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Aristotle was the first great thinker to point out that a thin line divides genius from insanity. Surely, then, that line must be even thinner at the point where it separates genius from mediocrity. It's a short step from there to the realisation that being on a nodding acquaintance with genius might well be to blame for most of the mediocrity, if not in the world, then at least in the realm of rock music. 

The passage of years is usually necessary before we can be sure who was really a genius and who was a flash in the pan, so let's limit our field of consideration to the legacy of the great musical genii of the 60s.  For the sake of argument I'm going to assume that the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix are widely accepted as the monumental rock Einsteins of that period.  

So, the Beatles. Lennon and McCartney were certainly the most successful and, arguably, the most brilliant, rock songwriters of the '60s. It's fair to say that some of the most obvious plunderers of their style, Badfinger, the Raspberries, and others, did some excellent if derivative work. Tragically, it didn't stop there. The lengthy careers of ELO and Oasis, I would submit, comprise mere handfuls of genuinely interesting tunesmithery drowning in oceans of forgettable album tracks and b-sides. Let's not even dip into the darker corners of Pilot, The Left Banke, Knickerbockers, Klaatu, Rembrandts, et al, and try not to think about the fact that Billy Joel's major inspiration was the peerless songsmithery of John and Paul. 

Bob Dylan? Snakes alive, if not for him would we have had to suffer Peter Sarstedt at Number 1 for most of 1969? How about Mark Knopfler's nasal whine, Loudon Wainwright III or any one of a squillion other forgettable finger-pickin' nonentities who lacked a single idea that Dylan hadn't already done better? And without exposure to this dubious legacy, would Bono ever have dreamed that "I've got no self control, Been living like a mole now/Going down, excavation" was a passable lyric for the U2 song "Elevation"?  

Hendrix stood head and shoulders above every electric guitarist of the age but his brilliance inspired a million infinitely inferior fretsmiths to imagine that, given the right pedals, a big enough amp and the ability to churn out hundreds of notes jolly quickly in any order at all, they too would be Jimi Hendrix. Cue Alvin Lee, Robin Trower, Joe Satriani, and hordes more.  

What none of these clones ever seem to grasp is that genius is not just exceptionally rare but invariably unique to the individual endowed with it. Of course it's perfectly natural to be inspired by the best, and I'd be the last to deny any young wannabe the right to strive for similar greatness. It's just a tragic fact of life that 99 per cent of them will fail. What's even worse is that hundreds of those who fail will be allowed to make records and, however hard we try to maintain some semblance of quality control, we'll end up hearing far too many of them.

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