Feature: Where Do Legends Come From?
In 1954, Elvis Presley ad-libbed ‘That’s Alright’ in Sun studios, making Beethoven and Tchaikovsky roll in their graves. In 1965, Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk convention, causing Pete Seeger to lose his rag and a generation of beardy folk fans to get their woolly jumpers in a twist. In 1972, David Bowie adorned a snow-white tan and a cat suit, becoming an alien icon to all the young dudes and scaring their parents all at the same time. What happened in 2015? Sam Smith won loads of awards and George Ezra sang about Budapest. Or something.
Perhaps it’s overly negative to discard all of pop’s current superstars as boring, throwaway acts whose relevance will only fade with each new singer that follows them. But even the most optimistic of music fans will struggle to imagine the work of Ed Sheeran or Rihanna having the same longevity as that of The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.
At the same time, in recent years certain pop stars have managed to create media uproar - be it because of dresses made of meat or swinging naked on wrecking balls, these incidents hardly seem comparable to other moments of controversy ingrained in the history of popular music. Moments such as David Bowie openly discussing his sexuality in Melody Maker, and John Lennon proclaiming he was bigger than Jesus, moments that have influenced popular culture and society in a big way. Without this kind of controversy and innovation, the kind that music has become accustomed to in the last 60 years, where are tomorrow’s legends going to come from?
Well, perhaps the beauty of legendary status is its unpredictability and its subjectivity. Nobody can pretend to know who tomorrow’s legends will be, because they’re probably sat in their bedrooms, jotting notes on scrap paper and clicking buttons on GarageBand. They are most likely oblivious to the magnitude of the work they’re doing, and even if they do go on to be mega stars in their lifetimes; there’ll be plenty of people who detest everything they have to say.
Not only is it futile to identify legends without the benefit of hindsight, it’s also dangerous. How many bands have been labelled as the ‘saviours of rock and roll’, only to sink into obscurity under the weight of their new accolade?
Rather than trying to guess who will be a legend, this unpredictability is something to be celebrated. If it was perfectly transparent who the next music legend was going to be, music would be a lot less diverse, and a couple of people in suits would be a lot richer.
George Wilde