Wow! I'm kinda new here, and I'm certainly glad I signed up. A lot of good points have been made.

As far as contemporary music being lousy, I really don't think that the ratio of good stuff to bad stuff is really any different than it's ever been. I'd say that the reason why we romanticize the past is because we only remember the truly great and innovative artists, but we tend to forget those that were simply jumping on whatever the bandwagon was at the time. The Beatles are still a household name, but you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who can tell you who Freddy & The Dreamers were.

Unfortunately, it does seem as if there's a shortage of truly great artists that are well known to the public. Sure, you can point to Radiohead, Wilco, Weezer and a handfull of others, but the current situation really pales in comparison to that time in history when you could see legends like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Who perform at the same concert! (And without being robbed by Ticketmaster, I might add!) Then again, I'm only 25, so it's possible that I've just been brainwashed by VH1. [Linked Image]

However, I'd still like to think that there's still good music being made. It's just gotten a little harder to find. Otherwise, I'm left with a grim future where popular music hit its artistic peak before I was born.

http://www.leavemusic.com