Oh come on – how many times do we have to go through this? Whenever a generation loses their idols they say the current batch of artist are the worst ever. You don’t think in the seventies when Zeppelin, Stones and Who ruled the parents didn’t say they were no Elvis or Sinatra? And then in the Eighties when it was Springsteen and Madonna they said were no Beatles or Zeppelin. Or in the Nineties when it was U2 and Pearl Jam and there were no Springsteen or Police.

Let’s face it. The next decades’ heroes will always pale when compared the previous decades heroes. Time allows us to right the wrongs and the winners stand proud while the losers can quietly be forgotten. We laugh when we are wrong together and we are proud when we are right together.

When I was in eighth grade my favorite band was Blue Oyster Cult. They were great. And that was a respectable choice but they were by no means a decade defining Rock band. So was Peter Frampton great? Apparently he was for an album – but we all thought so. So are the Stones the greatest Rock band ever? There is something to be said for timing and longevity.

But are all the great days behind us? No, but the more ‘influential days’ could be – but not entirely. The 60’s were special times for music because they were special times for the youth culture. As they grew so did their music. Was it better? that, of course, is a matter of opinion.

I believe greatness is based on opportunity. Great performances, as in actors, are based on great characters. Tom Cruise sucks as actor because he is always playing the same damned character (yea, yea, I know – he was great ‘Born On The Fourth of July’ and no I haven’t seen Vanilla Sky, yet). The music of the 60’s & 70’s reflect what the youth culture was going through at that time.

So 25 years or so later is there anything left for the new ‘Youth Culture’ (Generation X, Y, Z or whatever you want to call them) to discovery? Maybe not. So it music dead? No way. When 9/11 occurred I watched the outpouring of music on MP3.com. These were reflections of a single event. Were they all classics? Of course not. But look at Springsteen’s ‘The Rising‘ his own reflections of the events on 9/11 – and his best album since ‘Born In The USA’.

The problem is how music is distributed. Believe me, there are hundreds of ways to distribute music now (Moby’s ‘Play‘ album is a poster child of licensing music for profit and exposure). It isn’t just us and our friends listening to albums in our bedrooms or listening to our favorite radio station anymore.

On the other side the artists themselves are more accessible. Most bands have a MySpace site and regularly interact with their fans. I hold up one of my favorite bands Marillion and how a ‘no name’ band can have a successful career as musicians their these type of relationships.

So music is not dead, has long as people continue to write songs and fans continue to find them and continue relate to them. Will there ever be another band like the Beatles or The Stones? no – those were different times. Are the Beatles better then U2? different music, different times. These days I am a kid in a candy store with all the music that’s out there. Can’t find anything you like? that’s because you aren’t looking. And you shouldn’t have to – and THAT I blame on the music distribution system. Music is not dead, not by a long shot. But as they say, its hard to get a drink from a fire hose.