I was watching a talk show a while back where Billy Bob Thorton was talking about his band the Boxmasters. Anyway, they got to talking about his influences from country to British invasion rock. And Thorton started talking about today's influential songwriters and bands. And he said that we really haven't had a great songwriter come along in over 30 years. You have to go back to before the 80's to find the great songwriters like Dylan, Springsteen, Neil Young, the Beatles etc. He said these artists music will live on for many years after we're dead. But there hasn't been a group or songwriter who started after the 70's, whose music will be remembered 40 or 50 years from now. I think he's got a point. Probably the last great bands to come along whose music will be remembered years from now are U2 and maybe the Police. But there again, those bands started in the 70's. There really hasn't been any band or person in the 80's to today that have made that kind of impact in the music industry. I think part of it is the record labels looking for gimmick bands or a certain look like a Lady Gaga, Bieber, Black Eyed Peas. And aren't concerned about anything but that one hit that's going to see millions of albums. Instead of nuturing truely great artists/songwriters along while they hone their crafts, like they did in the 60's and 70's, they look for what will earn them the big bucks now. I also think part of it is attention span. This generation has so much technology at their hands, that they no longer sit down for hours on end writing songs and practicing their craft like they used to. Instead, the majority of what you get with today's more polular bands is a post punk style of music. Which has already been done. Along with the usual rap and hip hop, which will never be remembered or replayed on oldies stations 40 years from now. Sad, but true. I haven't seen any evidence to convince me otherwise.