Don’t Learn It, But Learn How To Learn It

Art can teach us so much more than fandom

tom waits listens to five radios standing around him at the same time, sitting on a chair, taking notes, sleek digital art — by DALL·E

‘Don’t try to learn everything about the artists you love but explore their influences instead’, I remember someone telling me some time ago. Since the natural state of the curious individual is to ride on a continuous sequence of permanent learning curves, we always have a chance to experiment with this approach.

The diversity of the sources that inspired some of our favourite musicians, authors and directors is so wide-ranging that we cannot fail to be surprised and perhaps even perplexed. Admittedly, some cases are logical and expected, but then you get all sorts of strange phenomena, such as heavy metal musicians who listened mostly to classical composers, and experimental electronic acts that learned their craft by emulating traditional folk songwriting structures, or sci-fi authors who loved noir and essay writers who mostly read fiction.

Whenever I have ventured down one of these rabbit holes (and I confess I haven’t done so enough), I have always been surprised. Naturally, I haven’t particularly enjoyed much of the art I have found — being a fan of someone doesn’t make us fans of those our idols worshipped. However, it has always provided me with a wealth of ideas.