If others in the world, having different thinking and tastes, drives you nuts, then you're in for a long frustrating life. I don't have to like everything out there and expecting everyone else to like what I like, and consider the rest of it crap, is just a little over the edge. Or is that called communism?

Live and let live. You have control over the radio dial. You have control over your TV tuner. You don't have to buy a single CD that offends your high sensibilities of music, or, at least, what YOU consider to be music!

Then again, it's easier to complain than to actually take any action, especially when any action you might take in this instance would be futile in regards to changing anyone's mind. This leaves you only one option. Don't listen!

My wife can't stand half of the music I listen to. She has learned to accept some of it, and sometimes we find ones that really turn both of our ears on, but my daghter loves almost all of my music. I subject her to Miles Davis, Mudvayne, 311, Candlebox, etc. But she will bob her head mostly to her music. Most of the music that she listens to though, I gave her. I have not given her any of the hard stuff just yet. I gave her P.O.D., Lenny Kravitz, Fall As Well, Oleander, just a few, but when we gave her Crazy Frog 1, and 2 she went bollistic. So it's just tastes. I get her cds every now and again out of her room and burn it on to the XBOX, so we can listen to it during dinner or while we're in the living room goofing off. I personaly like some of the stuff. It's fun.

Well, some of it is the people you are talking to. When I was young, I listened to whatever was popular on the radio. Then in high school, my buddy turned me on to Ozzy's tribute album and GnR Lies on a mixed tape (remember those guys??). That let to AC/DC Back in Black and all the old Aerosmith albums. Point being, it's who you talk to...

Satriani is not really a main stream name unless your a guitar player. Vai was BIG in the 80's and 90s. Not so much anymore. Again, unless your a guitar player/musician.

What i find amusing is how now that "across the universe" came out, kids my age, absolutely "LOVE" the beatles, however the amount of musicians they can name from before the 90's they can count on one hand.
Just goes to show, its all about the marketing.

"I think that when kids are12, like one of mine who will gobble up anything Disney puts out up to and including Hannah Montana you don't know what you like. You are just discovering the idea of music and trying to find where you fit into it all. So you look around, see what everyone else around you is listening to, and according to Disney (which your favorite television shows also happen to be on) it is their stuff. So that's what you decide to like. Then one day, you get older and you start noticing things in and about music that you didn't notice before. You dig a little deeper and you start relating to different things. Next thing you know, you are listening to Neil Young (not me I hate Neil Young but you know what I mean).

Put it this way: Let's say you are going to a restaurant. Not just any restaurant, this is a Vietnamese or Thai or even a Kazakhstani restaurant. What do the Kazakhstani eat? You don't know. You look around. What is everyone else eating? Everyone else seems to be eating mutton. It must be good, so I'll have the mutton (Hannah Montana)." -Richey

Well said; I totally agree with you on that. I'm 13, and I just recently found my own music likes. Well, it's more like, one of my friends was playing this Nirvana CD, and although my other friends didn't like it, I did.....and I looked into that type of music some more and found many new artists/musicians that I like. Before that, though, I just listened to whatever it was that everyone else was listening to (pop music).

My 13 year old daughter likes the Jonus Brothers. Thats OK You got to start somewhere. Did you come out of the gate being able to identify with the complex music of Pink Floyd. Music, art in general is a growth thing. If the first music you enjoyed and Understood was Bach great but my bet is it wasn't in fact I'll bet there are a lot of people on this site that don't understand Classical music or apprechiate what Benny Goodman was doing. Come on people the young need to grow. I started listening in the 60's and what I listen to now is a long way from those early English bands. Times change music changes but people are the same you start with simple songs catchy tunes and grow from there. From Mary had a Little Lamb to the Wind Crys Mary, you got to leave room to grow.

Well said Hippieway!

I think that Richey and the others are just annoyed because their kids listen to this stuff. But if you introduce them to different music, they eventually like it. How many have children here that don't like vegetables? Almost everyone's. You sometimes have to make them eat them. Well, music is not like that. They are going to like what they want, especially if you don't want to listen to it or watch it, etc. I mean come on. My parents did not like any of the music that I listened to, and still to this day my Dad does not like most of it, but he's come around to listening to Santana. I never thought I would see the day when I could make him a disk of that music, with all that guitar and he listen to it. He likes Jimmy Buffet, I just found out. I don't beut that's him. At least he listens to music now. He used to not listen at all.

It happens to me all the time.They don`t know nothing about great bands and musicians, but they know for this modern shit. But you goota understand them because they know little about real music.

