I like Rick a lot and agree mostly with what he says. That is, there are no Bob Dylans, Joni Mitchells, Paul Simons, Lennon-Macs, Stevies, Smokeys, Van Morrisons, Gordon Lightfoots, Springsteens etc. in the current crop of popular music writers. There are some vey good lyricists in Americana, but not quite as good as those listed above. But let’s not forget how bad some lyrics from the rock era were--but it did not impact our appreciation of those bands. And disco--OMG, today’s music is probably easier for me to like.
There are many reasons including short attention spans of younger listeners--the hook must grab on the first or second listen, fewer musicians with great musical chops due in part to digital "instrumentation" that can be quite spectacular at communicating emotions, etc. Most importantly, music generally does not occupy the same space in the current generations’ lives as music did for those of us who grew up in the 60s, 70s and/or 80s when we sat down with the album and lyric sheet and listened carefully. How many groups and individual artists took a bit of getting used to (sometimes listening to and album 3 or 4 times) prior to appreciating and loving the outstanding artistry in them? That simply cannot happen today.
