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Why does an artist 'peak'?


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Old 16-02-2007, 19:54
Lazlo_St_Pierre
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I was watching VH1 Classic the other day and saw the video for 'Writing To Reach You' by Travis. Hadn't heard the song in years, and that night got out 'The Man Who' for the first time in ages and remembered what a lovely album it is. Then I remembered how disappointed I was with all Travis's subsequent releases, and that 1999-2000 (up to 'Coming Around' single release, which I also loved) was their 'peak'.
Why do musicians peak like this? I mean, sportsmen obviously peak because of the physical and mental condition needed to play sport. A 25 year old Tim Henman obviously had a better chance of winning at tennis than an 18-year old Henman or especially a 35-year old Henman, because of physical, emotional and mental development and then obvious physical decline.
There should, though, be no physical reason why a 33-year old Fran Healy can't produce music as good as a 26-year old Fran Healy. Yet he doesn't. It's not just him, you could say the same about much longer established artists, say Dylan, Bowie, George Michael, Prince, McCartney... every one of those you can point to a period where their music was spot on, commercially and creatively, and everything they released after that period was nowhere near as good.
Not being a musician of any kind, I wonder if it's something to do with creativity 'running out' in the mindset of a musician. Any thoughts?

Last edited by Lazlo_St_Pierre : 16-02-2007 at 19:55.
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Old 16-02-2007, 20:27
swingaleg
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I think you can probably seperate out 'craftsmanship' and 'creativity...........

I expect a lot of artists become 'better' musicians as they age, merely because they've played for longer, got more accomplished with an instument of as a songwriter.........what you might call the 'craft' of musicianship.

On the other hand.........creativity tends to be a young man's game...........someone with something worthwhile to say will usually say it as soon as they get going, then perhaps after the initial burst they have nothing else to say ?...........or nothing 'new' and just end up trotting out imitations of what they did when they were innovative........by then, we've all heard it before.


There are parallels in other fields.............theoretical physics for example............most great breakthroughs come from young men in their 20s.............and chess geniuses tend to be young
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Old 16-02-2007, 20:30
Psychosis
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It's nothing to do with age, per se, but more a case of when the person can reach its audience best. And if you're 36 and still reaching out to the audience of a 26 or 16 year old, it's gonna be more difficult.
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