Art and Competition ~ It Makes Me Sick

If there's one statement in the music Industry that I KNOW is true it's this one: "Anyone who enters a battle of the bands has already lost". You name the competition and I'll guarantee the only ones benefiting from it are the promoters.

The whole concept of an artist competing with other artists is just insane. That's why they're called arts and not sports. But in America we love our sports and have to try and make a sport out of everything. But the arts are the most extreme form of apples and oranges you can try to judge. Let's examine my rant:

You pick them.

Bob Dylan vs. Bob Marley

The Beatles vs. Metallica

Renoir vs. Picasso

Jimi Hendrix vs. Hank Williams

Monet vs. Patrick Nagel

M.C. Hammer vs. Fred Astaire

Gene Krupa vs. John Bonham

Yoko Ono vs. Lady Gaga (ok I just wanted to reference Lady Gaga)

But do you get my point? You can't say Jimi is a better guitar player than Hank Williams. As Eddie Van Halen once said in a response to an acusation by Eric Clapton: "He's right I don't play blues. I speak a different language." It's wrong to compare art. The better question is to ask is: "Is it art"? Which leads to; What is art? (Only history will decide)

I'm sorry, I get ticked off when I get emails from the ITC. (international Songwriting Contest) or the John Lennon song contest. Give me a break.

I just loath it. I'm sorry.