Friday, September 20, 2013

Great Composers Steal, Mediocre Composers Borrow!

Compare and contrast:

1. Erich Wolfgang Korngold and the theme from Kings Row (1942), aka The Only Good Ronald Reagan Movie.




2. John Williams and the theme from Star Wars (1977)




3. John Williams and the theme from Superman (1978)




Basically, if you had put Star Wars and Superman into a trash compactor. you'd get Kings Row.

13 comments:

steve simels said...

Note to self: Bombastic and over familiar movie themes less interesting to power pop devotees than hoped.
:-)

Anonymous said...

I am so bored by John Williams film scores they all can go in the trash compactor.

Allan Rosenberg

buzzbabyjesus said...

Does this make John Williams the Jimmy Page of Film score composers?
I think so.

steve simels said...

Pretty much, yeah.
:-)

buzzbabyjesus said...

When a great artist steals he/she takes something and makes it both original and an homage.
The mediocre merely appropriate.

Jerry Lee said...

Great artists don't steal, they have influences. Then they create greatness.

buzzbabyjesus said...

Jerry lee-

I'm guessing you're not an artist.

steves said...


Tune in to 4:37 for the OT content (the questioner was Allen Ginsberg), though the entire clip is worth watching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcPoZZVm3Dk

steves said...

Damn...make that 4:30.

Jerry Lee said...

bbj- I don't steal from others and call it my art.

buzzbabyjesus said...

Neither do I, but I don't overestimate my originality. Everything comes from somewhere.
I'm sorry I picked this fight.
Our original comments are not far apart, and splitting hairs isn't really worth our time.

Jerry Lee said...

bbj- I agree, everyone has their influences. It's just that the "Steal Like An Artist" and appropriation mentality really irritates me. I've been a commercial photographer for a long time, and I'd never think to just blatantly steal from someone else. Aside from the copyright issue, I have a conscience. No, I'm not a fan of Richard Prince.

buzzbabyjesus said...

Yes, we aren't really splitting hairs, and I never heard of Richard price, and when I Googled him I got what you meant. He's a bad artist.