Music and the test of time
 

I recently had a discussion with a 23 year old about music. My assertion was that this era of music is horrible because there are not too many bands/acts that will stand the test of time. I could only think of a handful of bands/acts that teenagers will be listening to 20 years from now.

I come from the Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden era of music. When I was in high school Zeppelin, the Doors, the Who, and the Stones were still very popular, even though they were over 20 years old.

The only bands/singers that I think will still be 'cool' in 20 years are:

The White Stripes
Justin Timberlake (not a fan, but the kid has talent)

OOT, tell me which musicians that emerged in the last 10 years or so will still be considered 'cool' and classics in 20 years.

Re: Music and the test of time
 

Decently old already, but Elliott Smith comes to mind.

Re: Music and the test of time
 

radiohead
outkast
the roots
jay-z
modest mouse
tool
nas
wu-tang

Re: Music and the test of time
 

also, i am 24, and i 'grew up' with all those bands you are talking about, wtf?

Re: Music and the test of time
 

My guess is that you're ignoring tons of underground kinds of bands...And I don't blame you, but some of these will still probably be classic.

I think the ones that are classic now will still be as well.

Re: Music and the test of time
 

[ QUOTE ]


I come from the Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden era of music.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahhhh yes, the TRUE golden age of music.

Re: Music and the test of time
 

[ QUOTE ]
also, i am 24, and i 'grew up' with all those bands you are talking about, wtf?

[/ QUOTE ]

I am 9 years older than you. I was in high school when they first broke out, and you were in high school when they were breaking up, dying, losing popularity.

Re: Music and the test of time
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


I come from the Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden era of music.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahhhh yes, the TRUE golden age of music.

[/ QUOTE ]

Certainly not the golden age, but I'm pretty sure most 15 year olds know of these bands.

Re: Music and the test of time
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


I come from the Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden era of music.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahhhh yes, the TRUE golden age of music.

[/ QUOTE ]

Certainly not the golden age, but I'm pretty sure most 15 year olds know of these bands.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm almost certain this is wrong.

Re: Music and the test of time
 

It's probably true that there will be very few bands that have emerged in the past 5-10 years that will stand the "test of time", but I feel like this has less to do with the quality of music being made and more to do with the way music is consumed these days. Back in the "good ol' days" music consumption was a lot more centralized. You had a fistful of radio stations to choose from and you liked it. Bands were bigger and appealed to a broader audience not necessarily because they were "better", but because music was far less accessible than it is now. These days you have so many ways to consume music, from radio stations to XM, to illegal downloads to rhapsody and napster to go type models, to the recently exploded blogosphere, pandora, and even things like myspace. There are just so many ways to find, search, and listen to new music that it's become ridiculously more "spread out" than it used to be. Instead of a ton of people listening to a number of bands, there are a number of people listening to any one of a ton of bands.

That's not to say the quality of music has not declined, but I don't think the "test of time" is correlated.