Collaboration Taboo

I read something the other night, it was in response to someone asking about bands co-writing songs - asking if it was okay for bands to do so, does it bring their credibility down?
And I found that a few of the comments people made were rather ignorant.

Many were saying things along the lines of if the band is 'credible' then they should not collaborate with a song writer, and that its really only acceptable to pop musicians, and I really disagree.

I find the whole songwriting process fascinating, the fact that someone can sit and take something that occurs pretty much everyday and create something that is sometimes so powerful is an art, and I think that for people to dismiss it and deem it discrediting is a joke.

Songwriters are an entity in themselves, just because someone is in a band or is a recording artist doesn't mean that they have the ability to produce a decent song, also the fact that the songwriting process includes creating the melody and the music seems to be a moot point, something that people seem to forget about. It's easy to forget that a band may not come up with the hook in a chorus, because for the most part people are talking lyrically.

Many musicians collaborate on the writing process, mostly because it is easier to have help, why would someone pass up the chance to have a stand out line that could have been missed if they didn't have that help? While it is sometimes seen by some fans as misleading if a band collaborates it must be remembered that a recording artist may not possess the skills for the job - some people can write music and not play well, some play well but can't write.
Same goes for lyrics.

I suppose knowing a songwriter on a sort of personal level (aquainted through the industry - he used to be in a favourite band of mine, now he's a solo artist and I went to a show, interviewed him and chatted randomly throughout the night - he's awesome), I have a small insight into the process. Writers take their inspiration from everyday life, from the low points and the high - everything from break ups to a happy time in their lives, and they use these life experiences to craft a song. You can't have a song written by a young band about some of the more detailed life experiences, if you think you do more often than not (because sometimes they can do it but mostly not) they will have collaborated on the song with someone else.
This is not deemed discrediting, if anything it shows that they have faith in their abilities and their music, being able to take a song either fully written or co-written by someone else and making it their own is a definite skill, one that not many possess.

I don't think it's anything shameful to have someone outside of the band or the recording artist to come in and assist during the production of a song. Regardless of the artist, although having said that, many bands co-write songs with each other - does this fall under the same scrutiny? Or is it because they are all in the same band this is deemed okay?
It's not just younger artists, older ones have help too - the writer I mentioned earlier has collaborated with Robin Gibb, Jarvis Cocker, and Rick Astley to name a few.
Jarvis Cocker being the vocalist and frontman of the 'credible' band Pulp, working with songwriters to collaborate on projects? Yes really.

Anyway, I guess the point I'm trying to get across is not to dismiss the collaboration when artists write songs, many of the great songs were co-written with songwriters who worked with the band to guide them and shape the song. Many of the great songs weren't actually written by the artist who sings them.

Either way we must remember that songwriting is a forgotten and occassionally misguided artform, many think that it is easy to just pop an idea out onto paper, but it sometimes takes weeks before a song is perfected, on occassion it would take minutes, it all depends on the situation the writer is in.

Co-writing is not a crime, it is a vital part of the music industry. If we didn't have songwriters in the background assisting with guiding the artists we'd end up with a bunch of the same old songs, sounding the same and all whining about misplaced love or loving someone, which for the record is not great. So people stop complaining that its wrong for any recording artist (aside from those pop-stars) to work with other people, if they didn't you wouldn't have these great songs.

So before you complain about the industry and niggling unimportant things, know what you're talking about.