Prediction more like, time will tell.

The music from the 60's & 70's will last the test of time because the nostalgia of it all is still present in people.
Only the artists that define those generations are remembered though, not all the dross bands and artists that populated that era which are present in every decade.

The same will happen in 20 years time, when people criticise the state of modern music. They'll all look back and say that the 90's - 00's were great, due to nostalgia. These decades will be defined by the more influential artists just the same though. Not the here now gone tomorrow types like chipmunk and other artists that people are criticising in this thread.

nostalgia does play a huge part in it, i think.

i generally prefer music from the 60s and 70s, but because my youth is still on-going and my teenage years were not at all long ago, i don't have that nostalgia of the music from those decades coupled with my own experiences and memories.

in years to come, perhaps i'll look back on this decade with rose-tinted spectacles and forget all the music i didn't like and only remember the stuff i personally loved.

Read back - I never said it was crap at all. I just feel it's not exceptonal, or outstanding.

And musical quality isn't all subjective. One person may prefer the Wurzels to The Beatles - that's fine. But most would agree ( in an objective way ) that The Beatles are far superior artistically to the combine harvester's biggest supporters

How do you measure artistic merit objectively?

How is this an okay comment to make?

Once again, taking the Wurzels and The Beatles as examples, the Fabs revolutionised studio techniques, introduced self-written songs when it wasn't the norm, and changed things completely again with the originality of albums like Revolver & Sgt Pepper.

The Wurzels hold no such comparative CV. They are a pleasant country-style act. No doubt many of their fans love them more than The Beatles. Subjectively. And good on 'em for doing so

Objectively though, The Beatles' musical originality, range, influence and depth far outweighs anything the Wurzels ever produced.

Combine Harvester was catchy though

Today's music is the best

I second that

cue sneering and sniggering for daring to suggest something so preposterous in the eyes of haters.

I just think that people today have far lower expectations.

When such as Rap = 'someone talking fast and swearing.' is popular, you just know we have lost it.

If you don't like pop or R&B music then don't listen to it. It doesn't mean musics gone bad some of us prefer The Saturdays to Roy Orbison.

Who is this?

an american 60's singer

In regards to the 90's there were many great albums and bands from that era Nirvana Nevermind is still regarded as one of the great albums, Pearl Jam can still sell out the 02 in under 20 mins so i'm guessing their music is standing the test of time.

dross will always be forgotten, but just look at the quality there, dozens and dozens of great artists from them decades, you seriously think today can live up to that quality?

I still think they have a 'pet sounds' in them.

Joking aside, even outside the charts music has got worse this decade. Look at NME, Kerrang, Rock Sound etc. all writing and peddling rubbish.

I think there has been some stunning and historic metal releases in the last 10 years but that's it... all the big 90s punk bands went rubbish.

I blame Pete Waterman for everything.

Music isn't bad, the charts are. I blame the ability to download single tracks rather than having to invest in singles bundles and albums.

That and the short-termism of record companies only wanting to invest in acts for 1 year before moving on to someone else (e.g. the next year's X Factor contestant). Pop was always disposable but it has reached a dangerous limit now.

I occasionally look at the single charts and there is usually nothing there that I would actually buy. In fact, I barely recognise the names of most of the one-hit-wonder artists.

The decent music (from my perspective) can still be found on many albums in the album charts, thankfully.

Nostalgia hits you when you start realizing you're getting on a bit (late 30s maybe).

I wasn't crazy about a lot of 80s music during my teens, but I do kind of get transported back to those times when I hear some of the tunes and enjoy them far more now than I did back then.

I think with me I've basically hated the 'sound' of pretty much all music since the mid 80s. I just prefer the warmer more organic productions of the 50s through 70s.

Agreed - the difference is vast. There are still some great acts around today, but only a handful compared to the 60s and 70s.

Brian Wilson must be worried

That's a point I made earlier The lack of interest from established record companies was what made the initial phase of Indie so vibrant. Acts couldn't get a lot of backing from the big bosses so they had to go elsewhere. The problem is even worse today than it was in the 90s.

I'm interested to know who you think are the handful of great artists that are around today? Please enlighten us .

In a narrow commercial sense, two British acts who spring to mind are Coldplay & Travis. Both managed to succeed in the mainstream with strong pop / rock, unlike a lot of others with promise who seem to drop away fairly quickly.

There was a long-running thread on DS that highlighted new young acts, but so much of it was bland. I really stuck with that thread and I've searched the net for other acts since. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of inventiveness out there.

Coldplay? One of the most tedious, over-hyped and over-rated bands ever?

There are plenty of good bands/artists* out there. One just needs to open their mind, and perhaps their ears, a little or else they'll never find them.


* - If someone finds themselves desperate for examples a few of my favourites are: Muse, The Kills, Of Montreal, Ladytron, The Knife/Fever Ray, M83, Peaches, Florence and The Machine, Bat For Lashes. Oh, and The Residents, too; though they're not "new" as they've been making music since 1969.

I have to disagree that music is bad nowadays.

I would agree that the charts are weak and have been for quite a long while, but there is some great music out there if you just know where to look.

Basically switch off mainstream radio and do some investigation yourself, there are some gems releasing stuff these days.