Interesting article by Brian McCollum over at the Detroit Free Press, concerning the lack of truly excellent pop music in 2008:
“In the textbooks of the future, 2008 is already assured its own highlight on the timeline. It was a milestone year on the world stage, from politics to economics. But popular music? Score it this way: lots of strong hits, plenty of great singles, no home runs.
That’s been the story of the new millennium, the scene of a fragmented pop culture, splintered audience and lack of big themes. As we head into the final stretch of a decade that still has no name — what is this? “the ohs”? “the aughts”? — it was another fittingly amorphous year on the music front.”
Continue reading here. (Vampire Weekend fans may want to take a deep breath first, as McCollum labels the group “so blah”.) I agree with most (not all) of the points made, although I do think as a whole the music industry has taken major strides.