The Evolution Of Emulation

 

As I've been reading sections of Geddy Lee's memoir My Effin' Life, I realized that his experiences as a young musician were a common experience among a lot of musicians from that time. We all played along with the radio and records as the then form of emulation. You'd find that in any generation when the youth rally around new forms of art and music, a process of emulation begins: the fashion, the slang, and particularly the instruments. One of Geddy's heroes was Chris Squire, so the Rickenbacker 4001 was a part of the cosplay. It's also remarkable that the emulation continues to this day with younger people still emulating Rush and using the same instrument. The actual beginning of that emulation is Paul McCartney's use of the Rickenbacker bass beginning around 1966. But Chris Squire's use of it was related to the sound of what John Entwistle was doing with a Fender Precision, not a Rickenbacker. In some ways, cultural emulation is like the transference of trauma from previous generations, triggered by current events. Someone who is 17 in 2024 is being triggered by various memes that are popular now but will be fading out for a time until something in 1974 becomes imitable in 2044.

As regards the "playing along with" factor in emulation, I'm reminded of the anecdote about Duke Ellington learning to play piano by watching piano rolls. Something new is being emulated now but would have similarities with what Ellington was doing and what we were doing in the 1970s. Video is the new piano roll, but it's not the same experience playing along with records and the radio in the 1970s because there is too much content now, so consequently people are emulating myriad things--which may explain why things need to go viral every once in a while. It has a winnowing effect, but that wasn't necessary in the late 70s.

A few days ago I was watching an episode of Live From Daryl's House with Robert Fripp as the featured artist. In the dinner scene (My Dinner With Robert) they were talking about their influences, and again, it's the same story: Fripp was saying he was at a crossroads in his life, sitting in the car and listening to Abbey Road and he had one of those epiphanic moments that boomer musicians talk about when their lives had been changed by a Beatles album. It's a universal cultural theme. Fripp is now well into his 70s but still has a childlike spirit and is now sporting both a Mohawk haircut and his signature suit, which may be his way of living the best of both worlds of rock star and erstwhile real estate broker.