which bands will stand the test of time

[TAC]

Actually going to take this topic seriously and go through some artists and bands that I think will actually be remembered decades from now:

Taylor Swift - Taylor Swift has been just downright unstoppable for a decade, crushing touring and album presales records. She's pretty much the voice for a generation of young girls, one of the best selling artists of the last decade, and a cultural icon. She's also made  progress in campaigning for the rights of musicians and is an incredibly savvy businesswoman. I feel like her effect on both the pop and country worlds is already noticeable and was almost immediate. She's also managed to toe the line between having a dedicated fanbase and massive global audience, so kudos to her for that.

Kanye West - Yeah, I'm not even a Kanye fan and I fully acknowledge that he's one of the biggest names in the hip-hop world this past decade. He may be a walking dumpsterfire, but his albums are incredibly influential, well selling, and critically acclaimed. He also has the "dedicated fanbase and massive global audience" thing down pat.

Kendrick Lamar - Massively influential in both jazz and hip-hop, critically acclaimed, and commercially successful. Probably one of the key points of origin for the influx of hip-hop influences in the London and NY jazz scenes (and now elsewhere too), a gateway artist for both rap and jazz, and influential in rap too.

Eminem - I could repeat the same thing over and over again, but he's here for the same reason Kanye is for the most part. Basically the Satriani of rap.

Tool - They didn't release an album for 13 years and then managed to chart with a 10 minute song, all while filling the charts with songs from a decade ago. A huge devoted following, critically acclaimed, and somewhat influential in rock and metal.

Dream Theater - Essentially invented a genre, still manages to hip the Top 10 with 2 hour metal musicals. Probably worth a paragraph in a rock history book.

Lorde - Weirdly enough, she gets in by virtue of one song. Royals was such an influential juggernaut that you can actually define the pop landscape as "pre-Royals" and "post-Royals". Birthed the rise of the "mainstream alternative pop" that's dominated the scene for the last decade and is a hugely successful artist in her own right.

PSY - On the same note, PSY is worth mentioning just to reference that weird "meme song" trend of this decade. Lis Nas X and LMFAO are maybes.

BTS - Literally the biggest artists on the planet right now, and the face of the K-pop surge.

Post Malone - Hugely successful, prioneer of the "sad rap" subgenre. A bit early to tell tho.

xxxtentacion, Tekashi 6ix 9ine, etc. - Leaders of the sound cloud/mumble rap scene. Same as above.

Evanescence, Linkin Park, Disturbed, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, Slipknot - Honestly, the music my generation grew up listening too. It'll remain on nostalgia factor alone, not to mention it was the face of rock and metal for the previous decade. I STILL see memes about these bands and they're well respected among most millennials.

Paramore - Same as above, but big enough to earn their own section.

Adele - Stops the musical world in its tracks every time she releases an album. Well-known, critically successful, commercially acclaimed. Wait, that's backwards.

Daft Punk, Justice, deadmau5 - three of the biggest names in electronic music from the last decade.

Infected Mushroom, Juno Reactor - The two biggest names in the currently exploding psy trance genre. Also have huge cult followings.

Skrillex - It's Skrillex.

Nightwish, Epica, Blind Guardian, Within Tempation - The four major players in the symphonic and power metal genres. Did you know that WT has two of the top 5 most loved songs on Last.FM?

Bon Iver - massively successful folk artist, hugely popular, has a devoted fanbase, critically successful, yadda yadda.

Radiohead, Gorillaz, Muse - Yeah duh. They are the faces of experimental rock music.

Rihanna - probably the major source for the Caribbean and Latin influences that are just EVERYWHERE in pop music of the last decade. Massively successful.

Lana Del Ray - basically Kate Bush, but for the 10s.

Bruno Mars - there is literally nothing that white people love more than Uptown Funk. Nothing. Nothing.

Animals as Leaders - Is Tosin Abasi the most technically gifted guitarist of all time? Yes. Yes he is. Is Animals as Leaders massively influential in the metal genre and the djent subgenre? Yes. Yes it is.

Meshuggah - Meshuggah is literally studied in academia and invented a subgenre. C'mon.

And for some maybes:

Ariana Grande, Drake, Marshmello, Billie Eilish - too soon to tell. Currently exploding, but they may fizzle out. Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande have the most staying power I'd say, and Marshmello has the least.

Zedd, Calvin Harris, Avicii, Katy Perry, Imagine Dragons, Ed Sheeran - massively popular, but jury's out on if they have staying power.

Porter Robinson, Madeon - up and coming artists, but still too soon.

Beyonce - I'm...honestly not sure. On the one hand, Beyonce is pretty much a cultural icon and has a cult like fanbase. She's massively successful and Lemonade got heaps of praise for its artistic experimentation. On the other hand, I can't really name that many Beyonce songs and I honestly just don't hear them that often out in the wild of the real world.

Tyler the Creator - don't know enough about them to really say, but they are huge right now.

King Gizzard and the Lizzard Wizzard - Yes, really. They're #20 on the Last.FM charts currently and seem to have a hugely devoted cult fanbase. If they get more traction, I'd say they could easily be a mainstay of the prog scene.

Other K-pop artists - K-Pop is HUGE right now globally, but it's still niche and forming. Outside of BTS, I'm not sure how likely a lot of these groups are to survive the test of time. imo, I think K-Pop is going to end up being "Motown, but in the 2010s" and remembered more as a movement than for its individual artists (BTS excepted, of course). The most likely candidates for surviving I'd say are Red Velvet, TWICE, and Girls' Generation. Maybe Outsider too, since he's basically the Tosin Abasi of rap.

Damn.

I have no idea who half of these people are NOW, nevermind decades from now...

[pg1067]

Damn.

I have no idea who half of these people are NOW, nevermind decades from now...

I was thinking the same thing.  I think a criteria for "standing the test of time" has to be that an average Joe (as opposed to a music scholar) has at least heard of the band/artist.  Heck, there are even "subgenres" mentioned here that I guarantee you not a single one of the 15 people in my office has heard of.

And I'm sorry, but "King Gizzard and the Lizzard Wizzard" is just too silly to take seriously.

[Stadler]

I'd go a step further, and say that you have to at least have some transcending of genre.  You have jazz, metal, country, and rap artists covering the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.   You hear them in elevators and on phone "hold" systems.  I think that's a factor here.   

I'm a little more conscious of dismissing artists than I perhaps should be, but this is what I was implying when I said Ninja's list is "too expansive".  Perhaps I was being too polite.