The 21st Century Music Vaccum

Don't we ridicule children sufficiently in school these days? Is the divorce rate not quite high enough? Is there, God forbid, a shortage of women who try to pass their new husbands off as their young son's real father? Where is the new crop of angst-filled front men with a musical axe to grind? What needs to be done to spark the next generation of quality music?

The fact is, the average rock band has a life expectancy of about five years - coincidentally the exact same amount of time that it takes to distribute a quality debut album, tour, and distribute a poor follow up album.

Even more troubling is that the bands who do manage to hang on longer than five years tend to have fading appeal. Perhaps they fall victim to their own hype - pumping out follow up album after follow up album of "experimental" music or "change directions" altogether. I suppose that playing in front of thousands of fans over the years doesn't necessarily enable one to identify with his or her audience.

Why is it that these groups spend the majority of their time bucking the music industry and mass music media? I don't seem to remember anyone shying away from any cameras when that debut album was being pushed. There's no telling how much more Nirvana we would have in our CD wallets had Cobain not been such a head case about "being famous". Try your hand at being broke, disabled, or victimized, pal, then let me know how inconvenient being famous is.

For whatever reason - whether it be ego or the hyper-suppression thereof - they all abandon us eventually. After all, bands are, in essence, created to be disbanded. The only question that remains is: How much exposure, money and satisfaction can bands get their hands on before the curtain call? And like a king with no heirs, they vanish - leaving us holding the collective bag (or jewel cases, as it were).

Where do we go for the next Nirvana, Soundgarden, R.E.M. or Screaming Trees? What eight-year-old do we need to ridicule and cast out to get some fresh music in about twelve years? Someone tell me soon because James Blunt just doesn't cut the mustard.