Who was the original musician? Who owns all the rights to all music and is the most original and no one will ever be cooler than them? What a bunch of hooey. Clapton was a heroine addict when he said all those negative things at the begining of this thread, so of course he was negative. The 60 musicians learned and copied the 50's , the 50's the 20's and so on and so on. Look at megadeth hanger 18 and compare it to J.S. Bachs Tocatta unt Fugue, see any similarities. Bach was writting heavy metal riffs 300 years ago. Every word in the english language has been used by someone else over and over again, that doesn't mean you can't speek it and say something true from your experience. Trying to be the true original every time is just the ego leading you down the dead end. To be original just play what you play. Genetics proves that we are all different and original, playing what we play makes it original. "life is a big jigsaw puzzle, we are all cut from the same cardboard, we are all a distinct shape that only fits in one place to make the puzzle complete. No two patterns are the same, one just need be their own peice of the puzzle." Master Tzu.