"But you goota understand them because they know little about real music."

Please understand, I'm NOT picking on you but..SOAPBOX OUT:
I get SO tired of the "real music" tag being tossed around.
What is "Real Music"? ONLY the things YOU like? or can I do a google search on "real music" and get a list of what I should be listening to.

Most of the comments I've read and seen here and elsewhere seem to fall into two different groups..

There is the "forgive them for they don't know" or the "Music is dead and people are stoopid for listening to this trash".

Neither is 100% correct. I'll tell you now.. I find Blackmore, Vai, Johnson and 99% of all the "guitar heroes" mostly boring. Does that make me listening to garbage or........ does that make me having "real music and real taste".
Music is really a personal preference. Play what you like, listen to what you like, buy what you like but so someone (or most someones depending on who you know) don't know or even like what you do.. big deal. it's NOT the end of music and/or the world.SOAPBOX PUT AWAY

Jake said:

"What i find amusing is how now that "across the universe" came out, kids my age, absolutely "LOVE" the beatles, however the amount of musicians they can name from before the 90's they can count on one hand"

I remember how humiliated I felt when my son was in his teens he asked me :

"Hey Dad ... what band was Paul McCartney in before he played with Wings?" He asked me that in public, no shit.

For any of you who've never heard of Wings, .. check-out Lawrence Juber. The guy does a 'fingerstyle' version of "Martha My Dear' that is simply freakish.

Ok here's a little story for you, back in the 70's I worked in a record store and I kept a demo of the White Album (by the Beatles for those that don't know) and the owner of the store asked me why I kept a demo of what was becomiing an older LP that was kind of expensive (it was double LP) so I told him everytime I play it I sold it and it was always the same so I showed him. I put the LP on the store speakers and it wasn't long before someone came up and asked what I was playing I said the Beatles and they bought it. It happened everytime, they didn't recognize it but always bought it. The point being that the band that changed the world wasn't even familar to younger listeners just a few years after they broke up.

Music is timeless but it constantly moves forward so if you think that Deep Purple, Black Sabbath or even Guns N Roses are what's happening then you are a least a decade or two out of what is current. The kids are coming and they will get as pissed at you for not knowing their guitar heros as you are at them for not knowing yours.

There is nothing wrong with what Disney is doing in my opinion. They are bring music to the young with Hanna Montana and the Jonus Brothers. they are bringing musicals to the young with High School Musical. I am having a hard time figuring this whole thing out, I hear you complain about how there is no good music or music is dead or at best dying. Nothing could be farther from the truth. the worst thing that is happening to music is the record companies giving fewer opportunies to young bands, but with all the new media bands are attempting to get their music out there. Radio is playing it safe giving old music a longer shelf life by playing the old hits instead of new music but the music is there to be found. Sure walk in to your nearest national chain to try to find that new band may result in them needing to order it but it is out there. Bubblegum music is not new and it is not a death knell, its just music for people that are new to music. So take up the challenge and find your "real" music, the bands playing it are waiting for you.

"its just music for people who are new to music"

Like First Act guitars are for people who are new to guitar...

the main problem I have with pop artists is that (most) can't tell you a thing about music theory. They have other people write the songs then show them how to sing it, and alot aren't even that good singers

An old saying comes to mind, "The masses are asses." If you look at any art form, there will always be different levels of appreciation for it. People who cannot grasp the work of Monet will still hang a black velvet Elvis or Dogs playing poker on the wall. They are both art, just different levels of art.

Pop music, by it's very nature, is for wide consumption and mass marketing. Guy's like Vai and Stanley Jordan are playing on another level. It's like eating at McDonalds or some little Mom and Pop ethnic diner. The food is better, takes more work to prepare, and usually costs more and gets appreciated less.

If a talented artist wants to sell their art they usually have to homogenize it enough that Joe Six-pack can understand and grasp it. It's like a great photographer shooting weddings so they can afford to pursue their art. Record companies know that the wider appeal you can draw to an act, the more money you will make.

Remember, Mozart died a pauper and Justin Timberlake is a millionaire.

A few things to consider -

The people who don't know the artists you are talking about and identify with Hannah Montanah are not music enthusists, they are casual listeners. It would be the same if you were talking about golf and the only golfer the other party knows is Tiger Woods - that would drive a golf enthusiest insane. Don't assume that because you are really into music that every one is.

