Damon Stapleton: Creativity. The value of water on the smoke.
A blog by Damon Stapleton, Chief Creative Officer, Droga5 ANZ
“Some people never go crazy. What horrible lives they must live.” – Charles Bukowski
Some of you may find this shocking but not all ideas are the same. I find many speak about ideas like they are loaves of bread. Give me 10 of those and three of those. Perhaps that’s where we are. The amount is more important than the quality.
So to bolster my argument, I thought I would give you an example of an idea that could be incredibly rare in the future. The reason ideas like this will happen less and less is because of less time, and the fact that the starting point of the process makes very little sense. Unless you have ever tried to come up with new ideas.
I’ve often said that people want the result of creativity without the process. So why does that matter? The first reason is because the process itself often gives you bonus ideas. Ideas you can’t explain that can be way better than what you had in the first place. These are ideas you can’t explain and ideas you never find without the process The second reason I think the process matters it helps you end up somewhere different. And different as a destination means there is no precedent. No map. No best practice. It doesn’t exist. You have to make it exist. Out of nothing. So to a point, you could start anywhere. It is like wandering into a bookshop, picking up any book, and seeing where it takes you. Many ideas have happened this way. It’s scientific name is – trying weird shit.
Take my example of Mr Ritchie Blackmore. It is December 1971. Deep Purple, a band that probably could be considered the father of heavy metal, were writing songs. The lead guitarist Ritchie Blackmore was hunting for a riff. Now for a moment, if you don’t know, try and guess where the most famous guitar riff in rock history comes from. Hours of playing? LSD? Another band? Nope.
It comes from listening to Beethoven. Beethoven’s 5th to be exact (watch the interview above). And then going, you know, it would be pretty cool if you just sort of reversed it. Smoke on the Water, a song that begins with the most famous heavy metal riff in the world comes from Ludwig Beethoven. In reverse. This could of been a very stupid idea. But this time it wasn’t.
An idea like that comes from trying things without knowing if it will work. I will say that again. An idea like that comes from trying things without knowing if it will work. Doodling. Trying dumb shit. Being comfortable just playing around. Great stuff always comes from a place of not knowing.
Creativity is not one answer. It is a series of answers. And ones you often don’t expect. You just have to go there. And how do you get there. By not knowing and going anyway. That is actually the value of creatives. They go where others won’t.
And in a world that is all about knowing, perhaps ideas that come from not knowing might become a lot more valuable.
After all, we all know how to get to average. There has always been plenty of that. But to get to the most famous riff in rock history – you have to try dumb shit.
It’s a lesson we should never forget.