Something that's bugged me for probably most of this new century is "Where is the next must see must do musical genre" coming from??
Ever since the mid 50s and the seismic shift in music that exploded with Hillbilly Kat era Elvis and Mean Gene Vincent...youth culture found a voice and a platform.
Fast forward a decade and we hit 60s Mod era music and fashion the 'British Invasion' beat groups,and Tamla Motown....massive sea change in popular culture affecting everything from the arts to even how your parents dressed.
The next big rumble came 10 or so years later it came from the streets PUNK ROCK!!
I'll probably get a bit of grief from my English pals but Punk started in New York mid 70s like a perfect storm.
Fast forward through the dying embers of Punk into New Wave/No Wave we reach the era of cable TV music TV specifically MTV.
So,this is when music in my opinion started to get that corporate tinge,the stain of which is proving hard to shift.
The late 80s guitar bands and Shoegaze started a shift away from "Unit Shifting" major record label dominance.
Acid House morphed from Chicago into the main stream and in its own way was VERY punk rock....I always reckon that Rave Culture was like the old Northern Soul all nighters culture lots of pilled up boys mainly dancing their asses off all night!!!Rap too especially the radical early DIY sound system based anyone can be a star...very Punk very Warhol.
Brit Pop was the lite low sugar version of The British Invasion but it didn't travel as well especially west....
So where the hell is the next thing coming from??
It HAS to come from that DIY street ethic and tiny clubs but people are so obsessed with producing their own stuff online it's like online is the only place you're going to see it....and I DON'T.
The underground is buried so deep it's like no-one is ever going to lift that man hole cover and let it out into the atmosphere I'd love to think a new Punk or Mod was coming down the line....I won't hold my breath.
