After decades of some of the most essential and influential music to have ever been made, the 21st Century business revolution has marked a downfall in music culture, one almost certain to affect music in the long term.

Music is everywhere, there's no doubt about that, but it isn't half what it was 30 years ago. Whilst the 60's - 80's brought us many a musical maverick, the growth of industry and music as a business means our ears arn't getting what they deserve, they're getting what's cheap, fast, easy and thoughtless. The mainstream is plagued with the solid-stuck idealisms of what's "popular" and thus in the most ignorant of translations, what is talented. Throw enough money, hype and glamour at any single artist or band, no matter how mediocre or uninnovative, and people will believe they're getting the real deal, something special (what such an industry insultingly chose to call 'the X factor'). What they are really getting is a manufactured, over exposed clone of something they have already heard. The same gift, wrapped in a different bow. Perhaps this bow is more mature, perhaps more sparkly, prettier, but the gift is still the same underneath. With gifts, it's the thought that counts, and what we receive in the mainstream is totally thoughtless.

Of course music is still evolving today. There are amazing things happening in the world of music. Technology is growing and so is our understanding, the discoveries being made could shape the change of our musical perception for years to come.

... But they don't, because you don't hear them. You have to search, sometimes dig deep. Strangely enough, the music that is truly innovative, truly insightful and new, isn't what the mainstream wants. Why? Because it doesn't sell. At least not like sex does. You can't manipulate the masses with promises of intelligence and discovery.

So I ask you my fellow music fans; What kind of state is 21st Century music culture in when not only are we lacking the expressive, often rebellious idealists of the truly gifted as we once did, but also the urge to evolve? Instead, the industry makes billions off semi-talented individuals ready to be moulded into public idols for profit, while the spirit and soul remains AWOL.

Discuss?
B.Basher Reviewed by B.Basher on . The sorry state of 21st Century music culture After decades of some of the most essential and influential music to have ever been made, the 21st Century business revolution has marked a downfall in music culture, one almost certain to affect music in the long term. Music is everywhere, there's no doubt about that, but it isn't half what it was 30 years ago. Whilst the 60's - 80's brought us many a musical maverick, the growth of industry and music as a business means our ears arn't getting what they deserve, they're getting what's Rating: 5