Different Takes

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There are topics we love. It’s part of who we are. But, there comes a point in time when we need a different view, if for no other reason than to crystallize our own views on the subjects.

Seeking out those different takes is kind of our job. We owe it to our personal and professional brands. We need those different takes to better ourselves, to open some doors that might have previously been closed.

I’m going to illustrate this through music (with me, it ALL comes back to music). Throughout the history of the music biz, one of its staples has been artists performing covers of other artists’ songs. This has led to some memorable work (hundreds of renditions of “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" notwithstanding).

Two of my all-time favorite artists, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, share a song: "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)." Brilliant works by both, but the SRV version really opened my eyes and made me feel the song. Sorry, Jimi.

More recently, I’ve fallen in love with the Kings of Leon album, Only By The Night. One of the singles off that album, "Use Somebody," has rocked my house (almost literally, at times). But yesterday, when I heard this cover of that song as performed live by Paramore, I was floored. I listened to it over and over again. Hearing that different take, hearing the acoustic guitars, hearing a female voice singing the lyrics…I felt that song in a totally different way.

Actively seeking (or following the right people in Social Media) provides us with different takes that prevent our brands from becoming stagnant. Sometimes, that’s a difficult thing to do. It’s innocently easy to only read or listen to those takes that simply mirror ourselves.

Being a marketing and branding type of guy, you would think that I would avidly follow some of the more popular “thought leaders.” I do not (gasp). I assure you, it’s not for any vindictive reason. It’s just that, inherently, I tend to not follow the crowd. Does that mean the popular should not be followed?

Absolutely not.

Just be sure to soak up the different takes along the way. They might just be the spark to something that was missing.

Tags: branding, business, chris, marketing, media, personal, professional, reed, revolution, social

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Comment by Amy Bryant on September 15, 2009 at 1:17am: Wasn't sure I'd like this version of the song as much, but I love it. Kinda like how I can't imagine liking a poem any more than I do...until someone reads it aloud in a way that makes it come alive for me all over again. "They" say: there's nothing new under the sun. I say: they haven't explored enough.

Comment by Chris Reed on September 11, 2009 at 11:23pm: @sexythinker...Sometimes, a different take makes all the difference. And since you've now learned to actually play the song, I'm expecting a live performance soon.

@Andy...What can I say? Great minds think alike :)

@MissIve...Jeez. Your comments are always spectacular. I've felt the same way about some of my favorite artists. The great ones always seem to make changes on a new album, changes to the music that made you fall in love with them in the first place. Yet somehow, they seem to make you fall in love with it all over again. Thank you, as always.

@Ronald D. Elliott, Ph.D. ...Thank YOU (and no apologies necessary for the typos). Really enjoyed the music talk and, by the way, I would love to be able to say that I remember Jimi.

Comment by Ronald D. Elliott, Ph.D. on September 11, 2009 at 11:04am: Excuse me Chris...I meant to say, thank you Chris for your post. Also forgive me for my typing errors...i really should have taken thaat typing class in high school that I dropped to take Trigonometry. Who knew that we were all going to have computers of various sizes, shapes, and types...

Comment by Ronald D. Elliott, Ph.D. on September 11, 2009 at 10:58am: Music is the Doctor. I remember the beginning of rock n roll...it was a life-changing experience for me. I have had a lifelong love affair with rock music. We know that music can effect brain chemistry, which has never been in doubt in my mind. I put on my I-pod when I workout and the pain is replaced by the music. When I was alone on the road, cooped up in just another hotel room, the music, always with me, would make it all ok....

Thanks for your post Reed. I remember the night Stevie Ray took Eric Clapton's place on the helicopter for that fateful ride. It was a big deal for those music lovers among us who live in Dallas. The loss of talent on that fateful flight was enormous. I also remember Hendrix, when he was alive (hoe depressing is that)...an innovator with immense musical creativity. Musicians are inspired by other musicians and can typically tell you who influenced them most.

My brother, a drummer (excuse me, percussionist) and jazz musician for 35 years...yes, he actually made a living that way...was inspired by Buddy Rich...the famous drummer whose last words on his death bed were, suposedly, "I still don't like country music."

I could write on and on about music. When people ask me what I am doing, I will often tell them..."listening to the music"...they stare blankly, as no music is audible,,,"in my head." If you love music, it is always playing in your head. What a wonderful distraction.

Comment by Miss Ive on September 10, 2009 at 7:02pm: I love this. Crazy-coincidental-corollary: I often drive or ride at night when I'm brainstorming, and often to Kings or Arcade Fire. And the other night I was listening to Use Somebody while I was driving and thought, I'm sad that they sound different. I miss the raw feeling of their last album.

And then I thought, why would you lament that someone creative continued to create? Like Amanda said at UCL, thinking means new thoughts—creating new tape, quite literally in this instance. Ok, so maybe they don't call them 'tapes' anymore, but still.

And people do that, I believe, when they allow themselves to imagine themselves to not be fixed, boxed beings.

And a really good way to remind yourself of that, as you say, is not just to surround yourself with people who think differently than you, but to consistently reintroduce new people, with new thoughts.

Great post, Reed.

Comment by Andy Swingley on September 10, 2009 at 10:11am: Following the unbeaten path is essential in our world today, it is exactly why social media works. You can hear everything now....ignoring it is going to be a overwhelming reason for failure at personal and business levels in the upcoming years! Beware! Engage EVERYONE or bust!!! Love the tune.

Dang you....I have music tomorrow too!!!

Comment by Amanda Hite on September 10, 2009 at 9:58am: Chris, sexiest song I've heard in a long time and to make your point I didn't think so until I heard this version from Paramore.