(Yes I know the title sounds grammatically awkward, but "are" is worse in the context.) As you no doubt have guessed from my various comments in the ATS subforum and from my avatar, I believe the Beatles are the best thing since sliced bread. I mean seriously, in the first half of their career they literally tore down traditional rock 'n' roll (and even the popular song form, for that matter) and rebuilt it from the ground up. And then in the second half of their career, they experimented with sound and song itself; the dudes were revolutionaries. Here's how I see it: the 1960s had musical revolutionaries in The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, the Beach Boys, and a few other contemporaries experimenting in folk. The 1970s had two poles: people who were experimenting in rock 'n' roll and what later became metal (so Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath), and the prog rockers (Pink Floyd, Genesis, etc.). The 1980s I'm not so sure about because I don't listen to much 80s music, and same with the 1990s, but since popular song form hasn't changed much since the 1960s and 70s, I'm not sure there were any acts experimenting to a meaningful degree. Would you say our generation has any bands like that? I've been kinda hoping Linkin Park might take that role with their constant desire to innovate, but only time will tell. Who do you guys think, if any, are raring to revolutionize popular music?
I don't know the answer to this question, but in terms of topic title, it should be: Who are the 'The Beatles' of our generation?
There is no Beatles of this generation, because back in those days bands got legendary status, because there was a certain something about them that doesn't exist anymore. The mistery of not knowing when an album was coming out, reading an interview every now and then and knowing only rumors about them by word of mouth helped the bands to keep a halo of mistery and made us think they were sort of semi-gods living the big life no normal person would never live. Today, with every band keeping updated websites, blogging about their recording sessions, keeping touring journals and pretty much acting like normal people, that is lost, and that's why we don't have a Beatles, or a Led Zeppelin or a Pink Floyd anymore. I'm not sure if this was the point of the thread though
Then surely he'll note that in contextual terms, I'm looking for a singular example of the next Beatles. Therefore, it makes more sense to say "who is the next band like the Beatles."
It's not a rock group at all. It's Eminem. Whether or not you think he revolutionized anything in terms of his music (I believe he did not), he's the only thing remotely close to having taken over the world so thoroughly and introducing rap music to people who probably would never have given a shit about it. Which should count.
But the name The Beatles already implies a plural. You don't refer to them in the singular. It can also be taken as "Who are the equivalents of The Beatles today?" But I digress. Michael Jackson was.
Thanks, interesting idea. I do believe in terms of publicity, Eminem does fit the role nicely. Although admittedly my question was in terms of musical innovation. Unfortunately apart from The Eminem Show I only own a handful of his really famous songs, and I don't listen to too much rap beyond that (Fuck Tha Police and a couple of other songs, but still), so I'm not sure how much he's brought to rap as a genre. Or popular music as a whole, for that matter. The band name implies a plural of members, not musical groups. And as for Michael Jackson, I would say he's definitely a contender. However I feel like he's more of the previous generation, Gen X of the 80s and 90s.