America's current situation is just chickens from the '80s coming home to roost

[Honeycombe8]

72. 50 yrs from now, most people won't know who those people are or those songs.

Excepts are Prince & U2. The others were passing in the night.

Consider: Bob Dylan popular for almost 60 years, his songs are still considered awesome and relevant. Janis Joplin - still regarded as one of the best pop female stars of all time; her music is still highly regarded. Peter Paul & Mary - historically popular folk group. The Beatles - named on a list of people who had a large influence on the world; their music is of course still more popular than most in the list you gave.

That's what I mean by a desert in music. It's relevant for the decade, and popular at the time. But people won't be listening to it years from then. Look up the sales for The Smiths, X, Roxy Music, Midnight Oil. It's been decades since those songs came out. Compare those sales with sales of, say, 2 decades of The Beatles, 2 decades of Bob Dylan, 2 decades of Frank Sinatra, 2 decades of Janis Joplin (the first 2 decades after their popular songs came out).

Consider: Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, whose music you may not like. But almost a century later, they are still highly regarded and their albums sell well.

It's not whether you liked them or not. I'm speaking of lasting, relevant, highly regarded music for the centuries.

One of my favorite songs from the 80s was Come on, Eileen. Loved it. But it's not a song for the centuries, and the artist was a flash in the pan. Liking it is not the issue.