What music from today will stand the test of time?

Were they MTV's first victim of censorship because of that song?

 

The "faggot" lines I believe were edited out.

 

That's what I was driving at. Couldn't really remember a song before that which caught the ire of the censors (not counting the metal bands, of course).

 

That really was a great song (in fact a great album), and got Mark Knofler and Dire Straits some much-deserved mainstream exposure.

 

Money for Nothing got its chops busted, but Real Men by Joe Jackson (with the line "so don't call me a faggot, not unless you are a friend") was not censored. Then again, it was the equivalent of a "album cut," so I guess it was under the radar.

 

I thought it was "Squier"

 

it's already been said, but the problem's not that there isn't good music being released right now, it's that the industry is in shambles. It's not a new problem that shit is getting the big push, though. You could go back for as long as I've been listening to the radio and find god awful crap at the top of the charts while artists with strong lyrics and musicianship are toiling beneath the surface. for every rascal flatts there's a joe ely. for every nickelback, there's a drive-by truckers.

I don't know that there'll be such a thing as classic rock stations with the hits from the 2000's, but who knows what pop radio will be like in 20 years, if it even exists at all in the state we now know it.

For what it's worth, I think there are lots of people putting out popular music right now who will remain relevant for a long time to come, most of whom have already been mentioned:
Tool, Radiohead, Coldplay, Norah Jones, John Legend, Nickel Creek, Ben Folds, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Drive-By Truckers, Nas, John Mayer, Green Day, The Roots, Eminem, White Stripes, The Strokes, Foo Fighters, Beck, Outkast, Wilco all came to mind after a few minutes of thought. I think J. Timberlake and Aguilera will stand the test of time because they have a little musical ability and don't get by on flash alone. not so much for britney.

and there are lots more little oddball acts like belle and sebastian, regina spektor, yo la tengo etc. that are well thought of these days, but it's hard to predict how they'll be regarded in 20 years, or if they'll be regarded at all.

 

Just Sunday night, when crossing the parking lot to my car after work, the guys were blaring music while loading newspapers onto the trucks ... it was Cinderella, "Nobody's Fool." Absolutely cracked me up because it seemed so random.

 

Onion readers will long remember the college record store employees who died at the building collapse at the Yo La Tengo concert.

 

I'm not your foooool . . Nobody's Fool. Nobody's fool. . . .

Ahhh, gold!

 

Never again, no, no.

 

One I forgot: As far as country (or bluegrass)....Alison Krauss. Although some of her more recent music might be a bit poppy, she's still a brilliant musician, has a beautiful voice and an outstanding group of musicians around her in union station.