Musicians Of Today - 30 Years From Now

[OldKingClancy]

This came up as a conversation piece between my and my friends one day and I'd like to share it with you fine people.

With bands of old like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zep, etc all being fondly remembered many, many years after they were the biggest thing on the planet it got me thinking about the musicians of today's chart.

The question I'm asking is: Which - if any - of today's chart-toppers are going to be remembered 30 odd years down the line? Who of today's music will be looked back on in the same way as The Beatles and The Stones?

To start this piece of I'm gonna say Daft Punk. They've been consistently good their entire career with moments of greatness, they're music is modern and yet futuristic all at the same time and even their old work is memorable to this day.

 

[Total LOLige]

Honestly, none. Maybe Lady Gaga because she's a bit weird with the meat dress and running about naked in fields. There's not much that's new or inspiring in the charts right now. I'd agree with Daft Punk but for me they've been going a bit too long to be considered "music of today".

 

[Colour Scientist]

Honestly, none. Maybe Lady Gaga because she's a bit weird with the meat dress and running about naked in fields. There's not much that's new or inspiring in the charts right now. I'd agree with Daft Punk but for me they've been going a bit too long to be considered "music of today".

Aren't you ignoring the fact that they had one of the biggest selling albums of last year?
I'd consider that "music of today."

OP: I'm not really sure, longevity can be a pretty difficult thing to predict, especially with music.

I can think of quite a few acts that will definitely be around or at least regularly played in 10 years but 30 is a different story.

 

[Total LOLige]

Honestly, none. Maybe Lady Gaga because she's a bit weird with the meat dress and running about naked in fields. There's not much that's new or inspiring in the charts right now. I'd agree with Daft Punk but for me they've been going a bit too long to be considered "music of today".

Aren't you ignoring the fact that they had one of the biggest selling albums of last year?
I'd consider that "music of today."

A fair point. It was also their first in eight years which is an awful long time. Daft Punk will most likely be remembered as an act from the 90s and early 2000s period because that's where the majority of their output is from. I suppose if they cranked out a few more good albums this decade then they might be remembered as music of today. Then again I'm not sure how massive DP were back then when compared to how popular they are now.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Maybe The Black Keys and Muse for "rock" since they both have been growing in their own field of music and have been getting better and better as time goes on.

Possibly Taylor Swift since I kind of see her making music for a very long time. Kelly Clarkson might be another one since she does put out solid music, even if I don't dig pop music but I will recognize that. Lady Gaga probably since she does have some writing crops considering she wrote music for other artists before even doing it for herself. That and she can actually play the piano. I would say Fiona Apple because she does make really good music and can play the piano as well, but she's so schizophrenic in output that it's hard to tell with her.

Ditto for Daft Punk since they have a lot of EDM tunes that are still played today that was done years and years ago. Their recent album has some really solid tracks.

One problem I have with the current music industry is that they tend to put out artists that will get them a quick buck and then move on to the next person. Not a whole lot of substance, but just a lot of pomp and circumstance in their shows and appearance. So, it's kind of hard to predict who will stay around and who will flare out. I think Lordi is one of those artists, but that's just me.

 

[das_n00b]

The problem here is that no one is taking underground independent musicians into account. Particularly hip-hop, metal, and punk have a lot of acts which have been around for a little over a decade, some almost three (NOFX, bad religion being two great examples). A lot of musicians end up developing their own outlets to keep working in the music business, whether it be by means of producing up and coming acts, or setting up their own labels, a lot of lesser known groups forge a lifelong career in music by means other than performing. I thin really the only reason a large portion of individuals who consume music wonder about longevity for musicians is because a lot of us have been spoon fed this this mega rockstar nonsense which implies that a group which has put out one record that garnished enough attention and was marketed at just the right time should be put in a pedestal (i.e. the beatles and the stones) and held there so long as they keep putting out material that is sufficiently well put together, and in fitting with whatever musical style is the norm at the time of release.

I can personally think of a few dozen acts that have been around since the mid 80's which still tour and record regularly, and a handful of musicians who are still extremely active in music in all manners of ways (production, distribution, writing, etc).

