Again, total agreement. The problem is definitely generational. "Kids today" - including young musicians - want everything NOW. They aren't interested in "paying their dues". Besides, as we know in porn, who pays for anything? Heh.

But I AM shocked there hasn't been even a SINGLE artist on the level of the artists you mentioned in 25+ years. Shocking to me! Where are all the great singers and guitarists and drummers? I used to be lament being able to buy only 3-4 LPs with my allowance then and would have to put records on a list (a long list). Fuck man I am OLD! LOL

Music really really sucks now a days! what happened to musicians actually playing instruments? and learning how to sing in tune!

Maybe not your genre, but I'd argue that Metallica and Iron Maiden have been on that level. Both have been around since early 80's and have amassed HUGE fan followings. Sure, neither were as close to "mainstream" as The Beatles or Rolling Stones. Nevertheless, as far as metal bands go, there have been few other bands that worked their ways into the mainstream audience's hearts as well as these two have. ESPECIALLY Metallica.

COMPLETE agreement. But I consider Metallica, Iron Maiden, even bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana to be from that 'last wave' of great bands. Remember, "25+ years" is getting to the early nineties! LOL

But yeah both those bands are amazing. :)

Both Metallica and Iron Maiden are still going strong and both have undergone gradual changes to their sounds. Some people, like me, will always prefer early Metallica and Maiden. But their younger followings tend to be more skewed towards their more recent works.

As for waves of great bands, I think the problem lies primarily in distribution. Back when say MTV was still about music and not reality shows, the record companies were busting their asses to make killer music videos and get them played. They were bending over backwards to promote new bands and new sounds by getting them radio airplay. BUT those bands had very little indie competition. So if a band was signed, you could hear their music, if not, well...

Nowadays ANYONE can record a song and even a video and have it up on YouTube in a minute. But no one is promoting them, the way labels used to promote their artists pre-iTunes. At the same time the labels have become even more selective with that they choose to promote, since they can no longer rely on record sales alone to recoup their investments. Not only that, but they also kick in less funds for promotions.

My point is, nowadays you have a shotgun approach. Or rather said, a bunch of shit throwing itself (LOL) at the wall, to see if it sticks. Among that you have the occasional rifle bullet. Back in the day you had A LOT of high-accuracy sniper shots being taken. Most of them used to land too. Even if the artist sucked, at the end of profitability only came down to how much money you can throw at promotion, because there wasn't a whole lot of competition, compared to nowadays. Few really bummed, the worst issue used to be how good of a ROI they'd make, not if they'd turn a profit.

:2 cents:

sorry there is still incredible shit being made. most of you heave let your ears get old ; )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUjVpeHpkQ0

As I remember my grandpa loved Paul McCartney's songs...didn't know this guy is still alive :1orglaugh

Name ONE band with the talent level of a band like Queen. Just one.

My ears are old. Doesn't mean that they don't still work.
I know great musicianship, great songwriting, and great singing. What I hear these days is mostly crap with a few good bands. None of them "great" or anywhere approaching the talent level of the bands I mentioned.

Hell, just look at black music too.
Black musicians were always some of the best in the world. Theolonius Monk, Miles Davis...singers like Marvin Gay, etc.
Now young black people no longer are looking to hone those skills and become true musicians and singers.

Instead they strive to come up with beats, nursery rhyme sounding melodies, and then rap over the top of it.

It just seems to me that our entire culture both black and white has been dumbed down to the lowest common denominator.

Have you heard of Matt Bellemy from the band Muse? He is easily just as good as hendrix or page. I will take flack for that statement but its true.

Never heard him before. But just went to Youtube and watched a live video of the band featuring him doing a guitar solo.

From that vid...I would say he's not even in the same league as a real good rock guitarist like Steve Stevens...much less anywhere close to the skill, playing, soul, and creativity of Jimi Hendrix.

He's proficient enough...about the same as me and a thousand other guitarists playing the big clubs in the 1980's were. But honestly..I didn't see anything closely resembling the level of Hendrix or Page in the live video I just witnessed.

It looked like a common "paint by the numbers" guitar solo (basically musical masturbation) that a million guitarists have done.

I don't know man...I just don't see that kind of talent out there.

Every once in a while I hear someone that seems really good. But nobody earth-shaking like the giants that came before them.

That's what I'm saying is missing..musicians/artists that are out-of-this-world talented and have the "total package" of creativity, skills, charisma, and a message.

Don't get me wrong...I like "fluff" music too. I definitely find an appreciation for new music when I'm at a club watching girls twerking their ass on the dance floor.
I'm just saying that in the midst of the fluff and bubblegum shit...there aren't any musicians who will define this era as a great one for music, at least not yet.

