"big C" Creativity

"The Sociocultural definition of creativity requires that some socially valuable product be generated before the act or the person is called "creative."  Only solutions to extremely difficult problems, or significant works of genius, are recognized as creative.  This is sometimes called "big C" Creativity" (R. Keith Sawyer, Explaining Creativity, p. 8).

Well, I personally find Bob Marley's music to be socially valuable.  Other critics may need more proof than the groovablility of his reggae sound.  In their "The Best of the Century" article from December 31st, 1999, Time Magazine awarded Bob Marley with the biggest "big C" title one can imagine:
Best album, Exodus, by Bob Marley and The Wailers (1977) 
http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,993039-2,00.html

                                                              Best album of the century.




"For an artwork, you can find its market value, or count how many times it appears in art history textbooks...  Then, when you average the ratings of all of a person's creative works, you can use that as an indirect measure of that person's creativity.  If the average market value of an artist's paintings is high, you could reasonably conclude that the artist is creative" (R. Keith Sawyer, Explaining Creativity, p. 41).

"A field is made up of experts in a given domain whose job involves passing judgment on performance in that domain.  Members of the field choose from among the novelties those that deserve to be included in the canon.  This competition also means that a creative person must convince the field that he or she has made a valuable innovation.  This is never an easy task" (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity, p. 42).

To be eligible for induction as an artist (as a performer, composer, or musician) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the artist must have released a record, in the generally accepted sense of that phrase, at least 25 years prior to the year of induction; and have demonstrated unquestionable musical excellence.

We shall consider factors such as an artist's musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique, but musical excellence shall be the essential qualification of induction.

http://rockhall.com/inductees/bob-marley/


As if that wasn't enough to prove his "big C" credentials, Marley's song "One Love" was named "Song of the Millennium" by the BBC in 1999.  Not bad for a poor kid from rural Jamaica.
http://soundofthemic.blogspot.com/2010/09/history-of-song-one-love-people-get.html

Here's a timeless posthumous video version of the song of the millennium.  That's right, that's Sir Paul McCartney grooving to the music.