 

[Barbas]

Um...Gorillaz? I was hearing about them all through the 90s and they still come up every now and then, which isn't bad.

 

[w9496]

On the rock/metal side of things, I think the Foo Fighters and Metallica will have a lot of staying power. Whenever Metallica releases an album it debuts at #1 every time, which says quite a bit in todays music scene. The Foo Fighters are close to that level, and have multiple hits off of each album.

Most rappers and pop stars will disappear in a few years, but that's just the nature of the genre. You can only write so many songs about parties before you run out of material. I imagine Lady Gaga will be remembered in a similar way that Madonna is.

 

[Vault101]

Kanye West definetly.....everyone seems to liek Beyonce too

[b/]Most rappers[/b] and pop stars will disappear in a few years....

lets not trash the whole genre please...not when Nickleback exists...

anyway

were those bands "chart toppers"? because contrary to what "le wrong generation" kids like to say the past was not a golden era of Queen, Creedance, Rolling Stones and The Beatles all hanging out on the same charts atht same time...in fact some well loved acts never really did chart top

and that said mabye the way we see music will change? the rick rock stars are pretty much a dead breed, pop seems dumber....a lot of the artist I like are "mid range" in terms of popularity at best, mabye its too fractured? is that such a bad thing?

hell I read a news article that said "kids today" see youtube stars more recognisable than other mainstrem celebs

One problem I have with the current music industry is that they tend to put out artists that will get them a quick buck and then move on to the next person. Not a whole lot of substance, but just a lot of pomp and circumstance in their shows and appearance. So, it's kind of hard to predict who will stay around and who will flare out. I think Lordi is one of those artists, but that's just me.

do you mean Lorde?

personally I don't see why we need to compare artists to those of yesteryear in terms of staying power...it was a differen't time

and even then I doubt anyone remembers the 80's pop classic "tell it to my heart" but I don't care because I listen to it anyway

OTOH, Lady Gaga is apparently working for the Illuminati, so she's got a decent chance when they take over.

...oh my god...


the Capitol anyone??

 

[sXeth]

I'm skeptical of Gaga hanging around, the people who did her schtick back in the 80s (or even 70s) sure haven't left a big imprint.

Eminem, Daft Punk, and Queens of the Stone Age for the mainstream. Gorillaz will probably be remembered, but they've already kind of vaporized out of radio play.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Honestly, I have a hard time naming any popular musicians of today now, let alone 30 years from now. Seriously. I have no idea who has been topping the charts since maybe the late 90's.

For some background, my dad is a drummer. He's been a drummer ever since he was a kid, and has always had a passion for music. He has a HUGE music library, spanning most genres (rap, hip hop, and electronic being the genres I doubt he has much from), that takes up our entire basement (no joke... just stacks and stacks and stacks of meticulously categorized vinyl and CDs). He typically spends about $300 or so per-week just on new CDs. He's been reading six or seven different music magazines every single month since the mid 1970's (and keeping every issue for reference material later), frequently reads musician biographies, and always reads the liner notes of every album he buys. The guy has a photographic memory for all this stuff, too. Pick any random band, and he'll probably be able to tell you every single musician that played on the album (even the guest ones), what years they played with that band, and probably some interesting trivia about them. The man loves music, I guess is what I'm trying to say, and he tried to share that with my sister and I while we were growing up.

After all the years of listening to the music that my dad grew up with... I just can't get into anything that's on the radio these days. So much of it sounds completely soulless and manufactured, and even the stuff that doesn't is usually weak at best. I don't think I can name a single musician or band since the 90's that I've liked enough to actually buy a full album, and even the number of albums in my own collection that are from the 90's is pretty low comparatively.

 

[lacktheknack]

Lady Gaga will be remembered as the microcosm of pop culture at the time, probably.

I won't be surprised if Jay-Z and Macklemore/Ryan Lewis are remembered, either - the former because he's so successful, the latter because he was such a complete change from what was popular at the time.

 

[Thaluikhain]

That sort of prediction is very hard to make. Lots of people can be very popular briefly, and then fall into obscurity. There's no telling what society will be like in 30 years time, what people will be interested in.