Secondly not everyone is into rock music - or guitar rock. I can sit and listen to "Passion and Warfare" front to end and love every second of it - my wife would be bored with it within 5 minuites. She would rather listen to Beyonce or the Spice Girls. That is fine as long as I am not being forced to listen to the Spice Girls.

Just my 2 cents...feel free to give me back some change :-)

I prefer to think on my own, and teach my daughter to do the same. This is why she is very independent. At 10. She knows what she likes. A lot of the kids like Hannah Montana and High School the Musical at school, but my daughter thinks it's lame. So there you go. You can teach your children to think for themselves, and the rest will fall into place.

IMHO, music is something that evokes human emotions like few other art forms. And some of the music that evokes my emotions
(to dance, yell, cry, whatever) is some of poppiest stuff out there. It's not about complexity, it's just what speaks to you. I also believe that Hannah Montana is surrounded by excellent musicians and producers (I wouldn't know for sure) and she also happens to be the daughter of a famous country singer. Don't discount her talent (never heard her though). Pop music performed well is infintely better than complex rock performed poorly.

Also, many jazz and classical musicians (some of my teachers) would consider the guys you have listed as slop (especially Gilbert), considering most of their playing relies on technical prowess rather than harmonic and rythmic complexity.

Well it's kind of obvious and shouldn't get anybody angry that they're young and at their age have a taste for Hannah Montana stuff and don't exactly listen to what we would consider as "good bands/music". So, how can anyone expect them to know what the hell we are talking about? Just let them love what music they do right now and if they learn to love rock or metal then so be it, you don't have to hammer your music into them, music is to be accepted not to be forced, like religion. Just let kids be kids for the time being and who cares if Hannah Montana is so famous that everyone knows her. I mean, she has very recently become famous and her face is plastered everywhere, how can you not know who she is while old school bands from the 60's are reduced to a few surviving T-shirts, posters, and CD's. That's how everyone knows her more than the old school rock bands. Damn, another rant -_-''

hey, i saw on much music once, they played protest the hero, and i said, whats this kick ass music doin on much? so its proof that the media could be getting better

Well, at least it's not boy bands still, I mean Hannah IS soft on the eyes, we could be seeing nothing but pretty boys plastered all across town like in the 90's. As for good rock, or music in general, it isint going anywhere, it's always been around, and always will be, people will always make music that they like and the world is filled with people who like to step outside the line and not follow the "norm."

My daughter comes home all the time talking about the little buttholes at school, who are "popular," and she knows. That these people are not worth their words. So she kind of sticks out every now and again. Every one of these pop artists is either A: performers. Justin Timberlake B: Great singers, ie. Christina Aguilerra, Janet Jackson, from back in the day. So you can't dismiss the whole genre, simply because it isn't guitar music, or pop music. One of my favorite artists when I was A kid was Howard Jones. Pop singer, and he always had a way of making me think. I have not listened to it in years, but it was fun music. Get over it, opinions are like butt holes. Everyones got one.

Alphabeat from Denmark is considered to be the best music from scandinavia since Abba... I can't tak either of those.

Hope this is gonna change.

Anyone else notice how good music skips a decade, or is that just me? Not to say that each decade doesn't have ANY good music, just certain decades appeal to me more, and they tend to be every other one. The ODD ones, 50's, 70's, 90's.....I have a good feeling about the next one.....I hope :)

i can agree with that theory to some extent, however there are at least some that i like from every decade.

50's - elvis, jerry lee lewis
60's - zep, beatles
70's - skynyrd, eagles
80's - guns and roses, motle crue

to me it starts to get blurry in the 90's, but still some stuff i like.

i also like country music so i can think of several from each era that would apply as well.

80's The Number of the Beast haha.

i get what your saying, but i think i agree most with hippieway. another thing (this might have already been mentioned, and or shot down, i havent read every post) is that i think that good music can be lots of things. my little sister adores hannah montana, and since she relates to her that makes it good music for her. i relate to third eye blind which makes that good music for me. good music is just what moves us. the only problem that i can find with disney's hannah montana and jonas brothers and stuff is that they market their music SO WELL that it limits peoples taste in music. while their is nothing wrong wrong with listening to hannah montana if thats what your into, it is definitely a shame if due to hannah montana you never listen to eric johnson. thats my opinion anyway.

Honestly, when I was 7-10 (one of disney's BIG target groups), I thought the Ninja Turtles World Tour was freakin' awesome music. I also thought the Transformers, GI Joe, and Star Wars themes were the coolest things ever.

Heck...I still do... :)