Do you think guitar music will ever be great like it was from 1954 to 1979?

[eSGEe]

and if you say John cant play guitar...................................... you MIGHT wanna do some "research" first --- just sayin'

 

[Sérgio]

another "Napster" launch --- sorta

Now you touched an interesting spot. The video was unavailable to me, probably because of my location.

but it has John Mayer on the cover image. I bet many people might judge him for his panty peeling albums, but he KICKS ASS in Jerry Garcia’s place with Dead and Company, besides being one of the greatest Hendrix players I’ve ever seen.

 

[Ghostman]

You're right but this ain't the point of the thread. There is indeed great music but it just doesn't get as appreciated, desired and fetishized as back in those days. The way people consume music has changed. Will we ever praise great records again?

It was a lack of quantity in comparison. Imagine the 1400's and people going bat poop crazy over Salt.

 

[67plexi]

I'm having to much fun

 

[Gahr]

I have to disagree with the premise. I feel guitar music has done nothing but expand in its excellence, year after year. The players just keep getting better and the music keeps getting more interesting - I listen to older music out of a sense of nostalgia, not because I think its better. Most of my listening is to music made in the last 10 years and I search out new music each and every day. We've never had such easy access to new ideas and unbelievable players and I'm constantly blown away by what I am hearing.

I know you mention references to this idea, and I've seen this mythology myself, but I think it is rooted in the fact that guitar music is not currently that popular, not in the objective excellence of modern guitar music or modern players. It also seems to me so many people in the "guitar community" are constantly looking in the rearview for their references instead of looking at the guy standing next to them. And, we really have to stop comparing anything to Blues, which has to be the most stagnant music form there is. I mean, are we really still holding up Clapton as some kind of great player? Maybe that's the problem.

Gball has a very good point here. Guitar music is still alive and well, lots of great palyers out there, but it is not THE most popular music around at the moment.
I don’t have a referenc here, but I’ve heard it said that tge average person really stops taking a real interest in new music after the age of 28. (Not everybody, but in general!) I think this is one of the reasons «older» people are always complaining and claiming everything was better in the old days. Personally I most definitely prefer the rock music made between ca. 1965 and 1990 (when grunge «killed» everything that was cool), but that’s just me, it isn’t the music. I look at my kids and think about the music they like. To me it is completely uninteresting (apart from the fact that my 13-year-old listens a lot to Creedence Clearwater Revival!), but again, that’s me, not the music as such. It is simply history repeating itself. My parents found my music utterly horrible too.

Quite frankly, I don’t mind not finding a lot of new music that I personally like, but as long as kids in fact listen do to music at all, the world just might become a better place still. I’m nearing the age of 50, and qualify as an old stinker when it comes to music anyway. Thank god kids think for themselves and don’t just listen to whatever WE were listening to all the time. Although it would be nice if theydid every now and then...

 

[RVA]

Like the poster I just quoted above, you're right but my initial question is what I asked him.

We do like a lot of new stuff, but is it quite like we used to do back when we came home with a paper bag full of fresh LPs?

Ok, let me reference the OP

Of course, we still have some great blues-influenced guitar heroes, like Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jared James Nichols, Art Menezes, Joe Bonamassa and a handful of others. But I mean - no offense at all to contemporary artists - I have them all in my Apple Music playlists, but sincerely, I can't name many songs by anyone of them. If any.
I listen to everything, it's cool, they play really well, some are definitely as good or better than Clapton, Page or whoever, but the music is just not as breathtaking as it used to be.

I find the music far more breathtaking and impactful than ever before. Since I know more about music, I appreciate the talent and nuance of music more than ever. Since I know more about life and actually pay attention to the lyrics, I am more moved by the song than ever before. It also helps that all lyrics are available on the internet (instead of just the occasional album liner) so I always can reference the lyrics.

Of course, streaming and internet advertising takes away a lot of the "hey, the Rolling Stones released a new album, let's take a trip to Tower Records and buy it!" feeling and that impacts the circumstance of music as a product a lot. Just as CDs and MP3 began to destroy the pleasure of owning, touching and looking at a vinyl record, cover art having been reduced to basically an ID of the disc.

This ain't just me speaking, I've read several references to this, articles and forum threads...

So, what do you think? How do you see this picture? Will guitar music ever rise above again or are we forever doomed with streamed "plastic" music?

Not for me. I would never spend my hard earned money on an album just to check out a band I knew little or nothing about, but I click on songs randomly and frequently today. In this way my exposure is greatly increased. Also, I would never buy ALL of a band's albums unlesss they were at the top of my list. Now, when I like a song, I get super excited and sometimes obsessive about finding everything by that artist, and then I buy some.

A trip to Tower records has nothing over the entire internet and world lighting up overnight ("going viral") about a song or band. Now that is exciting!! Plus you don't need to know the cool dude who listens to underground radio to learn about it. Instead, it comes as a suggestion on your YouTube page. Thank goodness for technology planting cookies and making suggestions of music I knew nothing about - like a musical guardian angel!!!

I think people who wax poetic about the good old days of album art and a wall full of records are simply being nostalgic. That did have some merit, but I FAR prefer having 20,000 songs on my phone to waiting to get home to listen to a scratchy record that skips on some songs. Remember when the Sony Walkman came out? It was liberating! We have come a long way since then, and I am greatful. I will trade limitless choices for album art any day.

Also, when you do find an artist you love, you can learn EVERYTHING about them IMMEDIATELY! Look at that John Mayer piece posted earlier. That was put together by a FAN from internet clips!!! And John Mayer himself gives guitar lessons on Instagram!!! I will take that over watching The Song Remains the Same, The Wall, and a handful of other movies over and over and over again.

There are many other benefits to the modern medium to days of old IMHO and the above just scratches the surface.

In short, I have never been more enthusiastic about music, more diverse in my listening, or more fulfilled by the content.

I say, don't just spin a tune, Google the whole universe!!