Do you think any music from the last half of the twentieth century to the present will be remembered as a "towering masterpiece" 150-200 years from now?

Not that I know of. I'm sure there will be something. I just don't know what it will be. I'd love it to be Din Daa Daa, though. That would be freakin hilarious.

Yes, but I don't know what it is.

It seems impossible to have enough perspective to answer this with any kind of certainty. But, here goes...

"Take Five" written by Paul Desmond and performed by The Dave Brubeck Quartet (1959)
"Good Vibrations" written by Brian Wilson/Mike Love performed by The Beach Boys(1966)
"Blackbird" written by John Lennon/Paul McCartney performed by The Beatles (1968)
"American Pie" written/performed by Don McLean(1971)
"Once in a Lifetime" written by David Byrne and Brian Eno performed by The Talking Heads(1980)
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" written by Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic performed by Nirvana(1991)

We are the champions by Queen.

Oh, I am sure there will be. Most likely some indie garage band that no one has heard of before, yet people will know about them in the future.

Oh, you meant from popular music. Probably not, not because today's music is horrible per se, but because thats just not how the music industry works. I am sure they'll reuse a lot of the samples within the music that we already have, without keeping the whole song. Believe it or not, there's still plenty of geniuses out there that make great instrumentals, and then resell them to hip-hop and pop artists. Over and over again. No doubt there's going to be radio station that just plays the samples.

Besides, there are other parts of the world besides the US and Europe you know. There are over a billion people in India and another billion people in China, and then there's a whole lot of African and Middle Eastern countries. I am sure they have a few hit songs none of us ever heard of. Somewhere's in Congo in the 1960's, there was some guy banging with a drum with a stick, that no one heard of. In 2200, everyone will be listening it.

A lot of the early rap from the early 1990's and late 1980's is a good candidate. They're probably going to make a come back and be retro.

Also, believe it or not, if you listen closely, a lot of the crapty pop stars today (Spears, et all) have pretty cool samples in the background.

I'm sure there's lots of it. The entire rock genre really appeared after 1950, and it contains many towering masterpieces (songs by the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and many others that I'm just not thinking of). There's also been a lot of music in the classical style by composers like Benjamin Britten, Philip Glass, John Adams, and John Williams, to name a few. I imagine some of their works will be considered towering masterpieces.

A lot of the current music written in the classical style is twelve-tone or atonal music. Probably nothing wrong with that per se, but because of the inherent dissonances in this type of music many of the phrases fall strangely on the ear. Takes some getting used to. Michael Torke has an interesting percussion concerto (Rapture), though I don't view this as a "towering masterpiece".

I picked three candidates all from popular music: 1. Let it Be by the Beatles, 2. Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin and 3. American Pie by Don McClean.

American Pie has two votes! Our first towering Masterpiece!

Probably................I am in somewhat of an agreement with "The best song of all time" and such lists from "Time" & "Rolling Stone" magazine and Vh1 etc....

Bob Marley- No Woman, No Cry
Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen
Imagine- John Lennon

Bohemian Rapsody

Imagine

I don't know. In 1785, Beethoven's Symphony No 9 was not classified as a towering masterpiece by artistic opinion or, if it were, it stood the test of time. The same would be said about the musical selection that we have today. I guess that we will know whatever defines a towering masterpiece in the year 2209...in 2209.

Good question. Probably not. All I could come up with were smart assed answers.

Hope it's not music by Howard Shore.

If the trend of Classical music being turned into masterpiece continues, then we should see Minimalist artists become the new Bach/Beethoven/Mozart. I'm saying Minimalist because I'm not very much into modern classical music; I don't know what trends, other than Minimalism, are being pursued at the moment. But it's hard to tell - Mozart was a superstart of his time and his fame continued after he died. Most people have no clue who Philip Glass is (although they've probably heard his music from movies like the Hours or Truman's Show).

I am sure artists that made it really big will be remembered by someone - like Michael Jackson, the Beatles, etc.

Good question, wish I had a better answer.

> I don't know. In 1785, Beethoven's Symphony No 9 was not classified
> as a towering masterpiece by artistic opinion

Well, this certainly is true. It might have something to do with the fact that it was not completed until 1824 though... At it's debut at that time however, it was very well received by the audience, inspiring five standing ovations.

The poem around which it was composed, Friedrich Schiller's An die Freude (To Joy) was written in 1785, revised in 1803. Beethoven made some additions during the composition of the 9th symphony. The symphony was originally commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London in 1817. Beethoven began work on it in 1818.

The Thriller CD, biggest selling recording of all time.

Led Zepplin
Rolling Stones
Grateful Dead

I think it might have been just before 1950, but many of Aaron Copland's works are quite stirring....Fanfare for the Common Man and Appalachian Spring, to name two.

Yeah, Fanfare for the Common Man was 1942 and Appalachian Spring was 1944. Aaron Copland was one of the reasons I specified 1950 and beyond...didn't want to give anyone an easy out...heheheheh.

It's impossible to know what a future culture will value.

Yes, in 200 years time people might regard Elvis, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix or Michael Jackson as having produced towering masterpieces.

Equally though, society in 200 years time could revere advertising jingles and on Newsnight Review, the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren of Germaine Greer, Mark Kermode, Tom Paulin and Mark Lawson could be sitting around arguing about whether the latest music compares lyrically to "now hands that do dishes can feel soft as your face, with mild green Fairy Liquid"

> It's impossible to know what a future culture will value.
>

Exactly. Which is why I began the question with the phrase, "Do you think...

> Equally though, society in 200 years time could revere advertising
> jingles and on Newsnight Review, the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great
> grandchildren of Germaine Greer, Mark Kermode, Tom Paulin and Mark
> Lawson could be sitting around arguing about whether the latest music
> compares lyrically to "now hands that do dishes can feel soft as your
> face, with mild green Fairy Liquid"



I suppose it's possible, but honestly, do you see this happening? I don't.

> Not that I know of. I'm sure there will be something. I just don't
> know what it will be. I'd love it to be Din Daa Daa, though. That
> would be freakin hilarious.
Or maybe Da Do Ron Ron...

de do do do de da da da

I see....well then, I'm not seeing much modern music that will have more than 40-50 years of staying power (and much of that nostalgia). It's possible that some of the Christmas classics from 1950 on will continue to enjoy popularity well into the future....