Quote Originally Posted by thcbongman
But what about the stuff nowadays? They're amazing stuff being produced nowaday although you have to realize the model in music is changing. Everyone has more access to cheaper equipment, so more people are able to produce music. The pool of talent is diluted and wider. It's not like the 60s where in order to have a band, you gotta be really good technically so someone can front you a PA and sign you to a record deal.
But let's address a musician that could fit your criteria. What about someone like Eminem? Jay-Z? Nas? Korn? Blink 182? They all fit the criteria of something that could be in bad taste, media manipulation. However, even though I don't like any of them at all, I have listened to most of their albums and they are quite good in different ways. Like that, I'm sure their music will be heard years later. You could far back as Dire Straits (and they milked the hell out of MTV) to find MTV-influenced bands that seem to have this label as being shit music, but in reality, their music is timeless.

In reality, preference and taste are huge factors in how one determines what music they like. They are bands who are innovative groundbreakers that never get recognized until much later, like The Velvet Underground and Brian Eno and they are many a band that fail to live to the hype they generate and are long forgotten. It doesn't mean that low art is the phenomenon of the day. It's simply evolving with artists being more free from the rein of record companies.
You seem to comment positively on the fact that high musicianship is no longer a prerequisite. Yeah, I agree that there's good stuff being made nowadays, but usually nobody listens to it. I agree also that tastes and preference determine what music people like, and I'm not here to say that people should be told what to listen to by any kind of elite, I'm just saying their taste may not be too sophisticated or eclectic, and they may not care about music other than as some shallow background noise or something to grind to as they attempt to get laid.

Also, I don't really think timelessness necessarily is equated with quality--it usually is, but nobody listens to Jefferson Airplane anymore other than two songs, and I find them a hell of a lot more talented than someone like Michael Jackson, but that's just me.