In some cases, songs just come out of thin air. There are plenty of famous musicians who, when telling the story of one of their hits, talk about how the song just seemed to write itself; it flowed out of them naturally from who knows where.
But those instances are rare. The majority of songs you hear are a product of hard work and intention. The artist has to dig deep to craft the song as Trent Reznor did with Nine Inch Nails’ album Bad Witch.
So where are they digging, and what are they looking for? In this post, we’ll look at some of the most common sources of musical inspiration. If you’re thinking of writing a song, then consider looking in these places!
Love and Heartbreak
Oh, love. It’s great when you’re in it, and oh-so-awful when it comes to an end. Falling in love can be a dizzying experience that takes you into entirely new realms of experience, which, aside from just generally being fun and enjoyable, also provides pretty great fodder for a song.
Take a look at the biggest songs in musical history, and you’ll find that the vast majority concern themselves with love in one way or another, usually the pursuit of love, the being in love, or the heartbreak of love. And you can see why they resonate with listeners — they’re experiences that the vast majority of us have had.
Traveling
Musicians spend a lot of time on the road. In fact, it’s often all they’re doing. In the early days, they’re traveling from show to show trying to build an audience; once they’re successful, they’re on the road earning that bread. While there’s plenty of fun to be had while touring, there’s also a lot of downtime — and that makes it the perfect place to write a song or two. Many famous songs were born while bored on the road, taking inspiration from whatever small town they happened to be in.
Games
It’s natural that one hobby bleeds into the other. Take a look through musical history, and you’ll find plenty of artists who have drawn inspiration from the games they love when they’re in the music studio. In some instances, the references are obvious; rappers such as Notorious B.I.G. and Jay Z have referenced video games in songs, while there are plenty of artists that mention card games in their most popular songs. In other cases, the connection to video games is less obvious, such as the cases of electronic music artists Burial and Skrillex, both of whom pepper their creations with sounds influenced by video game sound effects.
Other Artists
Only very few artists seem to have an endless supply of songs. The others have a surge of creativity and then hit a creative wall. During that time, they’ll often look to other artists for inspiration. If you can’t come up with a song on your own, then you may as well try to write a song in the style of another. It happens more often than you think. If you’ve ever heard a classic band going in a slightly different direction, then the chances are that they’ve found inspiration from a band that’s doing interesting things.
Life Events
Finally, there’s just day-to-day life. If you’re a musician, then your life is likely to be pretty interesting, and anything interesting that happens can be turned into a song. How good the song is will depend on the artist’s creativity; if they can spin an interesting life event into a track that people love, then they can consider themselves to be a good artist.
In many cases, a small event is often the trigger for a creative journey, but large life events can also play a role. For instance, some of the most fascinating songs in rock n roll history were born from famous stories; take a read of the history of the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter, for instance, which is now part of musical folklore.
