This topic feels a whole like like "my generation's music is better than your generation's music". Realistically, there are plenty of big name artists rising or who have risen to peak popularity in the ways your describing. The difference is that with so many different ways to find, listen to, and share music, no one artist will ever blow up to the same magnitude as a Michael Jackson. Everyone has their niches, and just like with movies, games, books, TV, etc. the sheer volume of content in terms of music availability and variety is staggering, and there's something for everyone.
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Who's replacing these music legends?
- Thread starter Liamario
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Monocle
Member
To be fair, I genuinely believe Gaga will be around for many decades.
Her output is spotty and the concepts she likes to talk about tend to overleap the substance in her work, but she is still the real deal. A capable musician, vocalist, and performer with serious work ethic and the ability to inhabit her celebrity in a way that most of her peers just can't match.
Who goes around doing radically reengineered piano arrangements of their pop singles, seriously? It would be pretentious if she weren't so good at it.
More Fun To Compute
Member
I'm sure that Bono's ego is big enough to stand in for all of them.
Yeah maybe a few. But who's this Bob Dylan fellow? Madonna? Never heard of her
I love Gaga
Monochromaticx
Member
takes a while for "legends" to reach the legendary status.
DiipuSurotu
Banned
You're right, I think I didn't quite get what the OP meant at first
I feel the same. I can't think of anyone else. I think she is at her best on her piano and just singing. She's powerful as hell being minimal.
I feel like she already is a legend.We can have a debate on the distinction between "pop star" and "artist", but someone like Beyonce will be pretty well revered when she passes someday. Her cultural imprint is pretty large.
Violence Jack
Member
No one will ever replace those legends for me. But if we're talking about those who have cultural influence, staying power, and has songs that will be fondly remembered 30 years from now, I could maybe say Gaga and Beyonce.
WhateverItTakes
Banned
I don't feel like today's stars are as iconic as those of the past, but it's all rather subjective. Adele is the only artist that comes to my mind as someone who'll be around for ages.
I always think about Metallica when it comes to this question. I can't think of a single metal band in the last 10/20 years that have gotten into the mainstream, managing to covert people who don't even like the genre as a whole. Though I guess a lot of rappers might class as doing the same.
I always think about Metallica when it comes to this question. I can't think of a single metal band in the last 10/20 years that have gotten into the mainstream, managing to covert people who don't even like the genre as a whole. Though I guess a lot of rappers might class as doing the same.
GuitarAtomik
Member
Basically this.
Also, I'm glad I'm not one of those people who stopped listening to new music after I turned 25. I'm curious if it's because I learned to search it out on the internet before MTV and the radio became homogenized.
I'm also curious about where Swift career goes. She's been around forever and I don't see her career slowing down anytime soon.
Sun Bather
Member
They will be in 20 years.
WhateverItTakes
Banned
Maybe! I mean personally none of them feel as enduring. Like is anyone an icon of the hard rock n' roll lifestyle like Lemmy was? Or having an incredibly unique and talented voice like Ronnie James Dio?
Although it's pretty likely that it is just time and longevity that transforms your usual artist into something more enduring.
Machine
Member
Every time GAF raves about some new album, I give it a try out of curiosity and the desire to find good new music. Nearly every time, I am disappointed. I honestly enjoyed listening to the latest New Order and Depeche Mode releases more than Animal Collective or Daft Punk. I guess I've become one of "those" people. There are exceptions but they seem to be few and far between.
admiraltaftbar
Member
Yep the death of common culture pretty much assures that nobody will ever be as big as some of the music legends were. And honestly that's okay. Having an environment where anyone can become a bedroom musician and potentially have some level of a following has led to tons of new genres and sounds, some good and some bad but the innovation and experimentation is there more than ever.
I could see Gaga, Beyonce and Adele having staying power. Beyonce probably isn't fair to call a future legend cause she's been around so long already. Hard to say on the rock side. Maybe Jack White? Seven Nation Army is already a fixture at sporting events and who knows what the future holds.
Well to be fair the last Daft Punk album and last few Animal Collective albums were pretty bad. There's still a lot of great modern music and artist though
minor effort
Banned
I think there's a lot of truth to this. Many here are old enough, myself included, to remember the days when MTV and the radio were true powerhouses in elevating artists to monolithic superstar status. And, like many here, thanks I've grown accustomed over the past fifteen years to having an endless supply of music spanning decades and from artists both prominent and obscure at my demand. And if you think you've become reliant on the internet smorgasbord yourselves, imagine how younger generations growing up without any reliance on MTV or the radio perceive musical trends.
