I have ranted, bitched and moaned about how I felt brisket had gotten away from itself in competitions as more and more competitions started. I have receive some conmsternation due to my style and methods of getting it across.
Well I will say this.... this simple style.... this old school style that was a throw back to the days when only texans did briskets in competitions (or the neighboring states) well....
NO I HAVE TO GET FUNKY AGAIN...
I told Bigmista this once a while ago. Its 1982 and the Funky Sound was high in Hornz... you know... seawind horns with Micheal Jackson and the Off the Wall Album, Earth Wind and Fire, all them cats... along comes PRINCE... all the sounds of hornz are replaced by SYNTHS.... he made that sound and Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Janet Jackson all copied that sound....People ate 1999 Album era up. When he was recording When Doves Cry Agents of Warner Brother's said... you got to have a strong bassline in Black Radio. He NIXED the bass in the entire song......... BAMN Platinum!
Then when that got tired he switched to live hornz.... Sexy MF, Willing and Able, Samples even in Gett Off were hornz.
fast forward... today... all we get is prepackaged pop of people that can't even sang and hip hop with a techno sound (stealing from Prince's old licks)
Along comes Prince with a new Band, Horns and all, once again as funky but short of synths. 2004 he had the biggest grossing tour that year, even beat out Madona at around 95 million. In 2008 he played 21 Nights in London's O2 Arena, selling out 20,000 tickets each night in the same damn town. Best selling tour with NO RADIO HITS making the entire Recording Industry Irrelevant in one full swoop.
And if you think my logic only applies to the funk... what do you think Garth Brooks is gonna do when he is good and ready?
So... back to BBQ. Judges do get tired of tasting the same thing over and over, EVEN IF ITS PERFECT LOLOLOLOL, but now that so much about the brisket has been OVERTWEAKED for them.... the old basic Funk, that James Brown Vibe, Ray Charles, Jackie Wilson will seem like its pushing the envelope.
What I take away from this is that competition BBQ is schizophrenic.
Here goes... BBQ has an initial accepted, conservative definition. The envelope is then pushed by some who refuse to be defined by convention (Prince), which is received with great acceptance, except for the purists (Industry).
Here's where I get confused...Does the new guard (Prince) become the old guard (Prince 2.0) by going back to the original convention once proving that the new convention worked? Or once the envelope bursts because of unskilled cooks seeking glory instead of purity (Prince Thieves) polluting the air with continual over tweaking, the purist (Ray Charles) is back in vogue? Or is it both. I was kind of lost on the innovation of Prince and then the stripping away all of the new innovations to take it back.
If either are true, then the only relevant standard in BBQ is what tickles the tongue "Right Now". If the old school "sound" is what is hip, then that is what you roll with. When that sound becomes passe, then you better start innovating (tweaking). At some point the tweaking also becomes passe and what was old is now new again.
Looking back through the history of KCBS comp BBQ (the only history I'm really versed in) there are many signs o the times (Did you see what I did there?) that had their day, but were more a flash in the pan.
Here's what I think... for what it is worth. Good is good. Complex and simple can both be good and work at a competition. You catch the timing right with either direction and you could walk away a hero. It is like an artist who was either ahead of their time... or behind. A strong foundation of your craft is key whether you are a pitmaster or a funkmaster. I'll be doing a S&P brisket soon to exercise my skills and bring it back.