nobody or every musician I enjoy listening to. Both are true.

As to the philosophy of music, Mike Watt and John Fahey are notable names.

yes.

King Crimson
Sonic Youth
and any other of my favourites!

The forests in winter

The collective memories of my forefathers

Wotan

Historical re-enactment groups

When I've been trying to write "rock" songs over the last few months: Replacements, Wipers, The Clean, Rolling Stones (early 60's), Bee Thousand era Guided By Voices, Adolescents, Adverts, Ramones, Buzzcocks, early GG Allin, Royal Trux and Big Star.

With more electronic/improvised or experimental stuff:
Terry Riley, Aaron Dilloway, Alvin Lucier, Demons, Wold, Blues Control, Jazkamer (Eat Shit album), Suicide, Silver Apples, Taj Mahal Travellers, Whitehouse.

As far as guitar style and instrumentation,
Blonde Redhead
Scott Cortez
Shields/Butcher
Moore/Ranaldo
and basically every shoegaze band I've ever heard

Lyrical:
don't deal much with lyrics, but I still draw a lot from shoegaze.

he makes me want to create music, so he influences me, whether i want to sound like him is a non issue. so please, respectfully, fuck off.

i always wanted to make album of velvet undergound's white light white heat meet sonic youth's dirty.

Xenakis has entirely the opposite effect in me, in honesty. That he can create such an awesome wreck makes my efforts seem paltry. I'm generally more influenced to create by terrible music than by good music.

influence/inspiration, semantics, blablabla, can't be bothered to make point properly.

Whatever I might think my influences are, listening back to a tape of some guitar tracks I just did, the creative shadow that looms largest is clearly The Shaggs.

everything i like and everything i don't like.

Sonic Youth
Velvet Underground, NO WAVE bands (d.n.a, mars, the teenage jesus, live skull, the contortions...) ramones, clash,
sex pistols, nirvana, pavement, glenn branca...all freak guitars in the world...

einsturzende neubauten
the first sonic youth ep (mainly for burning spear)
black flag
cabaret voltaire
60's french pop
neu!
chrome
flipper

Yeah. Ever hear something and go, "Man, that sucks. I'm NEVER gonna do that?" Bam. You've been influenced.

Glice, I love ya. We should make sweet music together. And by "sweet music", I mean music, not sex.

My influences? Whitehouse Whitehouse White Whitehouse Whithouse The Ex Whitehouse and more Whitehouse. Innit.

You do get your money's worth out of your Whitehouse card, dontcha?

And Mr Rail: there is absolutely nothing wrong with being influenced by the Shaggs, except the fact that no-one can ever mimic them without being unmitigated turd. That's music law #237, or 'the Shaggs' exemption clause'.

is this thread aimed at musicians?

if it's the case then :

Sy, Pavement, Sebadoh, Pixies, the Ex, Shellac, BRH.

These are just the obvious.

you forgot male rape group, libertarian recordings and consumer electronics.

uhh also sutcliffe jü...sorry no!!! i don't want your platinum fan club card to be revoked.

What I posted then still stands (though off the top of my head I'd add my son - who wasn't around yet then, Alastair Reynolds, William Gibson, Cory Doctorow & Boing Boing, China Mieville, Hawkwind, Daniel Menche, and making a living doing mediation):

LSD & THC (the former not in decades, but enough to last four lifetimes; the latter rarely these days but ditto)
Sonic Youth
Sun Ra
John Cage
Brian Eno
Zeb Andrews (a photographer friend both on Flickr and in my neighborhood, who has taught me many things through his photostream)
Derrick Tyson (another Flickr friend, though this one's in Georgia and we haven't met in person)
Phillip K. Dick
H.P. Lovecraft
Michael Moorcock
Fellini
being an only child
Salvador Dali (though I hope I never do art that cops his style0
Doctor Who
W.S. Burroughs (mostly the Naked Lunch)
iced tea
first two original Planet of the Apes movies
The Point
science fiction literature in general
The Fluxists
The Seattle music scene before it got called "grunge"
Negativland
musique concrete
Sun City Girls
comic books (though I haven't read or collected any in years and no longer own any)
Gertrude Stein
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Bowie/Reed/Iggy
role-playing games (though I kicked that habit completely decades ago)
photocopiers (I worked at Kinkos for 8 years and my biggest flyer art days predate even that)
Holga
computers (most specifically Macs, but both major platforms, and Phostoshop increasingly influences my art)
the quest for pussy
the frustration of creating music that made it less likely I would get any
radio
djing
the Olympia music scene circa end of '90s start of '00s
the Olympia bar scene of the same period
Please Kill Me
the early '90s zine scene
Hundertwasser
cats
Jackson Pollock
rain
I-5
my wife and her art
the Olympia Experimental Music Festival (which I started, but all the acts through the years have been hugely influential)
Amy Denio
Crank Sturgeon
Noggin (RIP Michael)
driving (especially influential to my photography)
Charles Peterson
the rest of the Dead Air Fresheners
Chuck Swaim
The Screamers
Suicide
Patti Smith
Ken Kesey
Ornette Coleman
The Dadists
message boards
Flipside magazine in the early '90s
The Wire
Wired
Wire
Melvins
Stanislaw Lem
digital cameras
strip clubs
never having left the North American continent
making a living as a mediator
Hinduism
Deism
Quakers/Friends
growing up without religion
Einsturzende Neubauten
Legendary Pink Dots/Edward Ka-Spel
The Orb
Beta-lactam Ring Records
The Boredoms
boredom
Portland
The PDX (Portland) Flickr Group
KAOS
KPSU
The Evergreen State College
Brian Cloudhopper (this wacked out Bellingham hippie/activist in the '80s)
The Seattle Peace Heathens
Harry Partch
Stanley Kubrick
Autechre
The Halfler Trio
softcore porn
The Soft Boys
silence

Wow, I must have been holding all that in by refusing to create a personal My Space profile. I feel much better now.

:D:D;)

The Male Rape Group track (On to 83) is a seriously great and fucked up piece of racket. Also of note: the first recorded Consumer Electronics gig (Public Attack 3?), at Philip Best's school when he was 14 ("Go on, fucking clap!")

As I said to you when you were last in Lahndahn, by the word "rubbish" in the dictionary, there's a picture of me holding up a copy of Whitehouse's "New Britain" LP, and smiling like an arse.

Me: The Whitehouse joker card for the win.
Everyone else here: Shut it, Smelly.

Not just a million bands for sure. I wouldn't see the point of giving records the sole supremacy in being something influential on a person in general, simply because they're not.

Jeff Buckley
Sonic Youth
Nine Inch Nails
Bach
The Beatles (lame, but I'm being honest)
Radiohead
Queen Adreena
Alice in Chains

And folk in general, but I don't know who I got that from.

i forgot PIL and early half japanese

and a shitload of non musical influences.

One thing that has influenced me a lot in my older age is going on holiday and actually engaging with the locals, as opposed to being "fuckwit on tour". It's made me think a lot about, y'know, stuff.

I know what you mean. But remember: while to you, mixing with the locals is a liberating experience, to the locals you're still a "fuckwit on tour".

Oh aye, I don't go in for this "I bonded so well with the locals, man" gap-year style tosh.