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[KharBevNor]

I remember the NIN version of 'Hurt' being an emotionless lump of static with Reznor hissing over it. I rather like the cover.

You're all being rockists.

[Valdemar]

Originality is impossible. No one should be making music anymore by this logic. There is a pre-cursor for everything.

I agree. This hopefully not very wide-spread search for uniqueness is doomed to fail. Nowadays when I hear something I haven't heard before, I don't assume it is original(although it perhaps is to me), but that I simply haven't heard that particular artist's influences. There is an apt quote about rock'n'roll from one of the guys in Comets on Fire that goes(slightly shortened):
"Everyone wants to be something brand new, like you go up to a cave and get your God-given instruction on how to make incredible new, original music... Fuck that. Each of our musical accomplishments and the new ground that we can break comes from a musical gift from those who have come before us."
So I don't think it is automatically a bad thing to seek inspiration from the 70's or the 60's. The problem arises when you do little or nothing with that inspiration e.g. that your band is crap as Inlander said. As always you have dig a little to find the good stuff and there is quite a large community dedicated to this stuff. Hell even Denmark has this sort of thing with bands like Baby Woodrose and Causa Sui.

To be honest I think rock'n'roll is sprawling these years and there is a lot of quality out there. I really like the course hardcore has taken, meshing with metal and other things, becoming better in the process. To me at least. Bands like Kylesa, La Quiete and Amanda Woodward have made near-masterpieces. This pollination of different textures is fantastic in my book, I mean even Xasthur could be described as psychedelic. If you want more straight rock'n'roll there is Black Lips, Jay Reatard and The Legendary Shack Shakers. I think that all these different styles make all sorts of mixes and combinations possible. That to me is what progress is made of. I don't know if that makes the 00's special(probably not) but it does make them quite exciting to me.

[StaedlerMars]

Originality is impossible. No one should be making music anymore by this logic. There is a pre-cursor for everything.

I agree. This hopefully not very wide-spread search for uniqueness is doomed to fail. Nowadays when I hear something I haven't heard before, I don't assume it is original(although it perhaps is to me), but that I simply haven't heard that particular artist's influences.

badabing.

"It's all been done before" - barenaked ladies?

[Inlander]

I do agree that aiming for complete originality, in any artistic endeavour, is futile and in fact rather infantile; however I do think that an artist should try to build on what has gone before, rather than just excavate it. To get back to the band originally under discussion, Wolfmother are really not trying to do anything new at all within their chosen genre: leaving aside technical issues such as recording quality, there's absolutely nothing in their output that I've heard that wasn't done exactly the same way in the 1970s. They may as well be a covers band.

[JCnNJ]

I think 50% of indie bands are just ripping off Pavement.  They get away with it because they're not popular enough to be labeled hacks.

[the-artful-dodger-rodger]

I think 50% of indie bands are just ripping off Pavement.  They get away with it because they're not popular enough to be labeled hacks.

so its ok for them indie bands because they are not the well-know but not for bands like Black Mountain and Wolfmother huh?

[Kai]

I think 50% of indie bands are just ripping off Pavement.  They get away with it because they're not popular enough to be labeled hacks.

You forgot the part about how Pavement were a giant rip off of The Fall

[KharBevNor]

It constantly amazes me how many mainstream British rock bands are just gang of four with dorkier haircuts.

[fish across face]

The "nothing is original" claim is important for discouraging an "I want to be weird, me!" mindset, but it's a strange view of originality that demands something have absolutely no precedents.  I hear plenty of music that I think sounds fresh and distinctive.  I think the key is to successfully synthesise something from your influences.  Maybe just another way of saying what Inlander wrote about building on what's gone before. 

[Thrillho]

I'd say Wolfmother get more airplay than Queen because Wolfmother didn't break up sixteen years back.