Regarding the nehative conotations of the word derivative: This is a true story--I witnessed the exchange first-hand. It's no secret that just about every electric guitar player of the last 40 years or so is at some level influenced by B.B. King. It should therefore be no insult to his memory to suggest that in the 60's & 70's the late Luther Allison played VERY much in B.B.'s style. At a club in Milwaukee in 1974 or 75, Luther was approached between sets by a guy trying to be impressive by loudly proclaiming, "You aint shit! All you're doing is playing just like B.B. King!" Luther gave him the hairy eyeball for about 10 seconds and then calmly handed the guy his guitar and said, "Okay, YOU go up there and play just like B.B. King!"