OTOH, Lady Gaga is apparently working for the Illuminati, so she's got a decent chance when they take over.

 

[Julius Terrell]

I don't listen to mainstream music now. I did more as a kid in the 80s and a teen in the 90s. Now I have to dig through the internet to find interesting music. Specializing in electronic music keeps me underground so I'd things will be more underground as time goes on.

With computers having come a long way, there are a lot of people who can do there own thing. What a wonderful time we live in. Don't like what comes on the radio? Make the kind of music you want to hear.

 

[kingofkumquats]

I don't know how much modern music will be remembered overall for two reasons. First, a lot of the music that is popular now often sounds like every other song that is currently popular in the "acceptable top 40 bubble" of it's genre, so the more popular artists kind of blend in with each other. Secondly, it's easier to hear tons of different artists now, while before you had to rely on the radio, and listen to what was popular, or go to the record store and spend some of your hard earned money on an album, so there was a much smaller pool of artists that were reasonably well known, but now, literally anybody with a guitar/piano/sampler/kazoo/bugle can have his or her music heard. People tend to drift off to their own corners of music and focus on that, so there really won't be that many artsists that EVERYONE remembers, just a lot of artists that a few people remember.

 

[Godhead]

One problem I have with the current music industry is that they tend to put out artists that will get them a quick buck and then move on to the next person. Not a whole lot of substance, but just a lot of pomp and circumstance in their shows and appearance. So, it's kind of hard to predict who will stay around and who will flare out. I think Lordi is one of those artists, but that's just me.

do you mean Lorde?

personally I don't see why we need to compare artists to those of yesteryear in terms of staying power...it was a differen't time

and even then I doubt anyone remembers the 80's pop classic "tell it to my heart" but I don't care because I listen to it anyway

Of course not, it's obvious that it's Lordi


OT: The only musician that I can really think of that is on the charts is Weird Al, and he's been around since the early 80's

 

[Sleepy Sol]

A lot of chart topping stuff never really survives the test of time. I haven't paid attention to any contemporary music charts for a while now, and a lot of the artists or bands I listen to are at least fairly established in the musical world already.

So basically, I'm not exactly sure how to answer the question. Probably not the best person to.

If we're referring to long-existing and still going musical acts like a lot of people here are I guess I would say maybe Rush (nearly 50 years of activity). Throw a Pearl Jam in there too.

 

[Tanis]

I'd like to think Incubus makes a comeback and becomes one of those 'golden oldies' in the decades to come.

Scissor Sisters, with their 'Gay Band Before It was Cool' stitch could get more popular as the years progress.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, if they start dropping albums again.

Train, with their 'easy listening' type of Rock+Pop could easily become my generations Steely Dan or James Taylor.

 

[Evonisia]

Given that the internet is allowing us to be nostalgic about things much easier 'cause we can look back and find 'em, I feel like more acts will probably be remembered than those in earlier decades. Probably not for the right reasons and people citing chart toppers in this forum are on a fine line since most acts will be forgotten. I'm going to agree with Eminem and Daft Punk seeing as they've reached new peaks (DP) or near their peak (Em) of success over a decade into their music careers. Ditto for Weird Al who has only just got his first number 1 album nearly three decades into his career.

If Lorde can make a second album that's as good as or better than her first I feel like she can keep the momentum going. Lady Gaga will probably stick around if only because she's not shown any sign of wanting to stop or take a break to let momentum drop (and her first two major releases changed an entire four years of popular music for better or worse) and if she keeps releasing good albums she'll probably be remembered, not saying that 'cause I'm fan or anything. I think the UK will remember Lily Allen in thirty years, though not really sure about the rest of the world where she has a cult following at best.

Jay-Z still has an incredibly successful career nearly twenty years in, even if the biggest songs (looking at you, Holy Grail) aren't much good. Beyoncé too, who's not playing the pop music game anymore, but she's still breaking records and breaking the bank in sales (if we exclude the Frozen soundtrack, she has the most successful album of 2014 thus far).