Newsweek concluded their article on what they called “rock’s doldrums” by reminiscing about the “good old days” when Elvis Presley and the Beatles created excitement by providing an identifiable center to the pop music world, recording music that the various segments of the pop music audience could all share. According to Newsweek, Elvis and the Beatles were “Phenomena produced by a nation responding in unison to the sounds on every Top 40 radio station.” The magazine went on to predict that “In today’s fragmented music marketplace, no rock star can hope to have that kind of impact.”
Written yesterday? A few days ago? Last year? No that’s Newsweek from April 1982. A few months before Michael Jackson’s Thriller came out, and as this article in Billboard points out the cries of ‘too fragmented!’ and ‘too many other competing things!’ or even as I remember the classic ‘Home Taping Is Killing Music’ are all too relevant now. We still get never-ending articles about the death of monoculture, music piracy, the death of music sales, and that kids they just don’t want heroes anymore.
I think Steve Greenberg is right, we’ve been here before and feels like the calm before the storm…just takes something big or a real game changer, and given the fact that the industry is a complete mess, that’s very likely. And the move away from reality shows and boy bands with the likes of Adele and the anti-folk artists I would guess it would be something from that area – but come from anywhere. (via Clifton Stubblefield)
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