Recreating a classic: The Blues Brothers vs. Hanson
I love artistry, creativity, and originality, but I also understand that people are influenced by others. It’s one thing to be a poseur, blatantly ripping off other artists. However, I think it’s another thing to take what you’ve been exposed to, and use a piece of art as inspiration to create something new. How many things are purely original? I mean, even if you draw a picture of a tree with crayons, your coloring will still be your own rendering of something that already exists.
Getting to the point- I only realized last night that pop/r&b/rock band Hanson’s music video for their latest single, “Thinkin’ Bout Something” was a complete homage to the scene in the movie Blues Brothers where John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Ray Charles perform “Shake A Tail Feather.”
“We love playing classic songs,” says Zac Hanson in the band’s official biography. “But we never sat down and wrote our version of what that sounds like until now.”
They literally replicated the dances in the movie, nearly frame for frame, in their music video. I knew that that video was inspired by the movie, but I didn’t realize that they were so similar when played simultaneously.
It’s a great example of old art inspiring new art. Hanson wrote an original song that doesn’t sound like “Shake a Tail Feather;” instead it was another upbeat, feel-good tune that clearly has similar enough time signatures for the dance moves to match. They went into great detail, even down to the girl in the pink hippie pants with the afro.
When I rewatched the Blues Brothers clip, it gave me that same feeling of “Wow, this is really cute and makes me want to dance and I need every piece in every girl’s wardrobe” that I got from the Hanson video clip.
Take a look at the actual videos below for yourself.
To me, it doesn’t reek of “rip off” in the same way that so many pop acts are just recycled versions of their predecessors. I can’t think of any artists who are releasing such fun music this summer that sounds remotely like what Hanson’s doing.
Despite their lack of media attention (which I think is a good thing), they’ve maintained all creative control over their records and live shows, rather than being slaves to an industry. They engage in philanthropy, are humanitarian and AIDS activists, and are using the Internet to their advantage with streaming footage of many of their live performances.
I still can’t stand the majority of crazy Hanson fans (known as Fansons). I admire the way the guys are able to handle the madness; they still have “it” after all these years.
The brothers Hanson are my Fierce Entrepreneurs of the day. They embodied the concept of Redefining Success when they left their major record label, Island Def Jam, to start their own recording company, 3CG Records, and build their brand. Even though they haven’t been hot in terms of mainstream charts, their latest record Shout it Out debuted and peaked at #2 on the independent charts even though their entire record is available streaming for free online.
Not bad for a band bankrolling all their own projects, ey?
Thank goodness MMMBop happened.
