Here's my question:
Rock was once an alive and vital musical form. In the 60s and 70s, it expressed the voice of a generation. Is rock still alive in the same way? Does it speak to today's youth the way it spoke to me when I was their age, or are they, as Msolga suggests, switching to other musical genres?
Starting about middle school kids are indoctrinated into the hip hop genre. It sucks too, because there are some very talented young R&R bands out there that are being pushed aside by this, and I say this from the bottom of my music loving heart, CRAP.
I can put up with some Eminem because he's talented and entertaining, but these other rappers and female do-wop singers that simply say each others name over and over again to a pouding bass beat bites the big one. If our parents though R&R was dumbing down the culture, this stuff is exponentially worse.
larry r,
That's a hard question to answer. The youth of today do not know how the past music affected past generations and IMO no matter how "hip" someone from the past generation is, they won't be able to speak for how the current music affects the current youth.
cjhsa,
One man's crap is another's...
I hear a lot about how bad rap is, how simple etc. I think almost any genre (with the exception of classical, jazz and the like) can churn out such low quality music. Rock is replete with mind-numbingly stupid songs.
Craven - agreed on that last sentence. Several big names come to mind, McCartney singing "Someones knocking at the door", Paul Simon doing "50 ways to leave your lover", and just about anything done by Clapton in the last 15 years.
