Any great record takes balls to make. It's as simple as that. If you don't have the guts to push your music a little further and do some exciting new things (at the risk of falling on your face) you'll be swallowed by the mediocrity monster that is always on the heels of anyone making a record.

As some of you may know, I think that democracy is nothing more than ineffective popularity contest. (Okay, I am talking about politics for just a second). I think that elections for President are no less aesthetically driven than elections for High School Class President. Democracy is a popularity contest. What's best for everyone is seldom what everyone wants to do, so you end up with this mediocre compromise where nothing really gets done. This is good because it keeps out death camps and Hitlers, but nothing overly positive ever really occurs either.

END OF POLITICAL RANT

Okay, so getting back to music now. Bands typically consist of 4 people, give or take. Many times these people have different backgrounds, upbringings, and personalities. This can be a great thing. Then when the band is gone and the lead guitarist is doing is lead guitar overdubs, something magical happens. Both the engineer/producer/whatever and the guitar player think they have stumbled upon the most amazing solo ever. Both the producer and the lead guitar are mega proud that they have both been a part of something great.

Then the next day, the band shows up to listen. Immediately after the solo, the drummer yells “What in the hell was that?”......

PAUSE

Let's talk about band people a little bit. Musician's recording music are often insecure. They often feel that they are being judged by their peers and their fans. This is normal and, by itself, can add to the music. However, on the other side of the coin, sometimes this makes musician's scared to do anything remotely out of the box.

The brain can detect deviation in the status quo and say “Oh no! This could reflect negatively on me!”.

UNPAUSE

So back to our drummer who doesn't like the lead guitar magic. It's hard to say whether the drummer is being a pussy or whether his musical instincts are right on. (The drummer's opinion usually means little to me, btw. Ha ha).

Whether the drummer is right or not is irrelevant. The point is that there is a guitar solo that is unique and while it may or may not be “good” it is INTENSE. It has character. And kind of like a girl with implants that resemble basketballs, it will get attention and all fans and peers will have an opinion.

PAUSE

I like the saying..... Any publicity is good publicity...or is it this?.....There is no such thing as bad publicity.

Irregardless, the point is that there are some things are good even when they are bad. Sometimes you have to square the number and then take the square root of it. So, maybe a solo that is a negative 10 is not really a negative 10 at all. Maybe it's a negative 10 x negative 10 (which is 100) and then square rooted it goes back to 10.

UNPAUSE

I personally believe that intensity equals success most of the time. If you can make a listener say “what the hell was that?” then you have succeeded. I've been a part of lot of recordings. I've heard what the band has said while making them. Then I've heard what the fans have said later on. Almost every time, the bands that take a chance with something that might even be “stupid” end up with the fans that say “Man, that solo was awesome!”.

Longterm Issues

Another possible problem with the drummer yelling “what the hell is that” is more long term. Depending on the how passive / dominant everyone involved with this solo is, could lead to the passive lead guitar playing quickly giving in (even if he doesn't want to). The passive lead guitar player could feel alienated for not getting his way. I've seen this sort of stuff lead to band breakups, but usually it just leads to members of the band losing interest or just assuming that their parts aren't that important.

So, maybe it's better if there is no democracy in a band. As long as a part makes the music more exciting (and isn't just a function of selfishness or whatever) than it should stay. I see too many bands who have members that are afraid to be interesting because someone in the band won't like it. I say that you should make something awesome and tell anyone who doesn't like it to stick it. Maybe other band members will get even and do other stupid things and the record will get even better!