When you play in a band you need everyone on the same page. The members of Nirvana were all into the same bands and wanted to play a certain kind of music. If you’re a member of, say, the Red Hot Chili Peppers then you probably like funk. If you're a member of Exciter then you probably like metal. If you’re a member of The Skull Crushers and the Doodlebug Foot Stompers then your music may lack direction and, as a result, fans. Strumming on the ol’ banjo might not sound so good next to heavily distorted thrash guitars but I could be wrong. I am a public servant whose musical career never made it far from recording a demo and burying it in a sock drawer.
Some musical styles do merge well. Country and rock, punk and funk, rap and metal, metal and hot jazz, yodelling and electronica. Then there are musical styles that should never be combined. I’m thinking anything with bag pipes combined with another set of bag pipes.
When the Beatles combined eastern music with pop rock it merged well only because it's the Beatles. We've all heard Norwegian Wood and loved it. George Harrison just knew the song needed the sitar. He was that smart. But if The Skull Crushers and the Doodlebug Foot Stompers added a sitar it wouldn't merge well because they're not the Beatles and they don't know what they're doing (see illustration above). If we get that Exciter reunion going then maybe a sitar on a few songs would work. But it would have to be the original Exciter because they know their songs better than any other lineup. If the Beatles were to reform with George and John replaced then that sitar just wouldn't work on Norwegian Wood. If the Beatles were to reform with Ringo replaced then it would work just fine because there's no drums on Norwegian Wood. If they were to reform with a replacement bird tweeting on Blackbird then it would sound terrible.
So if you're going to start a band I'd advise you to not bother. Bands aren't formed anymore by musicians. You should probably just try to get on American Idol and learn to say yes a lot.
