I don’t think so either.
It is a reaction to the modern world losing the “commonality of shared experiences” as one author put it.
I said in the longer thread about Taylor that less good music is being made now due to the changing payment mechanism for musicians.
Another poster replied that he disagrees. He or she said that the Indie music scene is excellent, and there are not presently just a few radio stations playing a few hit songs.
He or she may be correct, but the lack of major rock star bands and constant playing of certain songs is consistent with my point.
It used to be that there were like thirty to fifty major rock bands and everyone listened to their numerous albums. New singles and albums from popular bands were widely anticipated.
Same with movies and TV. There were three or four networks. Everyone watched All in The Family, Happy Days, MASH, Seinfeld, Friends, etc. and they fucking talked about it the next day.
Movies? The 1970s were the Golden Age and the 1980s weren’t bad either.. Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather series, Carnal Knowledge, Kramer v. Kramer, E.T., Deer Hunter, etc. Everyone, and I mean everyone, saw those movies when they were in the theatres. They had to. There were no VCRs or DVDs in the 1970s.
Now there are a million cable and satellite TV stations and two million XM satellite radio stations. Huge numbers of people don’t have the satisfaction of all experiencing the same entertainment experience and discussing it afterward. Everyone has too much choice and when they all make different choices they have fewer people to discuss what they watched or listened to.
With the exception of Taylor Swift. She has managed to give many people what they crave. A shared experience.
