The legendary band Carlos Santana said can “sound like almost anything”
Influence is something that people in music get wrong quite frequently. People begin to make their own music because another musician has managed to connect with them, and the result is that they want to make others feel the way that that artist made them feel. However, it is one thing to be influenced by an artist and another to base your sound on them entirely.
Many people have this problem, as they have one major inspiration that impacts them so that when they start making music, they become a carbon copy of the artist they admire. The truth is that people should wear those who mean a lot to them on their sleeve but should leave themselves open to various other styles and sounds to ensure that everything they do comes from a place of originality.
Carlos Santana put it better when he described his band as a mutt rather than a purebred. Essentially, he meant that his group doesn’t have one definitive sound and doesn’t strictly fit into a specific genre. There are a number of sounds at play as they take from various genres to create something totally original.
The extent to which Sanatana’s music can stretch is best reflected in that it has since been sampled in hip-hop but with little change. This shows how far-reaching his music is, as it can be incorporated into different sounds without altering it.
Santana was always a fan of his music being broad, and he enjoyed listening to bands who did something similar. When asked about his “purebred” comment in an interview, he referenced another outfit he thinks does the same thing. “You know, I love The Doors because they sound like John Lee Hooker, John Coltrane and everything in between.”
He continued, “They can sound like almost anything. Sometimes, when you become a slave to tradition, you sound like rubber-stamped music, and that’s not very interesting. I like cut-and-shoot music.” It’s true that The Doors were never a one-dimensional band. Much like Santana himself, they were happy to experiment with a variety of styles and sounds, and they became all the more sought after for it.
This way of thinking applies even more so in the modern age of music when the lines between different genres are becoming blurred. Every artist you listen to today has various influences at play throughout their music, and it makes for a much more compelling listen; however, it also means that bands who are one-dimensional in their influences often struggle to take off.
In modern music, being a mutt is a much more accepted approach. Genres have been around for so long that songs confined to set rules end up sounding repetitive and bland. Purebreds are the past; take the Santana approach.
