Its simple. Like this:
Michael Jackson
Influences: Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, James Brown, etc.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson( ‘copying’ does not apply here but other aspects of influencing does)
Influences: Carl Sagan, Isaac Newton, etc.
Iron Maiden
Influences: Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, Yes, Led Zeppelin, etc.
Robin Williams
Influences: Richard Pryor, Jonathan Winters, etc.
Skrillex
Influences: Marilyn Manson, I don’t really care
Graham Linehan (Creator of The It Crowd)
Influences: Don’t really know. Just slipped in.
Antonio Vivaldi
Influences: I’m pretty sure he had influencers. You got my point.
What all of these people have in common is that they took specific ideas from their influencers, moulded it into their own, mixed it with their own fresh ideas and then built upon it. In other words, they picked up where their influencers left off. I think, if you are creative enough, all this will happen subconsciously. They did not try to ‘imitate’ their influencers. They did not purposefully alter their content to avoid similarities with their influencers. They did not actively try to borrow ideas and manipulate them so that people won’t notice it. The ideas for which these people are known for, were birthed within them. They only needed influencers to fuel their inner passion.
I hate it when we lose great artists. I really do. It’s because we don’t know what amazing things they would have done. A creative mind doesn’t just stop manufacturing ideas. It’s the body that fails. Not the mind. I’m a 90s kid. The type of music that I like is dying out slowly. I don’t have anything against modern day music. I enjoy it. But there’s this deep nostalgia. I can’t let it go. That’s why I love it when new, awesome artists have the balls to pickup from where great artists left off.
Greta Van Fleet
Influences: Led Zeppelin
Airbourne, Jettblack, The Treatment
Influences: AC/DC (in my opinion)
Random Thought Beam 