Harry Styles

Maybe, we can find a place to feel good

And we can treat people with kindness

Find a place to feel good

This week’s Musical Tree is a little different. Instead of focusing on an artist who has had a major influence on artists and music in general, I am going to feature a current artist who has been influenced by classic artists. I call this a reverse musical tree and the artist is Harry Styles.

I’ll admit I had never heard of Harry Styles until I saw him appear on Saturday Night Live and perform his song ‘Sign Of The Times’. I liked the song but then was somewhat horrified to find out that he had previously been with the British boy-band One Direction. Undeterred, I have found that I like some of his solo music and have discovered that his music reflects an interesting mix of classic rock influences. 

Harry Styles was born in England on February 1, 1994. In 2010 he appeared on the British music competition show ‘The X Factor’ but was eliminated. However, that exposure led him to being asked to join the band One Direction. One Direction became one of the biggest selling boy-bands of all time. In 2017 Harry Styles released his debut, self-titled solo album, which featured the number one hit single ‘Sign Of The Times’.

Harry Styles is a huge classic rock fan, and he isn’t afraid to share those influences. One such artists is David Bowie, whose influence can be heard on that song. Prince is also an artist that Styles admired, and the title of his first hit clearly parallels the Prince album ‘Sign O The Times’. 

Styles admits that his debut album was influenced by artists he grew up listening to, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, and Pink Floyd. When Styles was a kid he listened to the Pink Floyd album ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ and, while he admits that he didn’t really get all of the songs, he was still impressed, saying that the album sounded “really f***ing cool”. It’s pretty rare these days to have an artist topping the charts and citing classic rock bands as major influences on their music. Previous Musical Trees have discussed artists that have influenced those that have in turn influenced Styles, so it’s nice to see those influences “paying it forward” if you will.

But Styles doesn’t stop with these classic rock bands. He lists the great songwriter Harry Nilsson as a major influence, even stating that Nilsson’s lyrics were “honest, and so good, and I think it’s because he’s never trying to sound clever”. I have always felt that Harry Nilsson has been an overlooked and underappreciated singer/songwriter. The fact that an artist born the same year that Harry Nilsson passed away is praising his lyrical ability is pretty amazing. Plus, it gives me an excuse to include a Harry Nilsson song in this blog!

Styles cites Freddie Mercury and Elvis Presley as influences. He also mentions that Shania Twain has been an inspiration for him both musically and in fashion (for those that are curious, look up his cover photo on Vogue).

Harry Styles’ second solo effort, ‘Fine Line’ was released in 2019 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making it two consecutive albums to reach number one in the U.S. This album is filled with influences from classic artists and notably the cover of ‘Fine Line’ resembles the cover of Van Morrison’s album ‘Astral Weeks’.  Styles has been quoted as saying that he is a huge fan of the Irish singer.

Styles also mentions both Joni Mitchell and blues legend Etta James as having influenced songs on his second album. In fact, Styles loved Joni Mitchell’s album ‘Blue’ so much that he contacted Joellen Lapidus, the artist that played dulcimer on ‘Blue’ to play on ‘Fine Line’. ‘Canyon Moon’ is the track that resulted from this pairing, and listening to the song it is easy to hear the influence of the Laurel Canyon music scene from the early 1970’s.

Listen to ‘Treat People With Kindness’ – the song which the lyrics at the beginning of this blog are from – and note the gospel-like feel to it while delivering an almost flower-power type message of treating people with kindness.

Harry Styles lists Paul McCartney as one of the greatest songwriters that he has ever heard, and also has praised Mick Jagger and Paul Simon for their songwriting abilities.

As I mentioned, I was not familiar with Harry Styles until recently. I’m not going to call myself a Harry Styles fan, however he does have some songs that I like, even if I don’t agree with his fashion sense! But here at The Musical Tree I do not judge. Having an artist today as popular as Harry Styles, performing songs with a heavy classic rock influence is nothing short of amazing. One can argue that drawing on greatness leads to greatness, but I wonder how many of his current fans would be familiar with the artists that have influenced Styles. 

Either way, it’s nice to see someone paying homage to the classic stars of the past, who themselves were influenced by previous artists featured in The Musical Tree. And in today’s world, maybe we need to find a place to feel good and treat people with kindness. Now that would be a great sign of the times!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s Reverse Musical Tree. Feel free to leave suggestions for future articles in the comments. Don’t forget to subscribe to be notified via email when there is a new post. 

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