I think it's the downside of living in times of plenty.

We all have an evermore impressive array of technology at our disposal, so much so that a dis-proportionate amount of time is spent getting 'that sound' rather than as you say, learning your trade. Look at the Beatles' harmony and it can be quite complex. I make the analogy with buildings. Look at one built long time in the past, the detail is much more intricate, they were built by artisans, now we just throw up breeze blocked lumps, which yes can be eye-catching, but the visual impact is novel but not impressive.

Now consider music made on a computer, it too uses blocks, it becomes quite formulaic, a song can be knocked together in no time at all, by getting a beat going, then knocking a few chords together, copy and paste it etc but it is equally forgettable.

I was out the other night with a mate who was saying that today's music is equally memorable as say the Beatles, I then asked him to sing/whistle back any of the tunes we had just heard in the club, and he couldn't remember a single one, then I said now do the same with a Beatles song, and of course he could mention loads of them.

To write, I have started getting the guitar out again, where different chording and phrasing can be experimented with, more complex arrangements to give the tune variety and what I hope is, a little more piquancy, everything is focussed on music making instead of 'sound design'

That is not to say that a 2 chord trick cannot be impressive, as a piece of music, it might be a track written specifically for the dance market, the songs that seemlessly blend into each other. But it is quite refreshing and much more impressive to watch/listen to someone who has mastery of their craft and plays a tune that takes you somewhere, with both lyrical, melodic and harmonic integrity rather than just trotting out another 134bpm mono-chorder where the only dynamics are the breakdown.

Will there ever be another Beatles, Floyd, Gershwin, Porter, Stevie Wonder, Jagger/Richard, Holland/Dozier, Dylan?

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