A question that truly seems to be "one for the ages" is whether the hottest bands on today's charts have lost the essence of what music should be when we look toward their personal musical influences. In other words, has music depreciated because today's r+b artist do not own an Aretha Franklin album, reggae bands have never heard of ska, and rock musicians may not be able to tell you what Chuck Berry meant to rock and roll?
For instance, one of the most popular chart busting band's in today's market is Fallout Boy. This band has achieved triple platinum status and placed number one on Billboard charts multiple times. This particular band has noted their influences to be Green Day, Descendants and The Smiths. (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7546662/fall_out_boys_sugar_rush)
I have pondered many times how serious can we take an artist when they began on the New Mickey Mouse Club? In a world filled with pop culture, artificially created boy bands/pop icons, sound bytes and tabloid stories; music has taken a back seat in many ways. The reality is despite such a shift, the industry still manages to sell 83 million Britney Spears records worldwide. (http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblTopArt) Spears has long been influenced by Madonna.
The question is whether the truest forms of each musical genre have been passed down as each generation takes something from the eras before or have we gone so astray that music reaches the masses in the form of popular reality television concepts, like Making the Band where the only creative inspiration comes from a producer?
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