I remember the doom and gloom predictions that disco would replace us all in the late seventies. It didn't happen. Punk, new wave and a new generation of kids determined to not look like their parents, and do what their parents did changed it again. And again. And again.

Don't get me wrong. There are exceptions to any generalization. Some of us were lucky to have parents that embraced new music, and some of us were born with an appreciation of much that had come before. But let us not kid ourselves. We were the exceptions, not the rule!

Anyone remember the mass burnings of Elvis records? Elvis records..!! Utterly harmless compared to how YOU probably think about modern hiphop, or gangsta rap! See a pattern?

I don't honestly see things coming full circle... music never has. We never went back to the baroque, or 19th century chamber music, or 20's style dance bands. Music always charts a path onwards, sometimes making a nod and a wink towards older forms (about every twenty years or so, there is a tip of the hat towards reggae, for instance, but always heavily modified). There are rock bands right NOW quite large in size (ever heard of The Polyphonic Spree?), and there are some that are just one man...

Recorded music is with us to stay. This lamentation would be better played out at the start of the 20th century, where prior to that, music was ALWAYS played live, and recorded music was only the odd hurdy-gurdy. THAT'S when the hammer first dropped. Since then, it has always been a matter of degree. At times, live bands hold the upper hand, at others, recorded music.

We survived disco. We will survive the iPod. We will survive whatever comes next. There has NEVER been a substitute for live music. Merely alternatives.