The monoculture is fading out. There are still "big" artists these days, but it's hard to imagine any singular figure becoming the next Michael Jackson, Prince, or Bowie.
GreatestHits
Member
We're replacing them all with synthesizers. Yep.
Kanye West will duck into the darkness as fast as he can when he realizes we don't worship pop stars anymore, we just make fun of them
Kanye West will duck into the darkness as fast as he can when he realizes we don't worship pop stars anymore, we just make fun of them
Not sure about that? She's been around for 10 years and just reached her peak on her last album. I think she'll stick around.
Hyperactivity
Banned
Kendrick Lamar? Idk, just starting to get into his music
allenpergallon
Member
Gonna echo the sentiment that big artists like that probably won't happen anymore since consumption has changed so much.
But for the sake of contributing a name... Adele?
But for the sake of contributing a name... Adele?
Escape Goat
Member
Try not to think about it.
Once Cher and Madonna go pop music is dead.
Once Cher and Madonna go pop music is dead.
Man when Bieber dies Twitter is going to be fucked up.
Kanye is literally a modern Morrison. The closest thing to a classic rockstar we have. It's that outspokenness he shares with contemporary rockers that makes you not like him. You should watch some old interviews with Bowie or John Lennon. (Spoiler alert: they were assholes too)
As soon as she runs out of famous men to sell tabloids with, she'll fade from the limelight. Especially if the rumor is true she's working on an r&b album. She doesn't have the musical chops to remain relevant. (See: Katy Perry)
Well since Sting started mumbling and Elton John but he is basically retired.
lol u really think Cher is on some untouchable level compared to Justin Bieber, Beyonce, or even Rihanna?
GreatestHits
Member
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. This conversation is not for me.
I won't be surprised if it doesn't happen on gaf, but prepare to be schooled.
GuitarAtomik
Member
You think Justin Bieber will be a legend but think it's laughable that Lady Gaga will? That's an interesting take.
I'd argue Reznor already is. You could add Thom York/Radiohead as well while we're at it.
Adam_Vania
Banned
imo what made Prince and Bowie special (and Madonna and many others) was that they advanced identity politics in pop music and they subverted gender norms. they did all this while also making incredible music. what they did was revolutionary giving the time they were living in - as artists they were living in the future. living in the social media age, back in the 70s and 80s. they were doing identity performance art, like living Tumblrs of avatar invention, decades before of the internet and social media broke. this is part of what made them special. they were living in the future.
are there people doing this now? stuff that is unique and challenging and still super popular? Lady Gaga and Kanye are pretty great, the former even approaching that level w her early singles. but i really only like an album or so total worth of their material. Bowie has like a dozen albums or more worth of stuff that is great to mind blowingly amazing and cutting edge. ironically even tho attention spans have shortened since then, it seems to take longer for new music to come out. the icons were prolific af. there is good new stuff but only a fraction of the good stuff is promoted while trash is constantly thrown at the buying public.
Escape Goat
Member
Yes. Their cultural impact will never be that as the pop icons of the 70s and 80's where music transformed from simple performance to spectacle. I'd say Michael Jackson kicked that phenomenon off with his theatrical music videos. Then came Madonna and her doing her crazy antics and Cher had her fame with Sonny and respectable acting career.
100%
Bieber has continuously gotten better since his "Baby" days, and those edm/pop hybrid songs with Skrillex and Diplo are some of the best pop songs of the last decade. really don't see him slowing down and fully expect him to surpass Justin Timberlake who is another good example of someone who can be considered a legend.
Gaga pretty much already fell off. her last album wasn't even close to what "Born This Way" was. i feel like shes the most paletable pop star to older audiences but thats really not gonna help u achieve legend status
its really not an interesting take to anyone under 25
GreatestHits
Member
Prince and Bowie were artists. A lot of people laugh at Kanye when he considers himself an artist. That may not be fair to him as a creator, but it is because he values and produces many things that legitimately great artists do not. You can like many things he does but he carries a lot of bullshit around with him, along with his creative expressions. And his work is very obviously just as shallow in my opinion
He's more of a personality and less of an artist. That's why he fits well along-side someone like Donald Trump
He's more of a personality and less of an artist. That's why he fits well along-side someone like Donald Trump
The One and Done
Member
Taylor Swift
Pancake.
Beyonce is a cultural icon and is only in her mid 30s or her 40s if Gabrielle Union is to be believed
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