I'm only 25, so maybe someone else could speak to this topic better. But I'm having a hard time seeing any recent act that will reach legend status in the future.

I'm talking Rolling Stones, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Springsteen-status here. I'm not saying that music is dead. I'm just saying that it's hard to find that combination of popularity and credibility.

For example, Beyonce is a huge name today. But her music has received mixed reviews at best from the general populace. Nickelback sells all these records and wins all these awards, but everyone thinks they suck.

Flip it around and you get acts like Radiohead or Muse that have universally made great music. But do you really see them being revered like The Beatles, The Who, or Queen 20 years from now? I'm talking about the U.S. audience, by the way, as I'm sure they're massive in the U.K.

There's a lot of reasons why this may or may not be the case, but I'll let you guys weigh in. Like I said though, I'm only 25; maybe people like David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix weren't nearly as "legendary" back then and it took time for them to gain that iconic distinction.

I never saw Davie Bowie as an "icon".  Yeah he had some good music but Icon? Not for me.

Of course icons like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin became mega-icons once they were dead.  Nothing helps a musician's or an artist's career more than being dead.  :D

If Taylor Swift keeps bangung out the hits like she has the past few years she'll rise to icon status too.  8)

I'm kinda surprised with what Christina Aguilera has done with her talent.  I think she had the potential to be 3x the 'star' she is these days, but much of the material she's been singing is contrived drivel.  Heck of a voice she has though, awesome.  'Course she hails from my neck of the woods, the Beaver Valley.

Nickleback... I imagine the vast majority of stuggling musicians WISH they could "suck" like Nickleback.  They must have something going for them as they sell a heck of alot of records.

I think you're on to something. I think everyone is just more into their own thing now, and it's been that way since the 90s to a degree, possibly even since the 80s. You gotta keep in mind, back in the day there were only a couple channels on TV, there was no MTV and the Internet was a classified project so everyone was basically listening to all the same bands and artists.

It doesn't help that the music industry can't afford to take chances anymore and has been bought out by a very narrow band of corporations.

I'm kinda surprised with what Christina Aguilera has done with her talent.  I think she had the potential to be 3x the 'star' she is these days, but much of the material she's been singing is contrived drivel.  Heck of a voice she has though, awesome.  'Course she hails from my neck of the woods, the Beaver Valley.



I think she's probably focused on motherhood and all, she probably isn't quite as in the creative mind now. Generally speaking artists tend to decline once they start families, I mean good on them and all but it's often true. I wouldn't care as much about my music if I already made lots of money and good material once I had a family.

I can see Britney Spears as being an icon for pop music. Actually, she kinda already is.

I can also see Beyonce as kinda like the Donna Summers of the 00s/10s. LOL.

I actually could see Radiohead achieving \'icon\' status. They were popular in the 90s, popular in the 00s and are still quite popular today. The King of Limbs may not be a convincing Radiohead album but In Rainbows has been compared to Pink Floyd\'s \'Dark Side of The Moon\'. There\'s also OK Computer, which is regarded by countless critics as one of the greatest albums of all time. Fail that, there\'s still Coldplay.

There could be two reasons:They aren't proceed that way yet or
                                      In this day and age, a politician or world leader is more important than music hence, preparing the next generation for world governance...because only Dictators should be idol NOT popstars...

OR I could be wrong but thats where i feel this fd up world is heading....

Amazingly, Radiohead have been a band for nearly 30 years!