Your assertion that artists don't seek to ascend on other's backs I disagree with. They would never be so bold or callous as to assert that they invented the musical theory they use to create. In just this way, I'm sure they have made deep peace with the flow of musical ideas through generations and feel that the advancement of soundscapes by those before them gives the band the freedom of such a broad palette. In much the same way that Isaac Newton claimed that if he were to see further, it was only by standing on the shoulders of his colleagues and those who lived before.[/quote]

Okay, yes, but that's not exactly what I meant. I meant that they don't seek to ascend on the backs of their peers, i.e. "get over on" another contemporary for the purposes of being viewed as superior - or create rivalries or street duels. Yes, they are all drawing from and walking on a foundation left for them by others.