Well, yeah, sometimes I listen to music and think it's all been done already, you listen to MTV and get some plastic R&B rap act, or listen to a techno track that's a couple of loops and a subby rumbly thing. But then someone comes along and all of a sudden you're like why the **** didn't i think of that.

But it's hard work to innovate, and often comes out sounding a bit suspect on the first attempt. Strikes me there are people who innovate and then if it's good there are people who imatate, and some of the people who imatate actually do it better than the people who came up with the idea in the first place and then you have a new genre...[/quote]

don't get me wrong... i'm not saying dont innovate, i just disagree with people constantly moaning about techno being stale and derivitive. pop music has been around for eons... still basically the same principles.. (verse, bridge, verse, bridge, chorus, middle 8th... etc) and techno also seems to have a formulae.. admittadly its a lot more open to change than most music, but when was the last time you heard a techno track the really made you sit up and say "shit, thats differant" yet still sounded "techno"... i think for me it was a rmx on eukatek - some really disjointed tune, cant remember who it was but it had some serious off kilter breaks and blips, and a shooshing aeroplane noize over it.
but all that said i still enjoy formulaic techno. i love the feeling of knowing where a track is going and hearing it get there. the anticipation is unreal!