Staying Power: Real Artists Can Span the Decades

In an era where the mp3 reigns supreme and artists are able to stream their original tunes over the net with about as much ease as it takes to nuke a poptart, it seems that any and everybody can become an artist. You don’t even have to be particularly talented anymore — the only requirement is that your song be catchy enough to be made into a passable 20-second ringtone. (Case in point: songs like ‘Chicken Noodle Soup’ or overnight youtube sensation, ‘Chocolate Rain’).

One can’t help but wonder whether our recent willingness to support music that is really little more than a jazzed-up nursery rhyme with a danceable beat is causing us to pump out an entire generation of one-hit wonders rather than real artists.

Who are the ‘real’ artists, you ask? I’ll put it this way: Decades ago the world was listening to the songs of Beatles, Queen, Marvin Gaye, Jimmy Buffet and the Rolling Stones. And guess what; I’m still listening to them. So are millions of other people across the globe. Their lyrics, melodies and stories still ring as true to me as they did to my parents when they were at the quarter-century mark (sometime in the stone age).

Real artists — the ones who have long ago faded from the spotlight, but whose music is still being aired on the radio, sampled in rap songs, and added to soundtracks — create art that withstands the test of time. I’ve no doubt that 40 years from now, my grandkids might be slow dancing to Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ at some wedding reception or prom. The question is, will they also be ‘Cranking that Solja Boy’ or lip-syncing to Miley Cyrus’s greatest hits? I think not.