Uniqueness

Something that I was thinking about today was the question on our quiz, and discussion in class about what it means to be unique to us. I have my doubts about whether anyone will agree with this or not, but that is not what this class is about. I looked up the definition for unique, and it was defined as being the only one of its kind and being unlike anything else, but it was also defined as something particularly remarkable, special, or unusual. I tend to see the latter definition as my definition of uniqueness. It is very true that a unique thing can be unlike anything else, but I would like to argue that there can be uniqueness in things that are not a completely new innovation. Let us look at musical artists. Now I want to put a disclaimer out here and say that this post is mere opinion and can no way speak for the rest of the class, since taste of music is completely subjective. There are music artists that I like because they have done different and unique things, yet they have not revolutionized music as I know it. They may have even drawn their inspiration from bands in the past. I have no statistic for this, but if a band were to draw no inspiration from the past, I do not think a genre of music could stay remotely the same. What would rock music be if there were no similarities? In response to the quiz question, I was basically saying that I like U2 because I think their music is great, their sound is innovative, and they are activists on different fronts, whether it is Bono on AIDS in Africa, or the Edge with his Music Rising charity organization, there is this essence of helping the greater good, doing what is right, and being a catalyst for change. To me, their passion for the world outside of U2 is unique. My other example was Ben Harper, but other groups like mewithoutYou, and Dashboard Confessional come to mind as well. Whether you like or dislike these artists, they each have something unique to contribute to the overarching labels of uniqueness and rock as a genre. They are each very different emotionally, and lyrically, which to me, makes them special, unusual: unique.