Over on Salon David Marchese asks the question, Did Gen X kill the rock star?
"Think about it: Has there been a single rock act since Nirvana that reached the dizzying musical heights -- and unquestioned, mass success -- of such immediate forebears as U2, Springsteen or Guns 'N Roses?"
Does Linkin Park count? Avril Lavigne? Also, who cares?
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Axl was a little older than Kurt, but I think both guys, and both bands, fit into the Gen X category. Very different manifestations of it, obviously.
This is a gripe only music critics who don't love music would come up with. No, there will probably never be another Kurt Cobain. There is so much music coming out at such a rapid pace that it's impossible for anyone to focus on one artist for too long.
But who cares? That's a good thing for anyone who loves music. I don't care about iconography, I care about hearing as much music as possible, and this allows potentially gifted voices to be heard that before the Internet would've remained in obscurity.
People need to just stop complaining and enjoy the ride.
When people say this kind of thing, what I think they are really lamenting is rock music's diminished cultural status as a medium with a message.
Where once it was THE voice of the culture, it's back to being another entertainment competing for your attention. And people like us who still value it it highly are much more rare, and niche--as well as more inclined to see the artists as "one of us."