Lol so you have decided after one youtube vid? I'll post some more later when i get home. He is a talented mofo.

I'm not denying he's talented. So are a million other guys. There are 12 year old kids on YouTube who are so proficient on guitar it makes Eddie Van Halen look like a beginner...

Being able to play proficiently (which all pro guitarists do, especially ones playing 4 sets a night 7 nights a week in clubs all over the world) is not the same as being on the level of Jimi Hendrix or Page or Van Halen, etc.

If you really think that this guy is on that level, that's cool. In my humble opinion, he's just another guitar player. The guy playing in the band "Yellow Brick Road" here in Vegas doing cover songs at The Texas Station Casino is a better player.

My thinking on it is...we aren't hearing any new guys like Hendrix, or Stevie Ray Vaughn, or Page (in terms of just pure creativity in the studio), etc.
And in today's music we hardly hear any guitar at all.
So when a guy like this one actually gets turned up in the mix and musically masturbates a solo that was just all over the place...then people take notice and think it's "great"?

Kind of like a guy dying from thirst will drink dirty water and think it tastes great.

I'm not attacking the guy in Muse. I think he sounds like a good guitar player. But I wasn't talking about "good". I was talking about otherworldy GREAT.

Hendrix was a charismatic person and great player but he freely admitted to borrowing heavily from Buddy Guy and other bluesmen. Hendrix was mostly a blues player and an amazing improvisationist but he didn't write a lot of the songs he is best known for. He had a few but he is probably best known for his covers of Dylan, etc. His pop success was in the way he made black blues palatable to white kids by playing the hippie soul brother hipster.

Page is another guy that is kind of mythologized and sort of overrated in my humblest opinion. Looking at the music he has done post Zep vs Plant I get the impression that Plant was really the brain trust for the song writing and Page for the arrangements and studio production. In my opinion, his genius is as a producer because listening to him live he was not that interesting - compare his Yardbirds work to Clapton or Beck, Not saying he wasn't influential but all the Indian influence was being done by Brian Jones before Zep did it. Great in the studio (he started as a full time session guitarist) but sort of blah live in my opinion.

Good seems to happen ever five to ten years. Great happens every fifty to hundred. Genius comes along about every four or five hundred I think. :2 cents:

I can agree with that.
Of course all blues/rock players like Page & Hendrix were heavily, heavily influenced by Buddy Guy, Robert Johnson, the 2 Kings, Muddy Waters, etc.

Page's genius was in alt tunings, guitar arrangements on the albums (pure symphonies of parts) and songwriting genius with the music (along with John Paul Jones).

Hendrix is Hendrix. Just from another planet.

The Stones, The Who, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, The Doors...those were some great bands. Some good ones came along a little later: Aerosmith, Queen, Heart, etc.

What I'm saying is...I don't think that today's musicians are able to perform at those levels.
Of course the bands of that time came up playing clubs every night and honing their skills. Today's bands not only don't have any record company or radio support...but there isn't a circuit for them to be able to play and build audiences and learn the art of entertaining people like there used to be.

who are the great guitar players in your opinion? i've always held guys like page, hendrix pretty high so i am curious to see who you hold in high regard.

thurston moore is the contemporary version of the guitarists you mentioned. but i doubt anyone here has the ears to hear.

Radiohead. I can name a few more but you only asked for one.

I like Radiohead. No fucking way that they could write and perform a song like "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. Or "Sweet Madam Blue" by Styxx.
They just don't have the vocals or musical chops to pull that kind of thing off.

I think they are a great band...I loved The Stones and they can't pull that kind of thing off either. Nor could The Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Kinks, and a lot of other bands I really like and think are great.

But my question was where are all the great musicians and singers these days? And keep in mind that Radiohead ain't exactly a new band. They are a bunch of old guys in a band that was formed 30 years ago. :)

The festival circuit is very strong. Glastonbury, Coachella, SXSW, Austin City Limits, Ultra, WMC, Bonnaroo, The Gorge, Jazz Fest (New Orleans) Governors Ball, Pink Pop, Electric Zoo, Newport (still going strong). That's just off the top of my head. Granted, most of those will have big names headlining, but the benefit of that is that the big names draw the crowds to a place where people can learn of the lesser known acts if they so choose. The music is out there, and it's not that hard to find, you just have to WANT to find it and you're likely not going to find it by just passively listening to local radio stations and watching crap like American Idol.

2 live concerts i recently saw on TV - young, talented people:

Chris Cab



Of Monsters and Men

Yeah, Radiohead has been around for quite some time now. I guess I'm just getting old. :helpme

There are bands out there, though, I'm sure of it. It's just that when people get older, they tend to not be as impressionable as they were when they were younger.

Sonic Youth, right? They've been around for longer than Radiohead.