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I'm righting a essay on music authenticity (having no experience or music knowledge in any way. FML) and was wondering how you guys determine whether a band, group or individuals music would be consisted authentic?

Well for me I'm often reminded of other things I've heard when listening to music. So if music presents some idea that I've never heard, I think, "Wow, that's original".

Whether or not you think something is authentic is relative to what you've heard. For example, you could say, "Wow, the Black Keys are really authentic", but if you've never heard the White Stripes, you wouldn't know that TBK leeched their sound from WS.

Most bands draw from music that they've heard and liked, so I don't think most bands would consider themselves authentic (even if they are).

One more thought: If a band introduces an idea and then a lot of musical acts adopt that idea, I would consider the band very authentic. Death Grips strikes me as one of the most authentic bands of recent memory (although industrial rap did exist before them)

quality response! I'll use the black keys/white stripes as a point of reference thank you. but on the concept of covers? would you consider a band that covers another but in a different genre to be inauthentic? Say an R&B artist performing a R&B version of a elton john song

Of courses not being the original song writer puts it on the side of inauthentic but with a sufficient change in genre and the relevant expectation that come with that genre would it side on the more authentic side of music?

But does OP have a trunk fulla amps?

I have very little use for authenticity in art. All art is artificial (it's right there in the etymology.) Obsession with authenticity creates an arms race in which artists compete to see who can be the most "real," which unfortunately is all-too-often interpreted as a competition to see who can be the most self-consciously incompetent as a musician. This is why the most purist of punk bands are usually shit. The truth is that all art is equally "fake" and equally "real."

wut

oh believe me i agree. even to a person as musically handicapped as myself the topic seems redundant but this is what my lecture wants so... music authenticity.

Some covers can be more authentic than other covers, although covers are never 100% authentic. It's all about what ideas they add to their recording.

CConsider whether you want your essay to be about originality or authenticity, as they are similar yet different concepts! Authenticity means whether they truly believe what they are saying and playing, which only really applies to the song's meaning. Originality means how similar a song is to other songs.

I've gotten good grades by attacking the assignment before... it all depends on how open-minded the professor is.

>a competition to see who can be the most self-consciously incompetent as a musician.
Is this why Young Thug et al. sound literally retarded?

You're looking for the differences between bands that want to make music and bands that want to make money

Just as long
as you remember that the white stripes took from took from Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters etc etc...

Very possible, actually.

alright but what of more than just lyrical and narrative authenticity

I've toyed with this a bit but i think my professor know i have no interest and would see that as a coup out

best TL:DR i've seen after 3 weeks of researching this

I don't think i'll need that many lines of separation but i suppose a nod in that direction couldn't hurt

I generally don't care about authenticity but the times it does bother me it's like Beyonce's new album where it's marketed and reviewed as some big cultural statement when Beyonce had little to nothing to do with it and it was basically written by committee.

it's only authentic if there's Marshall amplifiers
but seriously there's a book called Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music that might help you... or at the very least be an interesting read. it was at my university library and it might be at yours

Freddie one of the best for his song we are the champion.

I wish I had a project like that, it would be fun

If I were your professor, I wouldn't see it that way. There's a lot to be said about how authenticity is perceived in the exact same ways morals and taste are. We know when we find something authentic but rarely can we apply this knowing, even if we can reason out why we know it with language, to other people and expect them to think the same way.

As someone mention earlier, its in the etymology:

: real or genuine : not copied or false
: true and accurate
: made to be or look just like an original

The second definition is not important but the first and the third are completely at odds with each other. The third definition implies that the item in question is copied.

its been hell for me, being almost illiterate in both english and music

...

Holy hell, that's a beautiful argument. I was more going for "art" deriving from "artifice" but goddamn. Bravo.

^o^ happy to be able to help.

The same way you can tell if mexican food is authentic.