A few years ago, at a time when I'd been chatting with a number of Australian rockers, many of whom had been performing in the industry for many years I got to thinking about the issue of musical influences, and in particular giving credit where credit is due.

I suppose it struck me that some of the veteran acts I'd been interviewing, regardless of whether they'd enjoyed great commercial success 'back in the day' or not, were now faced with a number of younger artists whose music was clearly similar in many ways to their own, and yet was being passed off in some respects as completely 'fresh' and 'original'. It irked me.

Especially if I'd been devoted to a specific band for years and was a great fan of their music, while I'd obviously be thrilled to learn that they had served as influences for other musicians, I didn't like the idea of someone getting away with credit for a sound, style and image which was not theirs to claim as their own. In the last few years, take a look at bands like the Strokes, the Dandy Warhols and, more recently, the Killers and Franz Ferdinand and tell me that something I never thought we'd see 'elements of an 80's revival ' and bringing to mind such bands as Duran Duran, Soft Cell and Blondie was taking place. Before they had really exploded onto the international music scene I remember catching a Jet show at the Annandale Hotel. I enjoyed their music and could see why there was such a buzz around the Melbourne quartet, but glancing at the rather sizeable section of the self'conscious 'cool' crowd in attendance I wondered how many of these nitwits would ever happily admit to loving the music of AC/DC, a band who, at times, you'd have to struggle to distinguish from Jet if closed your eyes.

And so I suppose this Jet show directed me to the heart of my real discomfort in all this, in that it doesn't bother me so much for a band to proudly display their influences, nor for fans to embrace them, it's that I bristle when I see people who are ignorant or dismissive of acknowledging their roots, no matter how far those roots might be from being considered as 'trés cool'. AC/DC may be old, crusty mulleted types in the eyes of the Sydney champagne mosh'pit set, but these guys are just as big a part of the Jet sound today as are the Beatles, and, of course, the inspired efforts of Jet themselves. And yet some of the so'called 'music lovers' I spied at that early Jet show probably wouldn't be caught dead tapping their feet to an AC/DC tune because it isn't 'flavour of the moment' like Bloc Party or the Kaiser Chiefs. Even worse, of course, is where a band weren't even fortunate to enjoy enough success to feed themselves during their run, and within ten years someone else is rolling in a profit on the back of the older band's example.

So what does this make me? Initially I thought my annoyance at the lack of respect for influences and those who have come before was merely a righteous opinion in favour of rewarding fair credit and rejecting the musically uneducated, trend'swallowing masses from jumping on another bandwagon with more empty wind whistling between their ears than real, quality music. And yet this line of thought also takes me, having just turned 30, perilously close to the edge of sounding like yet another decrepit music lover harkening to the good old days and blowing a rather pompous horn about what should and should not be deemed fit music.

It was an interview back in 2003 with Damien Lovelock of the legendary Sydney punk outfit the Celibate Rifles that put me straight, however. He conceded that his band (who were interestingly enough the first act to ever headline the Big Day Out) were perhaps a few years ahead of the game, and thus ahead of larger potential commercial success in terms of the kind of music they were playing at the time. In the 1980's there wasn't a tremendous demand for punk rock on the mainstream charts, however in the early 1990's, on the strength of the emergence of the alternative wave of music, and especially the so'called 'Seattle sound' and the successes of bands like Green Day and Rancid, the scene changed dramatically. Disappointingly, Lovelock recounted that on a later return to the United States someone in the music industry 'I believe it may have even been someone at a college radio station' labelled them 'a nostalgia act'. Other than the fact this was incredibly insulting, it was a tag completely oblivious of the fact that there were now several dozen younger bands enjoying chart success that sounded just like the Celibate Rifles. But did it bother him that these bands so often seemed to be cashing in amid countless music critics celebrating them for having such a 'new' sound? Not in the slightest.

As I recollect from our conversation, Lovelock made two very important points. First of all, the Celibate Rifles had always played music that was true to them. He remembered having wandered into auditions for a few bands back in the early 1980's that were trying to replicate the success of what was flavour of the moment at the time 'and it seemed to involve something along the lines of wearing lots of makeup, dressing up like an astronaut and singing lines about flying to Jupiter to make love to a computer, or something. Trends often dissipate quickly (seen many rap'metal bands, lately?), but also it's worth giving audiences a little credit for being at least somewhat discernible enough to sort the crap from the talent every now and then even when we'd sometimes wonder otherwise. As far as Lovelock could recall none of the bandwagon bands he'd spotted at auditions ever enjoyed any degree of real success, and I'm sure a large part of that has to do with the fact they probably didn't even believe in the music they were playing. Sure the Celibate Rifles might have never toured the world to sold'out stadium concerts with platinum album sales to boot, but at risk of sounding like a cast member of the Brady Bunch, while millions may bring comfort to one's bank account, it'sstill worth a great deal more at the end of the day that you remained true to yourself. For that, the Celibate Rifles are today regarded as an iconic band in the history of Australian punk rock.

Second, and as an effective muffler to my bitter mutterings, Lovelock pointed out that of course it is the very inherent nature of music 'and all aspects of the arts' that every single individual is a product of influences unless they somehow managed to spend their entire lives inside a sealed cave. It's completely unavoidable. Sure it may grate from time to time that an act is being trumpeted up as the most significant new invention since the wheel while others who helped them reach that success are lost in the background, but that's also a 'way of the world' that there's little we can do about. Trends will always come and go. The best we can hope for is that when someone does emerge with a sound that references back to another era, they will be talented enough to put a fresh spin on things and take the music into a new direction, rather than serving merely as dull, factory conveyer belt replicates.

Perhaps the best example in all this is the one band that's arguably the most referenced rock act in music history' the Beatles. Early last year a KB Discomatic jukebox owned by John Lennon was the subject of a documentary appropriately called 'John Lennon's Jukebox'. Lennon is said to have bought the item in 1965, and the veritable goldmine of music on the 41 discs contained within (and with handwritten labels by Lennon) is proof of the incredibly broad range of artists that undoubtedly influenced the Beatles. It is a mix of rock and roll, soul, and rhythm and blues tracks from Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly to Smokey Robinson, Bob Dylan and The Lovin' Spoonful. Dedicated Beatles fans might be surprised to learn that the band happily conceded that the 'Ooooohhh' famous in their track 'Twist and Shout' was borrowed from the Isley Brothers (and was indeed an Isley Brothers cover tune). A guitar lick by the Blues performer Bobby Parker was used in 'I Feel Fine'. And so it goes. It seems most of the artists to have discovered their music was contained in Lennon's jukebox were honoured to discover they influenced the Beatles' success and were likely also happy that they hadn't been 'ripped off' by a two'bit act. If we were to expect Jet to pay their respects not just to the Beatles and AC/DC but to the Isley Brothers, Donovan and beyond, they'd never have time to come up with a new song.

But with my concerns now abated, let me just say that I am glad at least that Creed, who never payed homage to their third'rate impression of Pearl Jam (a band who will happily tell anyone of their own debt to Neil Young), have split, and removed at least one thorn from this music snob's side.