Second guessmanship paralysis in the creative process.

Both of those options -- the culture-watching artist who moves deftly around the landscape and the single-minded artist who runs quickly in one direction without being distracted by others -- seem perfectly valuable. They're both "easier" in some senses, "harder" in other sense; "better" in some, "worse" in others. But you're right -- one's placement "in" or "out" of the loop is essential. If you're shooting for the former of the above options, you'd better have an eye on (and an opinion of) every trend. If you're shooting for the latter, best to hole up with the records you loved at age 14, put everything you've got into it, and put on an enthusiastic expression when asked about new trends: "That stuff is really interesting, and I'm just happy for any musicians who are having fun and realizing their visions!"

Probably the best example of this question is disco, no? Take the Stones and "Miss You" as a focal point: some thought it wonderful that they could offer up their particular take on a new trend, while others thought it was silly, embarrassing bandwagoning. Pretty good encapsulation of the options, right?

i think these questions of reference and cosmopolitanism in creation are fascinating. and i'm unshaken in the belief that to be an essentially decent human being in any respect, creative, social, whatever, it's essential to see the workings of other cultures, other disciplines to debase any conscious or unconscious belief that ones own manner isn't inherent but a series of socio-political choices. but i say that being a middle-class englishman in the media age. i am inextricably in the loop and i'm never going to be able to look at a road sign in the same way again. (perhaps quite a depressing thing; it's an inevitability i'm proposing ought be avoided). but my pasic point; involvement in the media age isn't something you can back out of.
an aritst of any intelligence and ability is dependant on his/her history and context. as momus has quoted a thousand times on ILM, cultural history is in most cases built around the innovator whose innovations are later recontextualised into a pop setting. this ability to take elements you are presented with and build them into a fresh mould aren't dependant on whethere one is in or out of the loop - it's a question of how talent is affected by context. how critical background and surroundings inform and drive the creator.

i think i likely tend toward the more cereberal artists. something i'm rather suspicious of myself for, as if i might be too insecure to enjoy music without critical weight behind it. as music is an essentially visceral form. but that's another thread.

sorry aboit pomous bold, but i thought that needed emphasising. oh, and hi joseph! great first post!

that should read "and i'm unshaken in the belief that to be an essentially decent human being in any respect, creative, social, whatever, it's essential to see the workings of other cultures, other disciplines to debase any conscious or unconscious belief that ones own manner is inherent, rather than a series of socio- political choices"

i'm pretty tired.

I'm not sure if there can't be a "genius" under the Warholian umbrella of recontextualization. There was Warhol for one. Heh. :) But seriously....

Actually, I need to think a bit more before I write anything else. These are excellent replies to my original question.

(A) allows you to be versatile and to comment artistically on a lot of different developments, and will likely lengthen your relevance; on the other hand, your work will be so context-heavy that it's in danger of dating quickly, and people will likely claim you lack passion. (B) will make for records that sound impassioned and confident and relevant to people far down the road; but unless what you're doing is really, really spectacular, you'll begin to sound stale and repetitive pretty quickly.

Should an artist in this day and age afford to allow himself or herself the illusion of being "out of the loop" of outside influence in order to create something?

How about this very simple response: all art is collaboration. We may only be collaborating with the ghost of Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison or Nico, there in our ascetic mountaintop recording studio, but we're collaborating nonetheless.

It seems crazy to talk about an act of communication, which is what pop music is, as anything other than a way of talking to a community about the things you and the community love and believe in. That said, I think there's a lot to be said for alienation. I was on a label in the 80s, el Records, which had alienation from Thatcher's Britain (or, more specifically, the dismal realities of the 80s music scene) as its raison d'etre.

Since the 80s I've discovered 'exile and cunning' as ways of overcoming my distaste for elements of British life, and my failure as a UK recording artist. (Oddly enough, Neil Hannon just signed my website guest book with a proposal of marriage, so maybe I can still marry into UK popstardom...) I've discovered other communities, other loops (notably Japanese ones) to be part of. I don't feel like an eccentric any more, because I don't know what being normal is any more. And it feels good.

So I'd say, you don't need to become a recluse. (And anyway, being a recluse probably just means reverting to some previous internalised socialisations, the pop radio of your teens, rather than discovering new sources of inspiration.) It's not so much a choice of whether to be in or out of 'the loop' these days. There are so many loops, so many labels, so many musics, so many countries! All you have to do is find a style, a place, a label where people think like you.

When I was a kid this is what I thought all "real" artists were like. Later I realized that hard work, editing and thoughtfulness were huge parts of the equation for many creative types (an essay by Raymond Carver where he talked about writing 30 or 40 drafts of a single short story) and I started to feel like the romantic myth was just that, a myth.

But then I realized that there actually are both types of creative people floating around, and both do great things. For every Aphex Twin savant there is a Mouse on Mars, who do an insane amount of thinking and planning for every thing they do. Both are just doing what feels right to them.