In the very late 80's to early 90's is when I feel music as a monolithic cultural force started diverging. You had major veins of music that were able to stay

In the very late 80's to early 90's is when I feel music as a monolithic cultural force started diverging. You had major veins of music that were able to stay in their own lanes to develop and had the music industry/radio support to do so - rap/hip-hop, pop, and alt-rock. Early 90's is also when various underground styles and genres--house, techno, rave, jungle, industrial, were a thing enough to be easily discoverable even without the Internet. It was also then when 70's music was old enough to be called classic rock. Then: - Rap, techno, and other electronic-based styles of music showed that one-person music groups could be a thing. - Music production technology started a trend of getting cheaper and cheaper as PCs became capable of real-time audio processing and non-band genres proved themselves viable. Combine that with the Internet and it's not surprising we have an oversupply problem. Then you have the Internet's effects on any type of media - almost costless to distribute, streaming and mp3 players enabling people to listen to exactly what they want anywhere they want, and social media's bubble effects. So it's not surprising we have a problem with things attaining cultural significance. It wasn't like this in the past so music from the time when it wasn't has a special nostalgia. It has never been a better time to get new music if you are willing to escape your bubbles and look, though. > So the problem isn’t a lack of good new music. It’s an institutional failure to discover and nurture it. It really looks like the music industry as an institution is failing, and I'm fine with that. It's not needed anymore.