An interesting thought occurred to me as I was reading through the site, and I thought I might share it with you all, even though I'm sure this is nothing new to anyone here.

500 years from now, what music from this era will be considered folk music? All of it? Some of it?

I wonder.

Because, sadly, the bands and singers that achieve mass popularity are not necessarily representative of good music (which--I swear--really is still being produced). There are some bands who should be remembered 500 years from now as being "good," just as Mozart and Bach are remembered by us as "good."

My real question is this:

What bands and/or performers do you think should be remembered in 500 years as representative as the best of our era--which I will define as 1950 to the present?

My answer:

1. Buddy Holly- for starting it all

2. The Beatles- for being the first to be "pop"

3. The Beach Boys- for exemplifying surf rock

4. The Doors- for Jim Morrison's amazing voice

5. Jimi Hendrix- for great guitar playing

6. The Ramones- for being the bridge between surf rock and punk

7. The Clash- for just being great

8. Pink Floyd- for The Wall

9. Weezer- for Pinkerton, and for redeeming the 90s by encouraging nerds everywhere to play guitar

10. Nirvana- for Seatle grunge

11. The Palace Brothers/Palace Music- for Ohio River Boat Song, and for being folk

12. Jethro Tull- for keeping tradition alive

13. Ric Ocasek- for The Cars and for producing some brilliant records

14. The Cure- for goth AND new wave

15. Bauhaus- for Bela Lugosi's Dead

These are some I thought of off the top of my head that are easily recognisable.

Others that would make my personal list: Modest Mouse, Travis, Sebadoh, Elf Power, The Rentals, Stereophonics, and many others.

-Bridget McKinney 01 19 02