"Now Marc don't get mad but I will take any three country artists from yesterday and beat any three you can name from today 3 to 0."

Ray, I am never MAD about any of this. I try to respond to it, and I hear it ALL the time from many other sources than here. i care about people here and everyone that puts their time and money into this so I try to give a PERSPECTIVE on things. But you have to look at REALITY.

You could make that comment from YOUR PERSPECTIVE, and put your "three artists up there" and someone under 30 years old would laugh you out of the conversation. Because they don't feel the same way.They don't have the same experiences.To you those "classic artists and songs" would just be BORING to other people.

And you have the right to your opinion. But it is just that. Your opinion.

My only comment is why does all this JUST get talked about with country? As it has been demonstrated over and over, by myself and many others, MUCH OF MUSIC AND EVERY GENRE ARE PRETTY MUCH THE SAME. Throughout history, there was more Ear Candy" than classic songs. More bubblegum than Beatles. That is just the nature of music.

Imagine being an "old world painter or sculptor" who spends their lives studying the masters, finally achieving a little notoriety and then a bunch of impressionist painters and sculptors come in with squiggly lines, and strange looking artwork and suddenly THEY are all the rage and making all the money. To those people it was INSANITY, NOT ART.

That is what this is. Aaron has it right. You want to remember your music the way it was because it reminds you of the WORLD it was back then. WE all do the same thing. I listen to a ton of those songs, and remember every moment of then. Then I listen to modern rock or pop and it has NOTHING to do with my experiences. So it all SUCKS to me.

It's the way of the world. Dude, we got OLD. You want to be upset about that, fine. But don't blame everyone else for what you don't like. Just don't listen to it.

MAB