Do todays chart stars compare?

[Damien]

A recent post about Elvis reminded me of debates I often have with my teenage children. They are around how much better the stars were of the 60's and 70's. For example George Best v Wayne Rooney. Now I know on the sporting front the arguements are quite close. Tiger Woods could hold his own at any time and Rooney is pretty good.

But in terms of music well I just don't think todays stars have it. Compare Elvis, Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Santana, Marvin Gaye, James Brown with todays acts. Even the 70's had ABBA and gave birth to DISCO. Robbie Williams don't make me laugh. How many of todays charts hits will you remember 30 years from now? How many of them will be selling out the concert venues?

[LMC]

Hmmm, I remember having a similar argument with my mum when I was in my teens and she was dissin' (although that word didn't exist then) Duran Duran, Aha and Wham... and arguing that the Beatles, Elvis, etc would live forever but "where are Boney M and Abba now?"

Well, Abba has enjoyed a revival and so to a limited extent have Boney M. Duran Duran are looking decrepit (talk about mutton dressed as lamb) but are still popular and Wham still gets played in mainstream clubs.

So who knows?

[Damien]

George Michael is still mega . Tom Jones is even played still at MJ though have yet to hear any Hendrix yet at a MJ event.

[David Bailey]

I'm still in anti-astrology-rant mode, I just assumed this was an astronomical question

Now I know on the sporting front the arguements are quite close. Tiger Woods could hold his own at any time and Rooney is pretty good.

Not even close - today's sports stars are far better than historical, if only because of improved fitness and training regimes. Obvious examples are athletics - records keep getting broken - but IMO this applies to all sports.

But in terms of music well I just don't think todays stars have it.

Here we agree. Nostalgia aside, there is a lot of good music around. But the 60s were a time of great creativity and originality, simply because this was the first period in history where mass modern music, produced by the people for the people, became available globally and cheaply.

Combined with the immense social changes in the 1960's, this gave birth to a whole generation of creativity, which expressed itself musically; I don't believe such a combination will be repeated any time soon. This was the case even way back in my youth (back in the 80s ) - Billy Bragg never came close to Bob Dylan.